NSW Health Deputy Secretary Susan Pearce said it will take six to nine months before elective surgery waiting lists are back to pre-pandemic levels,but elective surgery programs had been running at 100 per cent activity since July 1,and some hospitals were at 115 per cent activity to clear the backlog.
"It's going to take a long time. It could be six to nine months or even longer before[the waiting lists] come down … but the number of people on the waiting list is back below 100,000 and more people are coming off than are going on."
Ms Pearce said the state's elective surgery services were under instructions to fast track any patients on the waiting list who showed signs they were deteriorating by moving them to a more-urgent category.
"We were very serious about the fact that if people urgently needed surgery,they would get it,"Ms Pearce said.
Amid the pressure on hospitals to prepare for a worst-case pandemic scenario,urgent elective surgeries continued apace,with 99.6 per cent performed within the clinically recommended 30 days. The state even managed to shave one day off the median wait time for urgent procedures to hit 10 days.
By July 1,the state's elective surgery programs made a staggered return to 100 per cent activity. Some local health districts were operating at up to 115 per cent activity,Ms Pearce said.
"We knew once those suspensions were removed we needed to get cracking to get surgeries back up and running,"Ms Pearce said.
Public hospitals that made significant structural changes to create pop-up COVID-19 wards and intensive care units in surgical recovery wards had to revert to cater for elective surgeries while maintaining the ability to mobilise for an onslaught of COVID-19 patients if needed.
Australian Medical Association (AMA) NSW president Dr Danielle McMullen has written to the NSW Government urging it to spend the additional $388 million in elective surgery funding in public hospitals,rather than contracts with private institutions.
A new partnership agreement between the public healthcare system and private hospitals in response to COVID-19 led to 1294 elective surgery procedures being contracted to private hospitals – roughly 3 per cent of all elective procedures performed in NSW,compared to just 202 over the same period last year.
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Dr McMullen said a poll of the AMA's NSW members found a strong majority was in favour of taking on extra elective surgery lists in public hospitals – including performing more weekend surgeries – and calling off the usual shutdown over Christmas to shrink waiting lists.
"The really important message to the public is don't avoid medical care,"Dr McMullen said."You might see these waiting lists and think it's not worth going to your GP or specialist but that's not the case. Come forward if you are unwell,"she said.
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons NSW Chair Dr Payal Mukherjee said the long-term effect of putting off non-urgent surgeries can now snowball into more serious,chronic and debilitating conditions down the track.
"The healthcare system is managing two health emergencies:the pandemic and the consequences of the pandemic on delayed medical and surgical care for the community,"Dr Mukherjee said.