Leading doctors say thousands of patients are missing out on urgent operations because of Dan Andrews’s outright ban on elective surgery.
Elective surgery in Victoria was suspended for three months to ease pressure on the health system amid a surge in Omicron cases.
But Adrian Trivet, president of the Australian Orthopedic Association, says procedures need to be reinstated immediately, with some sections of hospitals ‘sitting empty’.
‘We feel that the term ‘elective surgery’ is not a good description of these operations, ‘these are necessary procedures’. They are non-invasive but necessary procedures to help patients with disabilities and those in pain return to their normal lives.
‘We are concerned that the system has potential and is not currently being used.’
“Thousands of patients are missing out on the procedures they really need to be able to restore their function and help with increasing aches and pains over the past two years,” he said.
He said there are around 10,000 patients who missed out on important hip and knee replacement surgeries last year due to the stringent lockdown in elective surgeries.
“We feel that lights are off in many parts of hospitals, operating rooms are closed and nurses are not being used efficiently.
‘We can really put more sophistication into flexing the service and making sure these patients are not missing. A complete ban on elective surgery does not eliminate it.
On 5 January the Andrews government announced that elective surgery would be suspended amid the Omicron wave to help hospitals better cope with rising demand.
The changes were in effect for a period of three months from 6 January in Victoria’s major cities, including Melbourne – or until the Code Brown Declaration for Victorian Hospitals is lifted by the Department of Health.
The Victorian government has already backtracked from a ban for IVF treatment.
Acting Health Minister James Merlino announced that some services would resume last Thursday, while hospitals are ramping up their operations to restart procedures from 11.59 p.m. on Tuesday.
IVF clinics were approached earlier this month by authorities to cancel appointments as part of a pause on elective surgeries in response to a growing number of Covid-19 hospitals.
The move attracted criticism from Prime Minister Scott Morrison, state opposition leader Matthew Guy, IVF clinics, patients and the community, with an online petition garnering nearly 140,000 signatures.
Dr Sally Langley, President of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons, said the ‘recurring’ ban on elective surgery had a huge impact on Victorians.
These surgeries have been banned intermittently throughout the COVID restrictions – as Victoria battles its first and second waves with Delta and, most recently, Omicron waves.
Ms Langley said the waiting list for elective surgery grows with each restriction – with some patients waiting longer than six months for a critical operation.
‘Surgeons and their teams must work to maintain their skills. The longer they are away from work, the greater the concern about the maintenance of skills,’ she said.
‘Hospital and ICU beds are in short supply … so I can understand restricting surgery when those resources are needed, but day surgery is a whole area of procedures where most patients are never inside a ward or hospital bed There are. Why can’t they run the operation?’ Dr. Langley said.
State Health Minister James Merlino said he was “sorry” for the inconvenience caused by restrictions on affected services in recent weeks and is “working to restore other services as quickly as possible”.