Surgery lists balloon as hospitals plead for resources
Patients are waiting longer for elective surgery despite more procedures taking place as health workers demand more resources to tackle the growing crisis.
The latest quarterly performance report from the NSW Bureau of Health Information on Wednesday show more than 100,000 people are on the waitlist, up seven per cent from a year earlier.
That was despite 3.6 per cent more surgeries taking place in the March quarter, compared to the same quarter last year.
Crucially, those waiting longer than critically recommended jumped a whopping 151 per cent over the year to 8857.
The overall waitlist is just shy of the all-time peak, reached after widespread cancellations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reducing the waitlist after the pandemic only occurred with major extra resources, general surgeon and Australian Medical Association NSW vice president Fred Betros said.
"We were doing extra theatre lists in the public hospital system, outsourcing public patients to private hospitals to get them done on lists there," he told AAP.
"That's just not sustainable under the current resourcing that we have.
"It's not from a lack of trying on the part of hospitals, administration staff, they're working their backsides off, it is purely resourcing not keeping up with the demands."
Wait times are also blowing out, reaching 65 days for semi-urgent surgeries and 322 days for non-urgent procedures.
Reality could be even worse than the quarterly figures suggest, with reports in recent days alleging major NSW public hospitals have manipulated surgery wait data to hit key performance indicators.
Clinicians were often asked to class surgeries as less serious than they were to provide the hospital more time to complete it 'on time', Dr Betros told AAP.
"The people that make these requests are often the meat in the sandwich, with pressure coming from above to meet KPIs, and pressure from doctors coming from below who won't recategorise," he said.
"Sweeping it under the carpet is just compounding (the problem)."
The AMA said better funding of public hospitals, improved work conditions and specialist positions and a focus on preventative measures, including a 'sugar tax', would improve the health system.
Health Minister Ryan Park responded to Wednesday's figures by announcing a $23 million injection to facilitate 3500 extra surgeries.
Overdue surgeries were 14,000 when Labor was elected in 2023 and dipped as low as 1850 nine months ago.
Mr Park partly blamed the most recent increase on disruptions caused in northern NSW by Cyclone Alfred and "workforce availability" challenges.
"For 12 years, the Liberals neglected our health system, presiding over a record number of overdue surgeries," he said.
"From day one, tackling overdue surgeries has been our priority."
Patients are waiting longer for elective surgery despite more procedures taking place as health workers demand more resources to tackle the growing crisis.
The latest quarterly performance report from the NSW Bureau of Health Information on Wednesday show more than 100,000 people are on the waitlist, up seven per cent from a year earlier.
That was despite 3.6 per cent more surgeries taking place in the March quarter, compared to the same quarter last year.
Crucially, those waiting longer than critically recommended jumped a whopping 151 per cent over the year to 8857.
The overall waitlist is just shy of the all-time peak, reached after widespread cancellations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reducing the waitlist after the pandemic only occurred with major extra resources, general surgeon and Australian Medical Association NSW vice president Fred Betros said.
"We were doing extra theatre lists in the public hospital system, outsourcing public patients to private hospitals to get them done on lists there," he told AAP.
"That's just not sustainable under the current resourcing that we have.
"It's not from a lack of trying on the part of hospitals, administration staff, they're working their backsides off, it is purely resourcing not keeping up with the demands."
Wait times are also blowing out, reaching 65 days for semi-urgent surgeries and 322 days for non-urgent procedures.
Reality could be even worse than the quarterly figures suggest, with reports in recent days alleging major NSW public hospitals have manipulated surgery wait data to hit key performance indicators.
Clinicians were often asked to class surgeries as less serious than they were to provide the hospital more time to complete it 'on time', Dr Betros told AAP.
"The people that make these requests are often the meat in the sandwich, with pressure coming from above to meet KPIs, and pressure from doctors coming from below who won't recategorise," he said.
"Sweeping it under the carpet is just compounding (the problem)."
The AMA said better funding of public hospitals, improved work conditions and specialist positions and a focus on preventative measures, including a 'sugar tax', would improve the health system.
Health Minister Ryan Park responded to Wednesday's figures by announcing a $23 million injection to facilitate 3500 extra surgeries.
Overdue surgeries were 14,000 when Labor was elected in 2023 and dipped as low as 1850 nine months ago.
Mr Park partly blamed the most recent increase on disruptions caused in northern NSW by Cyclone Alfred and "workforce availability" challenges.
"For 12 years, the Liberals neglected our health system, presiding over a record number of overdue surgeries," he said.
"From day one, tackling overdue surgeries has been our priority."
Patients are waiting longer for elective surgery despite more procedures taking place as health workers demand more resources to tackle the growing crisis.
The latest quarterly performance report from the NSW Bureau of Health Information on Wednesday show more than 100,000 people are on the waitlist, up seven per cent from a year earlier.
That was despite 3.6 per cent more surgeries taking place in the March quarter, compared to the same quarter last year.
Crucially, those waiting longer than critically recommended jumped a whopping 151 per cent over the year to 8857.
The overall waitlist is just shy of the all-time peak, reached after widespread cancellations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reducing the waitlist after the pandemic only occurred with major extra resources, general surgeon and Australian Medical Association NSW vice president Fred Betros said.
"We were doing extra theatre lists in the public hospital system, outsourcing public patients to private hospitals to get them done on lists there," he told AAP.
"That's just not sustainable under the current resourcing that we have.
"It's not from a lack of trying on the part of hospitals, administration staff, they're working their backsides off, it is purely resourcing not keeping up with the demands."
Wait times are also blowing out, reaching 65 days for semi-urgent surgeries and 322 days for non-urgent procedures.
Reality could be even worse than the quarterly figures suggest, with reports in recent days alleging major NSW public hospitals have manipulated surgery wait data to hit key performance indicators.
Clinicians were often asked to class surgeries as less serious than they were to provide the hospital more time to complete it 'on time', Dr Betros told AAP.
"The people that make these requests are often the meat in the sandwich, with pressure coming from above to meet KPIs, and pressure from doctors coming from below who won't recategorise," he said.
"Sweeping it under the carpet is just compounding (the problem)."
The AMA said better funding of public hospitals, improved work conditions and specialist positions and a focus on preventative measures, including a 'sugar tax', would improve the health system.
Health Minister Ryan Park responded to Wednesday's figures by announcing a $23 million injection to facilitate 3500 extra surgeries.
Overdue surgeries were 14,000 when Labor was elected in 2023 and dipped as low as 1850 nine months ago.
Mr Park partly blamed the most recent increase on disruptions caused in northern NSW by Cyclone Alfred and "workforce availability" challenges.
"For 12 years, the Liberals neglected our health system, presiding over a record number of overdue surgeries," he said.
"From day one, tackling overdue surgeries has been our priority."
Patients are waiting longer for elective surgery despite more procedures taking place as health workers demand more resources to tackle the growing crisis.
The latest quarterly performance report from the NSW Bureau of Health Information on Wednesday show more than 100,000 people are on the waitlist, up seven per cent from a year earlier.
That was despite 3.6 per cent more surgeries taking place in the March quarter, compared to the same quarter last year.
Crucially, those waiting longer than critically recommended jumped a whopping 151 per cent over the year to 8857.
The overall waitlist is just shy of the all-time peak, reached after widespread cancellations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reducing the waitlist after the pandemic only occurred with major extra resources, general surgeon and Australian Medical Association NSW vice president Fred Betros said.
"We were doing extra theatre lists in the public hospital system, outsourcing public patients to private hospitals to get them done on lists there," he told AAP.
"That's just not sustainable under the current resourcing that we have.
"It's not from a lack of trying on the part of hospitals, administration staff, they're working their backsides off, it is purely resourcing not keeping up with the demands."
Wait times are also blowing out, reaching 65 days for semi-urgent surgeries and 322 days for non-urgent procedures.
Reality could be even worse than the quarterly figures suggest, with reports in recent days alleging major NSW public hospitals have manipulated surgery wait data to hit key performance indicators.
Clinicians were often asked to class surgeries as less serious than they were to provide the hospital more time to complete it 'on time', Dr Betros told AAP.
"The people that make these requests are often the meat in the sandwich, with pressure coming from above to meet KPIs, and pressure from doctors coming from below who won't recategorise," he said.
"Sweeping it under the carpet is just compounding (the problem)."
The AMA said better funding of public hospitals, improved work conditions and specialist positions and a focus on preventative measures, including a 'sugar tax', would improve the health system.
Health Minister Ryan Park responded to Wednesday's figures by announcing a $23 million injection to facilitate 3500 extra surgeries.
Overdue surgeries were 14,000 when Labor was elected in 2023 and dipped as low as 1850 nine months ago.
Mr Park partly blamed the most recent increase on disruptions caused in northern NSW by Cyclone Alfred and "workforce availability" challenges.
"For 12 years, the Liberals neglected our health system, presiding over a record number of overdue surgeries," he said.
"From day one, tackling overdue surgeries has been our priority."
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