The Mersey helping to reduce waiting lists

The first sessions of additional endoscopy procedures were successfully performed at Mersey Community Hospital last week, as the first step in the plan to make MCH Tasmania’s dedicated elective surgery centre.

Three additional endoscopy sessions per month have now been added to MCH.

The Hodgman Liberal Government’s One Health System reforms are all about fixing the broken health system and getting more Tasmanians timely, better health care.

While I have asked the Tasmanian Health Service to deliver an implementation plan for the White Paper to me by the end of this month, one of the areas for immediate action identified in the White Paper was to progress the addition of more elective procedures at the Mersey Community Hospital.

Under the One Health System changes, and the record $148.5 million funding agreement with the Commonwealth Government, the Mersey will become Tasmania’s dedicated elective surgery centre, in addition to providing local hospital services.

The additional endoscopy sessions will be ongoing, and will see up to 300 additional endoscopy procedures performed at MCH each year.

These additional procedures have been prioritised for patients from both the North West and the North who have been waiting the longest to undergo their endoscopy procedure.

The additional procedures, and the integration of the North and North West endoscopy waiting lists, were just the first step in MCH undertaking more elective surgery as part of its new statewide role under the Tasmanian Government’s One Health System reforms.

Clinicians – including the Directors of Surgery and Surgical Nursing Directors – from the North West and North are already working collaboratively to establish the Northern Integrated Surgical Service, and significant progress is being made.

The White Paper implementation plan currently being developed will provide more details on MCH’s integral role in providing elective surgery across the state.

Through these initiatives, MCH is successfully building on its elective surgery platform.
Michael Ferguson, Minister for Health