Almost 2800 fewer Tasmanians were waiting for elective surgery at the end of September compared to the year before, according to the latest Department of Health and Human Services Dashboard.
Continuing to improve Tasmania’s health system is a major focus of the Hodgman Liberal Government this year.
Since coming to Government, we have made major improvements to our health system, with a record $6.4 billion investment over four years, which has seen elective surgery waiting lists driven to record lows.
The last quarter results published on the Dashboard from today, show a 32 per cent drop in the waiting list.
There were also significant reductions across the state including:
The Dashboard also shows continued reduction in the average excessive wait times for non-urgent patients, of a reduction of 73 days (almost 40 per cent).
DHHS advises that as at the end of December, the waiting list remains around 6000. This data will be verified and shown on the next Dashboard update.
This fantastic achievement was driven by high volumes of surgery, with more than 19,300 Tasmanians receiving surgery in the past twelve months to the end of September.
The Hodgman Government will continue to roll out our additional $76 million investment in elective surgery, which has also been shown in the opening of two new theatres at the LGH as well as extra capacity at the RHH.
The DHHS Dashboard shows a range of other improvements, including significant reductions in the dental care waiting list, and can be viewed on the HealthStats website: http://www.healthstats.dhhs.tas.gov.au/