HOSPITALS in the West may have 55,000 people on the waiting list for elective surgeries, according to the Member for the Altona District Jill Hennessy.
Ms Hennessy said the statement of priorities, contracts between Victorian health services and the State Government showed that 55,000 people would be waiting for surgery by June this year.
She said this was a result of the government’s $616 million cuts to the health system.
“This is going to have an impact at our local hospitals which include Werribee, Sunshine, Williamstown and Footscray where the waiting lists have blown out by 22.3 per cent,” Ms Hennessy said.
A spokesperson for Western Health said it was impossible to reverse all of the effects of the measures that were taken as a flow-on of those cuts.
Western Health announced in January that approximately 60 medical, nursing and technical staff and nine support services staff would be impacted by the decision, along with a number of surgeons and anaesthetists.
“Surgery will be affected during this time and we regret that we are unable to prevent the impact this will have on approximately 750 elective surgery patients across several specialties,” Western Health’s Acting Chief Executive Arlene Wake said.
According to Ms Hennessy by June this year around 800 additional people in the western catchment would be waiting for surgery.
“Without proper government funding, these hospitals will be under pressure to meet the needs of our growing population in the West.”
She said local residents should not be burdened with months or “years of pain” because of the mismanagement of the local health system by the State Government.
“The sad fact is these contracts show that across Victoria, 125 people have been added to the elective surgery waiting list each and every week since the Coalition has been in government.”
Ms Hennessy said the expected blow-out in the elective surgery waiting list came on top of hospital performance data released in February five months late for Western Health that detailed a system struggling to cope.
“Ambulances are backed up at hospital doors and people are waiting longer in emergency departments.”
