By Gabrielle Costa
PATIENTS waiting for elective surgery might have their ailments treated sooner than expected after the state and federal governments joined forces to announce a funding boost to reduce waiting lists across Victoria
On Friday, Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon, Victorian Health Minister Daniel Andrews and Premier John Brumby visited the Western Hospital in Footscray to announce a $4.46 million cash injection for Western Health’s elective surgery services in Footscray and Sunshine.
This should translate into an extra 868 patients being seen over the next three months.
The Victorian Government also promised an additional $730,000 for the funding of equipment and minor works at the campuses.
The Western Hospital in Footscray has a new 20-bed elective surgery ward.
“Thousands of extra long-wait Victorian patients will get the surgery they need for painful and debilitating conditions thanks to the first stage of this joint initiative,” Ms Roxon said.
At the end of the 2006-07 financial year – the most recent data available – there were 1253 people on the Western Hospital’s elective surgery waiting list.
Of these, 50 of them were category one cases – for instance, cancer patients requiring urgent surgery – 623 were category 2, with painful and debilitating conditions that are not likely to deteriorate quickly including patients needing hip replacements and knee reconstructions.
The remainder were category three cases, which include conditions such as cataracts, varicose veins and infected tonsils.
At Sunshine Hospital, 1437 people were awaiting a call from hospital staff at the end of the last financial year. Only 26 were considered category one patients, 501 were category 2 and 910 were category three.
Data from the 2006-07 Your Hospitals report showed that all urgent patients were seen at the Sunshine and Footscray campuses within 30 days, as set out in the Department of Human Services’ own benchmarks.
Sunshine met the benchmark for category two patients, with four in five seen within a 90-day timeframe. But Western Hospital only managed to see 58 per cent of category two patients within three months.
Ninety-six per cent of category three patients were seen at Sunshine within 12 months, and 87 per cent of category three patients were seen at Footscray within a year of referral.
