Wednesday, 9 February 2022

Elective surgery

Dr CUMMING (Western Metropolitan) (18:02): (1723) My adjournment matter is to the Minister for Health in the other place, and the action that I seek is for the minister to urgently review the restrictions on elective surgeries and to allow hospitals to make decisions that are in the best interests of their patients. The last two years have seen restrictions to elective surgery. It has been cancelled, cut back, ramped up only to be cancelled again, ramped up, cut back—it keeps going on.

Now, elective surgery is not always a choice. It is not face lifts and nose jobs; it is surgery that is essential. It is essential for somebody to be pain free, it is essential for somebody to be able to work and it is essential for somebody to participate in society. It is essential, and it saves lives. The logic in cancelling day procedures blows my mind. These are procedures that do not take up a hospital bed or that use specialised staff, and they are not freeing up a bed or staff to help with the COVID response.

I have brought this up with Professor Sutton over this time. I could not understand within the lockdowns, four lockdowns, why they have actually stopped elective surgery. It has made no sense in the last two years. Four times they have done this. We have surgeons finishing their category 1 procedures by 9.30 in the morning and then having to pack up and go home and allocated staff with nothing to do for the rest of the day.

We have seen a backflip on IVF procedures, which I am so pleased to see, but is IVF more important than someone having a cataract removed, more important than someone having their skin cancer removed—these are day surgery procedures—or more important than someone actually having their hip or knee replaced or their carotid artery bypass graft, a child having reconstructive surgery to enable them to speak, such as with a cleft palate, a child actually having their hearing restored so that they are not going to be missing language or a woman who is actually forced into a nursing home because she could not manage any longer in her home due to pain?

These people are waiting. They have been waiting for months, now years, for their surgery. We have got a list of 90 000-plus and growing 1000 a week, so why are they suffering? Why are they having these delays caused? Please show us the health advice that says they are— (Time expired)