Ballarat West MP Sharon Knight
MEMBER for Ballarat West Sharon Knight has called on the state government to address Ballarat’s elective surgery waiting list, which has seen a massive blow out in the past 12 months.
A 12 per cent increase in the number of people on the elective surgery waiting list was revealed this week with the tabling in Parliament of the Ballarat Health Services(BHS) annual report.
It showed that 1228 people were now waiting for elective surgery, an increase of 113 people on the list compared with the previous year. BHS chief executive officer Andrew Rowe said they were continuing to work at reducing its waiting list.
Ms Knight said she was very concerned that the report revealed that people in Ballarat residents were are now waitng Rlonger for treatment. “There are 113 more people waiting for surgery at the Base Hospital than there were 12 months ago,” Ms Knight said.
“The Ballarat Health Services annual report also reveals that compared with last year people needing surgery are waiting even longer to get the care that they need.
“These are people with often very painful conditions, on a list that is growing, and who are waiting longer for important surgery.
“Staff at Ballarat Health Services do a great job with the resources available to them, but the massive growth in the elective surgery waiting list shows that those resources are inadequate.”
BHS chief executive officer Andrew Rowe said the health service was continuing to work at reducing its waiting list.
“We have increased our service provision and when you see more patients it can impact on the waiting list,” he said.
“We are receiving more patients from within and beyond the region.
“We’re continuing to work closely with other health services to have surgery undertaken at other facilities in order to boost surgery numbers.
“This year BHS was provided with state government funding to increase bed numbers at the Base Hospital and that major project is ongoing.”
