Thousands more elective surgeries for South Australians

Thousands more South Australians are having elective surgery under the Malinauskas Labor Government, with a successful partnership with Western Hospital among initiatives helping doctors perform more operations.

Last financial year, SA hospitals performed a record 61,875 elective surgery operations.

This means the Malinauskas Government is delivering 8,980 more elective surgery operations per annum than the last year of the Marshall Liberal Government.

Additionally, the Malinauskas Government is delivering 137,000 more outpatient specialist appointments compared to two years ago. In both 2023 and 2024 that was more than a million outpatient appointments each year.

It comes as Western Hospital at Henley Beach, a private facility that was saved in partnership with the State Government, today expands its operations officially opening two new clinics.

The Government contributed $3 million towards upgrading outpatient services at Western Hospital to facilitate its sale in November 2024. The sale brought the 50-year-old hospital out of voluntary administration.

The funding deal requires Western Hospital to take on 4,000 elective surgeries from the public waiting list, over the three years of the agreement.

Western Hospital has exceeded its year one targets.

As at the November 1 anniversary of the deal, there had been:

• 1065 procedures completed
• 110 more procedures scheduled
• 156 further referrals pending decision

In the specialties of gastroenterology, gynaecology, general surgery and ophthalmology, the arrangement has been so successful, year two of the agreement began ahead of schedule. This is a credit to the collaborative efforts between Western Hospital and the Government, and across the local health networks.

Patients who have had their procedures conducted at Western Hospital have come both from elective surgery waiting lists, where their procedure had already been approved, and from outpatient waiting lists. Patients are being referred from across the local health networks with the largest number coming from the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network.

The funding agreement and surgical work provided by the State Government and SA Health has not only been instrumental in the survival and recovery of Western Hospital but has also allowed it to expand.

Western Hospital is today officially opening a new 16-bed inpatient ward and day surgery clinic to provide care to both public and private patients.

GenesisCare has also opened a chemotherapy clinic on the site, providing patients from the Western suburbs with convenient access to their treatments. It also means their ongoing care can be integrated with inpatient and outpatient hospital services.

The Western Hospital agreement is part of a broader strategy in which SA Health is also partnering with other private hospitals to ensure elective surgeries can continue uninterrupted as far as is possible, even at times of high demand on the public hospital system.

Successful arrangements with private hospitals such as this feature as part of SA Health’s elective surgery strategy released today.

The strategy focuses on evidence-based, long-lasting reforms to enhance the delivery of elective surgery for South Australians – amidst increasing demand with an ageing population.

SA Health will do this by focusing on:

• Expanding theatre access
• Enhancing prioritisation of patients
• More efficient and effective care before, during and after surgery
• Smarter use of digital tools
• Consistent, evidence-based surgical pathways
• Supporting and growing our workforce

The Malinauskas Government is building a bigger health system – including 600 additional beds – and has already recruited more than 2,700 additional health workers including doctors, nurses, ambos and allied health workers.

The elective surgery plan can be viewed on the SA Health website.

Quotes

Attributable to Chris Picton

Thousands more South Australians are having elective surgery under Labor compared to the Liberals, and we’re also delivering 137,000 more specialist outpatient appointments a year.

The agreement with Western Hospital has done all that we had hoped and more – providing a vital pressure valve for our elective surgery waiting lists.

It’s great to see Western Hospital expanding with a new inpatient ward, day surgery clinic and chemotherapy clinic opening.

We know there is more work to do and that’s why we are releasing our elective surgery plan to help even more South Australians get their much-needed operations.

Attributable to Deputy Chief Executive, Clinical System Support and Improvement, Robyn Lindsay

Our local health networks continuously review elective surgery and outpatient lists and take every possible step to ensure South Australians receive care as quickly as possible.

The agreement with Western Hospital has been a valuable addition to this effort and we are pleased referrals across multiple high-demand specialities have already exceeded our targets.

In addition to working with private providers, other initiatives to reduce waiting lists include running extra clinics, recruiting new consultants and introducing digital tools to improve communication with patients.

Attributable to Western Hospital Chief Executive Officer David Coorey

The partnership between Western Hospital and the State Government has exceeded expectations in improving access to elective surgery. By working together, we’ve been able to make a real impact, offering more timely surgeries to thousands of South Australians and easing the strain on the public health system.

This collaboration not only benefits our patients, but it’s also enabled Western Hospital to strengthen its services, ensuring we continue to deliver high-quality care to our community.