17 December 2006

Review of waiting lists to ensure patients get surgery on time

Minister for Health John Hatzistergos today outlined new measures to ensure patients undergo elective surgery within 12 months.

Mr Hatzistergos said a review of 'Not Ready for Care' (staged or deferred) patients was underway. These are cases where patients, for personal or medical reasons are not ready to undergo surgery.

The review will involve:

• A telephone audit, with calls to all Not Ready for Care patients who have a listing date prior to October 2005 to ascertain if their surgery is still required
• Removing those patients from the list, who indicate they no longer require their surgery
• Arranging a medical review for all patients who wish to remain Not Ready For Care
• Reclassifying patients who are ready for surgery as and giving them an admission date for surgery, following their medical review
• Advising patients who refuse to undergo a medical review they will be removed from the list.

Mr Hatzistergos said the policy was a new direction in better managing elective surgery for patients. He said the new waiting list guidelines formulated by the NSW Surgical Services Taskforce (chaired by surgeon Dr Pat Cregan) are aimed to ensure elective surgery patients are admitted for surgery in a clinically appropriate time frame.

"People who choose to defer their surgery more than twice or patients who fail to attend hospital for their surgery (without giving prior notice and with no extenuating circumstances) will be removed from the waiting list," Mr Hatzistergos said.

"They also need to take responsibility by preparing for their operation, including taking proactive steps to ensure they are physically and emotionally ready for their surgery.

"We want to make sure people aren't languishing on a waiting list, for either clinical or personal reasons.

"We've had cases where people refuse surgery because they forgot they had other engagements, or the date for surgery didn't suit them.

"We want to ensure patients get their surgery within 12 months."

Mr Hatzistergos said latest figures show that in October 2006, the number of Not Ready for Care patients greater than 12 months had been reduced to 1243 patients - down from 1788 patients, a 31 per cent reduction, since July 2006.

Professor Donald MacLellan, Area Performance Manager NSW Health, said the taskforce has been driving major changes to improve surgical service delivery across NSW through the Predictable Surgery Program.

"The Predictable Surgery Program has delivered improved access to surgical services and improved waiting times for surgery for the people of NSW," Prof MacLellan said.

"Recent waiting list data indicates a 10.4 per cent reduction in the overall list in the last 12 months, coupled with an additional 1,765 surgical procedures having been performed in the past 12 months."

Mr Hatzistergos said "this is a tremendous result and a real credit to the hard working doctors, nurses and ancillary staff that provide the expert clinical care.

"In just 16 months, the Iemma Government has made real progress but there's still more work to do and we will continue to redesign the surgical patient journey and improve our service delivery."

For a range of health information, go online to www.health.nsw.gov.au