Sunshine Hospital will have the chance to cut its burgeoning elective surgery waiting list, thanks to extra funding in last week’s state budget.
The 2014-15 budget includes $190 million over the next four years to deliver more elective surgery procedures across the state.
A total of $45.4 million has been allocated for next financial year, with the rest to be distributed over the following three years.
Health Department spokesman Ashley Gardiner said the government would negotiate with individual hospitals and health services before allocating the money.
Sunshine Hospital’s elective surgery waiting list has almost doubled in the past year, jumping from 1268 people in December 2012 to 2414 in December last year.
However, Western Health chief executive Alex Cockram said she was pleased to see positive results for elective surgery targets and bypass times for the December quarter in the latest Victorian Health Services Report, released late last month.
Associate Professor Cockram said elective surgery admissions for the quarter had exceeded the benchmark.
“Western Health has received further elective surgery funding for patients being treated between February and June 2014, which will enable us to treat more patients who are awaiting elective surgery,” she said.
“It is also worth noting that the hospital-initiated postponement rate was well below the statewide benchmark of 8 per cent, at 5.9 per cent for the quarter.”
Western Health’s executive director of operations Russell Harrison said the organisation would use the new round of funding to perform more surgeries across the Sunshine, Western and Williamstown hospitals.
Mr Harrison said that upgrades to Williamstown Hospital’s operating suite for most of last year had resulted in an increase to waiting lists.
