Questions without notice and ministers statements
Elective surgery
Ms KEALY (Lowan) (14:02): My question is to the Premier. In December the government was asked when elective surgery would resume following lockdown 6 so that Melissa Proven, a patient suffering a spinal burst fracture, could receive her pain-relieving surgery. It is now 15 months since her injury, yet she was very recently notified that there is still no scheduled date to perform this vital surgery. What is the government’s plan to cut elective surgery waitlists? What is the government’s plan to give Melissa hope and get her the surgery she so vitally and desperately still needs 15 months on?
Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (14:02): I thank the member for Lowan for her question. Obviously this global pandemic has cancelled a lot of surgery and deferred a lot of care in every part of our health system, both public and private, and in every part of our nation. Indeed I am sure there have been issues of deferred care, delays and the unavoidable cancellation of various procedures and services, particularly from the point of view of safety in comparable countries right across the whole world. What I could say to the member for Lowan is I will make sure that the Minister for Health upon his return is informed of the constituent—the individual that the member for Lowan refers to. If I need any further information from her, I will be sure to have my office contact hers.
In broader terms, obviously we need to return to 100 per cent of normal activity, and we are well and truly on the way to that. Then there will need to be additional capacity, additional work, to not only deal with those patients who would ordinarily come onto the list each day, each week and each month in a non-COVID year but to deal with those for whom the pandemic has meant their care has been postponed. Clinical guidance, clinical expertise, will guide any prioritisation within that framework. We are well engaged with the private sector, and not just here in Victoria. We will have more to say in due course about how we go beyond our normal 100 per cent activity so that we can make sure everybody for whom there has been disruption and delay because of this pandemic get the care they need as quickly as possible.
I will take this opportunity—the question provides me with an opportunity—to again thank all of our staff, who are doing an amazing job under extraordinary conditions. I thank each and every Victorian for the part they have played in getting vaccinated and in keeping us safe. To those who have had disruption to their care, I thank them for understanding that these are not ordinary circumstances. They are very, very challenging circumstances, and I can assure them our staff are doing everything they possibly can to get everyone who needs care the care that they need as fast as possible.
Ms KEALY (Lowan) (14:05): Premier, what is the latest advice you have received as to how many Victorians remain on the elective surgery waitlist?
The SPEAKER: I just remind members to direct questions through the Chair.
Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (14:05): Again, I thank the member for Lowan for her question. I can only direct her to those most recent reports. I should also point out that the amount of data and the frequency with which it is released to the public is at levels unthinkable under others—and certainly never, ever delivered. So there is more transparency, more data, more accountability than there has ever been, and that is a wholly good thing. I do not have a confirmed update to provide to the member. I can only point her, direct her, to the most recent data that was released. The quarter is coming to a close, so there will be another quarterly report at the end of this quarter, and I am sure the minister upon his return will be only too happy to answer any and all questions about that report.