Longer surgery waiting lists in NSW: report

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDJun 9 2011

According to a new state health report, people in NSW are waiting longer for elective surgery than two years ago. For the report the Bureau of Health Information analyzed 46,500 elective surgeries carried out in NSW public hospitals between January and March this year.

The report released on Thursday, split elective surgery into the categories of urgent (admission within 30 days), semi-urgent (within 90 days) and non-urgent (within 365 days). Results showed that patients in NSW experienced a median waiting time of 217 days, up from 207 during the same period a year ago. But the wait is 10 weeks longer than a couple of years ago, it found. However the number of people going under the knife in NSW had increased by nine per cent since 2009.

Bureau of Health Information chief Diane Watson explained, “The wait is the interval of time between when the patient and the surgeon decides that the surgery is necessary and when the surgery occurs. Our reports don't go into reasons why, it's really just to monitor and track the activity and performance across time.”

The report adds that for urgent, elective surgery the median wait was 11 days, up from the nine recorded in the last report, but semi-urgent waiting times dropped slightly to a 50-day wait. About 10 per cent of patients didn't receive their elective surgery during the time recommended by their surgeon, a slight increase from the same period a year before. When analyzing the data, the bureau ignored the “staged procedures” which, for medical reasons, require a forced waiting time for patients.

Meanwhile, about 30 per cent of people arriving at NSW emergency departments with potentially life-threatening conditions weren't seen within the target time of 30 minutes. This is slightly more than the previous year says the new report.

In another report this week, released by the Council of Australian Governments reform council, found elective patients in NSW copped a median wait of 330 days, up from 277 two years ago. People in NSW were waiting for elective surgery longer than anywhere else in the country, according to the report. However, patients in emergency departments in NSW were likely to be seen sooner than other states.