Seriously ill Victorians are having their urgent Category 1 surgeries cancelled on a regular basis,” Helen Shardey, Shadow Minister for Health, said today.

“Freedom of Information (FoI) documents show that the Brumby Government has been economical with the truth when it claimed that 100 per cent of urgent Category 1 patients were treated within the benchmark time of 30 days. Mr Brumby and his embattled Health Minister have a lot to answer for.

“The FoI documents detail the number of Hospital Initiated Postponements (HIPS), which are not reported in the Government’s Your Hospitals report, and show that there are literally hundreds of Category 1 patients who have had their surgeries cancelled or postponed,” Mrs Shardey said.

Patients who have encountered a HIP will have already been on a waiting list to receive treatment. Therefore a HIP is another extended period of waiting that in almost all instances is beyond the control of the patient.

“Reasons given for these postponements range from no ICU beds being available, overbooked lists or no staff or surgeon available. What is alarming is that there are multiple Category 1 patients who have waited on the HIP list beyond the 30 day benchmark, even though they had already been waiting for some period prior to having their treatment postponed,” Mrs Shardey said.

The following hospitals are suffering from a system in crisis as FOI documents* show:

Name of hospital: Category 1 HIPs: No. of patients more than 30 days on HIPS: No. patients more than 30 days prior to HIPS
Royal Melbourne 278 45 79

Monash 89 4 4

Austin Health 164 22 95

St Vincent’s 26 No data provided** No data provided**

The Alfred 48 5 13

Box Hill 86 11 0

Bendigo 14 4 4

Geelong 14 2 0

*These figures relate to a three month period from 1/10/2007 to 31/12/2007
** In all categories in all individual instances – St Vincent’s Hospital was not able to provide patients with a rescheduled admission date or determine the length of waiting time prior to the HIPS.

“At the Royal Melbourne Hospital a Category 1 patient requiring urgent neurosurgery was placed on the HIP list with a further delay of 51 days to receive treatment. The reason given for the postponement was that there had been an emergency priority,” Mrs Shardey said.

“A further 36 Category 1 patients requiring procedures such as vascular surgery, vascular shunt/bypass, amputation of a limb or thoracic surgery were placed on the HIP list without any reschedule date to receive their treatment. This implies an indefinite wait for seriously ill people,” Mrs Shardey said.

“In Geelong, a Barwon Health Category 1 patient has waited 82 days for urological surgery while
another urgent Category 1 patient at Bendigo Health has been waiting for a TUR obstruction ureter/renal pelvis procedure which has been postponed without any reschedule date. This seriously ill patient had already waited 38 days prior to their postponement.

“The situation in metropolitan Victoria is equally as concerning as in regional Victoria.

“Austin Health is just as bad with one Category 1 patient waiting 162 days for the replacement of a heart valve. This person’s surgery was cancelled because of an elective priority. A further two Category 1 patients were cancelled at the Austin because there was no surgeon available while one patient waited 98 days for renal dialysis – with the procedure being cancelled because of a clerical error.

“At Monash Medical Centre two Category 1 patients have waited 52 days for thoracic surgery.

“The Alfred Hospital has also postponed urgent surgeries with two Category 1 patients both requiring a bowel resection being placed on the HIP list. One seriously ill patient has waited over 400 days – 113 days on the HIP list and 380 days prior to being postponed. The reason for the postponement was given as ‘elective priority’.

“The other Category 1 patient has waited 35 days on the HIP list and a further 48 days prior to being postponed. The reason for this postponement was given as ‘unavailability of hospital staff’.

“Sick Victorians deserve better treatment and a government that tells them the truth,” Mrs Shardey said.

“When will Mr Brumby finally realise that our health system is in crisis?”