FEDERAL Government health funding cuts have been blamed for a fall in the number of elective surgery patients treated at Werribee Mercy Hospital.
Last week the Minister for Health David Davis released the hospital’s performance report for the December quarter last year, showing that the number of patients seen by the emergency department had increased by almost 500 from the previous quarter.
More than 9000 patients were admitted to the emergency department in the last three months of 2012 and 3170 received same-day treatment, Mr Davis said.
Mr Davis said it was inevitable that a cut of $107 million from Victorian hospital funding would have a negative effect on hospitals’ performance.
“This savage cut was belatedly promised to be restored in February after extreme pressure on the Federal Government, but our hospitals already scaled back their activity,” Mr Davis said.
“However, while our hospitals have performed well in treating emergency patients, sadly the impact of last year’s Federal Government funding cuts and the ongoing funding reductions will mean that in future, even more people will be forced to wait longer for their surgery.”
Mr Davis said Werribee Mercy treated 802 patients from the elective surgery waiting list in the December quarter, down from 879 in the previous quarter.
The hospital also provided elective surgery to more than half of its Category 2 semi-urgent patients within 43 days, a rise on the 35 day median a year earlier.
