AMA President releases new report on elective surgery backlog

I'm Steve Robson, President of the Australian Medical Association, and I'm here this morning to launch our analysis of waits for elective surgery in Australian public hospitals. We know that Australia's public hospitals have struggled to cope with the demand for surgery and medical procedures, but the pandemic has put enormous stress on the system.

            We've analysed the data that we have and we've now found that hundreds of thousands of Australians of all ages are waiting for elective surgery and procedures in our public hospitals. In fact, most concerningly, our analysis says that if these trends continue by the middle of this year, almost half a million Australians will be waiting to have these procedures. Data are difficult to get and this is our best analysis, but it paints a very, very worrying picture, and we're now calling for national coordinated action to manage this terrible situation for Australian patients. I'm very happy to take some questions about this.

QUESTION:   What does this- these figures show about our hospital system?

STEVE ROBSON:      We know that the resourcing and staffing of Australian public hospitals has been a big problem for a long time now, and the pandemic has put enormous stress on the system. We now know that this has led to hundreds of thousands of Australians, Australian patients needing care, and it's not just a matter of looking at it as an operation. It's relieving pain, it's allowing people to see, it's allowing people to hear, It's allowing people to move and allowing people to work. So apart from the compassionate side of this, we need to get every Australian back at the top of their game in the current situation.

QUESTION:   What are some of the reasons behind this huge blow out?

STEVE ROBSON:      There are a series of system problems at the moment. In the first instance, it's even difficult to get in to see a specialist at a public hospital. There is an enormous hidden waiting list. Once people see a specialist and are scheduled to have a procedure or an operation in our public hospitals, are hospitals are in logjam at the moment and it’s extremely difficult to get the resources. The beds, the nurses, the doctors - all the resources in a hospital needed for surgery, and things are getting worse by the day.

QUESTION:   If we don't do something about this, where are we going?

STEVE ROBSON:      The best answer to this, I think - we need a national coordinated action plan now. We already have enormous economic and workforce problems in this country, and allowing Australians to languish in pain is a terrible situation. It puts more demand on general practice as people seek care while they're waiting for operations, and it puts enormous strain on our emergency departments. The people who are waiting for them are stressing general practice, and it can't go on.

QUESTION:   You're calling for a new national plan- more funding, a different style of funding. Can you just talk us through what you want?

STEVE ROBSON:      We need acknowledgement of the problem from state, territory and the Commonwealth Government. We need all levels of government to work together and we need the resources necessary to deal with this incredible problem. From hospital infrastructure beds to staffing, we need to look at the way hospitals are funded, resources are provided and we need a national plan urgently.

QUESTION:   So the Federal Government says that the funding and delivery of public hospital services is already governed by the NHRA, which runs until 2025. And the Commonwealth's contribution includes funding for elective surgery and it's provided as activity based funding. So you think there's a problem with that?

STEVE ROBSON:      The big problem with activity-based funding is hospital resources don't let them do the activity at the moment. So we need to move forward from these artificial caps on the way things work. We need proper funding and resourcing, and we need an injection of cash urgently if we're going to get anywhere near dealing with this incredible backlog.

QUESTION:   Also, the Federal Government says that managing these waitlists are state and territory responsibilities. What do you say to that?

STEVE ROBSON:      State and territories of course have responsibilities with public hospitals, but ultimately we're all in this together, and we know that patients who can't get surgery or procedures in public hospitals end up at general practices. That is a Commonwealth responsibility. So if they want to ease the pressure and increase access to general practice, they're going to have to work with state and territory governments to solve this problem.

QUESTION:   Can you put a finger on how much money is needed, or at least the initial injection?

STEVE ROBSON:      It's likely to be a large injection of cash, but the cost of doing nothing is going to be much greater.

QUESTION:   Are we- I guess there's warnings that we could head down the British path if we don't act soon.

STEVE ROBSON:      As we look to Britain and the catastrophe in the National Health Service over there, it's a grim warning for Australia. The NHS has had years of decreased investment, and we want to make sure that that situation does not develop here.

QUESTION:   So elective surgeries, that doesn't mean that- these are things that people can choose to have. They need them urgently, don't they?

STEVE ROBSON:      It's a mistake to think of elective surgery, anything other than planned surgery. It allows people to see, it allows people to hear, to move, to work and get on with their lives, and it relieves pain. All of these are key issues for Australians and their families, and we need a solution.

QUESTION:   Which states have the worst logjams here?

STEVE ROBSON:      From our analysis of the data, it looks like Victoria has the greatest issues at the moment, but there are issues across all states and territories and it's important to look at this as a national issue, a critical national issue that needs action.

QUESTION:   So at the moment the logjam is up to what, five months on the waiting list, and it's going to blow out even further if nothing's done.

STEVE ROBSON:      It's variable for different procedures. Some people are waiting years to have their surgery done. So we know that this needs to be dealt with urgently, and it's not something that can be allowed to go on any longer.

QUESTION:   Is a crisis?

STEVE ROBSON:      I think it's fair to say that this is a developing crisis. We know that by the middle of the year, we're likely to have half a million Australians waiting to have surgery. I think it's important that we look on this as a developing crisis. If we don't take action by the middle of this year, we're going to have as many as half a million Australians waiting to have urgently needed procedures and operations. So we need to go into crisis mode to solve the problem.

QUESTION:   I mean, this is not the way a first world health system should operate, is it?

STEVE ROBSON:      We know the pandemic has put enormous stress on health systems around the world. Australia has great nurses, doctors, health care workers, and we need to support them. We need to put them in a position where they can do what they're trained to do: help Australians.

QUESTION:   Thank you.