The Australian Private Hospitals Association (APHA) believes private hospitals should play an essential role in clearing the backlog of public elective surgeries. It comes as fresh data shows wait times for ophthalmic procedures increased by 6.5 weeks in 2020-21 compared to pre-pandemic levels and have more than doubled to 172 days for cataract surgery.
The comments from the country’s peak industry body for the private hospital and day surgery sector follows the release of Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) public elective surgery data on 25 January.
The overall trend saw more patients being treated from public hospital wait lists 2020-21 compared to the year prior as hospitals worked to clear a backlog left by COVID-19 suspensions introduced in March 2020. However, the data does not account for additional widespread restrictions after June 30 2021, meaning waiting times for surgery are now likely even longer.
The average waiting time – or “days waited at the 50th percentile” – was 118 days for all ophthalmology procedures. This was the highest wait time among all medical specialties in 2020-21 and is significantly higher than 82 days the previous year for ophthalmology and an average of 73 days pre-pandemic.
NSW patients had the longest ophthalmology wait time, with 50% admitted within 269 days, Victoria 64 days, Queensland 77, Western Australia 68, South Australia 112, Tasmania 142, ACT 83 and Northern Territory 94.
A further breakdown of the data showed wait times for cataract surgery were now 172 days on average across Australia. This up from 98 in 2019-20 and more than double 84 days pre-pandemic 2018-19.
Cataract was the most-performed surgery overall in 2020-21 with 73,071 procedures.
After general surgery (154,677 surgeries), urological surgery (114,820) and orthopaedic surgery (108,361), ophthalmology had the fourth highest number of admissions at 100,653 for 2020-21. This was 17.8% more than 2019-20 – which featured the March 2020 surgery shutdown – and on par with pre pandemic 2018-19.
Public hospitals should not be taking PHI patients
Although overall median wait time for all elective surgery increasing by a week, from 41 days pre-COVID (2018-19) to 48 days in 2020-21, APHA CEO Mr Michael Roff said this represented “a very big increase in waiting times”.
“When you look at surgeries by category, the increases in median wait time are even more significant. Those waiting for head and neck surgery now wait 112 days, up from 84 pre-COVID, while ophthalmology patients wait 118 days rather than 73, an increase of six and a half weeks,” he said.
“This data illustrates the essential role private hospitals will need to play in helping Australians get the vital surgery they need. Just as private hospitals have helped the public system with the pandemic response, they will be essential to clearing the surgical backlog post-pandemic.
“Without private hospitals picking up the slack, Australians will be waiting a great deal longer to have their surgery – often important for quality of life, like cataract surgery to correct impaired vision or joint replacements to remove pain and improve mobility.”
Roff said restrictions on necessary elective surgery should not last one day longer than they need to.
“With signs the Omicron wave is plateauing in several states, health departments need to consult with private hospitals about easing restrictions in a safe way, so hospitals are ready to increase surgical capacity to provide much-needed treatment to those Australians who have had surgery deferred,” he said.
“When restrictions ease, public hospitals should not be taking in a single privately insured patient until all of their public patients have been treated. It is time to stop them treating public patients as second-class citizens.
“It would be morally reprehensible if public hospitals were to bring in a large number of privately insured patients to take advantage of the even longer wait times Australians have had to deal with, while those who need the public system languish on ever lengthening waiting lists.”
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