Doctors are cautious about the usual blitz / bust cycle in elective surgery
June 16, 2020
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June 25, 2020The latest Bureau of Health Information shows a first quarter record for emergency department activity was set in January to March 2020, AMA (NSW) President, Dr Danielle McMullen, said.
“This is the fifth quarter in a row, where NSW hospitals have seen more than 750,000 patients in emergency.
“As ever, our hospitals are not built to deal with this kind of demand and there aren’t enough staff for this to be sustainable.
“Before the pandemic, it was having a deleterious effect on patient wait times in emergency as well as hospital staff’s wellbeing.
“This is what happens when, in less than 10 years, demand increases by more than 40 per cent without a similar increase in funding, staffing, and infrastructure.
“It’s emblematic of the problems faced by the health system in NSW that it took a pandemic response to remind the Federal Government to renew its national partnership agreement on hospital funding with the states and territories.
“Our concerns were only heightened by the fact the Commonwealth doesn’t appear to have allocated new money or funding for system improvement other than the amounts that had essentially driven negotiations to a standstill.
“The latest BHI statistics also show a significant drop off in elective surgeries performed towards the end of March, as the decision to put non-urgent surgery on pause came into effect.
“As we know, this has led to a significant and growing backlog of patients that need their procedures done to regain or preserve their quality of life.
“Measured wait times for the least urgent type of elective surgery were already longer than a year for some people at the same time last year.
“Those waiting the longest are now waiting even longer and that doesn’t count any time while they were on the hidden waiting lists, before their procedure was scheduled by a surgeon.
“NSW needs to escape the previous cycles we have seen when it comes to boom and busts in elective surgery.
“Our wait times are some of the longest in the country and it’s because our hospitals lack the capacity to get through the demand.
“This is an effect of healthcare being rationed.
“We need adequate staff numbers and funding not only to meet demand but ensure that we escape the boom / bust cycle and have a sustainable system for elective surgery going forward.
“The same applies to emergency department activity but we also need to be doing more to reduce demand by enabling GPs to help patients manage chronic conditions to avoid crises that would land them in an ED,” Dr McMullen said.
The latest Bureau of Health Information shows a first quarter record for emergency department activity was set in January to March 2020, AMA (NSW) President, Dr Danielle McMullen, said.
“This is the fifth quarter in a row, where NSW hospitals have seen more than 750,000 patients in emergency.
“As ever, our hospitals are not built to deal with this kind of demand and there aren’t enough staff for this to be sustainable.
“Before the pandemic, it was having a deleterious effect on patient wait times in emergency as well as hospital staff’s wellbeing.
“This is what happens when, in less than 10 years, demand increases by more than 40 per cent without a similar increase in funding, staffing, and infrastructure.
“It’s emblematic of the problems faced by the health system in NSW that it took a pandemic response to remind the Federal Government to renew its national partnership agreement on hospital funding with the states and territories.
“Our concerns were only heightened by the fact the Commonwealth doesn’t appear to have allocated new money or funding for system improvement other than the amounts that had essentially driven negotiations to a standstill.
“The latest BHI statistics also show a significant drop off in elective surgeries performed towards the end of March, as the decision to put non-urgent surgery on pause came into effect.
“As we know, this has led to a significant and growing backlog of patients that need their procedures done to regain or preserve their quality of life.
“Measured wait times for the least urgent type of elective surgery were already longer than a year for some people at the same time last year.
“Those waiting the longest are now waiting even longer and that doesn’t count any time while they were on the hidden waiting lists, before their procedure was scheduled by a surgeon.
“NSW needs to escape the previous cycles we have seen when it comes to boom and busts in elective surgery.
“Our wait times are some of the longest in the country and it’s because our hospitals lack the capacity to get through the demand.
“This is an effect of healthcare being rationed.
“We need adequate staff numbers and funding not only to meet demand but ensure that we escape the boom / bust cycle and have a sustainable system for elective surgery going forward.
“The same applies to emergency department activity but we also need to be doing more to reduce demand by enabling GPs to help patients manage chronic conditions to avoid crises that would land them in an ED,” Dr McMullen said.
Media contact: Lachlan Jones 0419 402 955