The Hodgman Liberal Government’s investments in frontline health and elective surgeries are delivering real results for Tasmanians who have been waiting too long for treatment.
Today in Budget Estimates I was very proud to outline that through our election commitment of an additional $76 million over four years for elective surgeries, we have been able to treat all children who as of the start of the financial year had waited longer than the recommended time for surgery.
While we know there is so much more to do in fixing the broken health system, especially in relation to elective surgeries, it is a very important achievement to have now delivered treatment to those Tasmanian children who had waited over the recommended time for elective surgery.
All over-boundary urgent adult patients (as of 1 July 2014) and some of the state’s longest waiting patients have also now had surgery.
These are patients who required complex and often expensive surgeries, a fact which may have contributed to them remaining on the waiting list for so long. Without the Liberal Government’s additional investment they would still be waiting.
Our $76 million for elective surgeries was designed to deliver additional elective surgeries and to particularly help those who had been on the waiting list for an unacceptable period of time.
To 6 May 2015, a total of $9 million has been expended, delivering surgery to 742 Tasmanian patients, and it is expected that a further 95 surgeries will be performed this financial year.
When we came to Government we opened the books on the unacceptable outcomes the broken health system delivers by publishing the full waiting lists which had previously been hidden by the former Labor-Green Government.
We are tackling this problem at both ends – by providing $76 million for additional elective surgeries, and also by fixing the broken health system so it can efficiently and safely deliver more elective surgeries every year.
Michael Ferguson, Minister for Health
