More wait for surgery
Covid blamed for blowout in elective patients
GEELONG hospital’s elective surgery waitlist has increased by more than 130 patients in three months and the COVID-19 pandemic is being blamed for much of the surge.
The waitlist at Geelong hospital grew from 1981 patients on December 31 to 2113 on March 31.
It comes after the waitlist had shrunk slightly from 1995 patients to 1981 between September 30 and December 31, according to figures from the
Victorian Agency for Health Information (VAHI).
Barwon Health Surgical and Critical Care Directorate clinical director Simon Williams said most of the growth in the elective surgery waiting list was a result of COVID-19.
However, there had also been an increase in demand for emergency surgery, population growth within the area and more specialist clinics resulting in referrals for surgery, Dr Williams said.
“Two additional theatres at University Hospital Geelong’s Building B have been refurbished and opened late March to increase our surgical capacity and help address the procedures that were deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
Building B is located at the former Geelong Private Hospital site.
“We expect to perform around 3300 surgeries per annum initially from Building B, growing that number in the future,” Dr Williams said. “Building B is already making an impact and our waiting list is now sitting at around 2000.”
Non-urgent elective surgeries were paused twice in 2020 due to coronavirus.
Geelong hospital’s elective surgery waitlist has blown out by hundreds since the pandemic started, with 1502 patients on the list on March 31, 2020, according to VAHI.
The new VAHI figures showed the statewide elective surgery waitlist grew from 65,228 patients on December 31, 2020, to 65,780 on March 31.
Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the numbers confirmed that the state’s health crisis was worsening and across the state Victorians were waiting in pain.