AMA and RACS call for national plan to tackle elective surgery backlog

The AMA and the RACS call for immediate action and an enduring solution to elective surgery waiting lists – otherwise our hospitals and patients will continue to deteriorate.

AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid and RACS President Dr Sally Langley called for an urgent plan for the resumption of elective surgery as a priority in both private and public hospitals to allow surgeons and their teams to start catching up on operations.

There is unused capacity in private hospitals, in particular, and these facilities should be brought back online for routine elective surgery as soon as possible.

The AMA and RACS have supported state government postponements of elective surgery to prevent the COVID surge overwhelming public hospitals, however, such a blanket suspension of elective surgery should be a last resort.

“We need to see a funded plan from state, territory and federal governments for clearing these backlogs and properly supporting our public hospitals. It then needs to be backed by real long-term funding commitments that deliver permanent expanded capacity in our public hospital system,” Dr Khorshid said.

“And while the private sector can play a role in helping to address public sector waiting lists in the short-term where they have spare capacity, this needs to be done in a way that does not simply displace private patients from accessing care or impact on the training of specialist trainees.

“One-off funding packages and elective surgery blitzes will not be enough to address the impact that the last two years have had on our already stressed health system and its capacity to deliver for our patients into the future.

“Australia needs immediate action and an enduring solution to elective surgery waiting lists – otherwise our hospitals and patients will only continue to deteriorate.”