Patients at Lismore Base Hospital are facing some of the longest waits in New South Wales for elective surgery and emergency procedures.
The latest Bureau of Health Information (BHI) data show that Lismore had the longest emergency department waits for a regional hospital, while 10 per cent of patients in line for elective surgery were waiting longer than 372 days.
NSW Shadow Health Minister Walt Secord has blasted the results, saying the Nationals had ‘dropped the ball on health and hospitals’.
Mr Secord said the Lismore waits were significantly higher than the state-wide median of 26.1 per cent of patients who waited longer than four hours in emergency departments.
‘As of June 30, there were 1,521 patients waiting for elective surgery; of those 689 are seeking cataract surgery and 215 are waiting for knee replacement,’ he said.
Statewide there were more than 73,000 patients waiting for elective surgery.
Mr Secord said the data showed that Lismore patients had a 317 day wait for cataract surgery, 336 days for knee replacements, 287 days for hip replacements and a 75 day wait for tonsillectomies.
He said more than 28,000 patients a year visit Lismore Hospital. In the most recent quarter, from April 1 to June 30, 7,218 patients presented to the emergency department.
‘NSW health and hospitals are under enormous pressure. The Nationals have dropped the ball on health and hospitals,’ Mr Secord said.
‘The Nationals claim to be building infrastructure, but they are refusing to properly staff those facilities.’
’Under NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner and the Nationals, the health and hospital system lurches from crisis to crisis.
‘Every day there is a new problem in the health and hospital system.
‘Cataract surgery delays mean elderly North Coast residents cannot read a newspaper or drive themselves to personal appointments.
‘On the North Coast, patients face some of the longest waits in NSW for elective surgery and in emergency departments.’
‘Sadly, patients wait at every stage in NSW. They wait for an ambulance; they wait outside the emergency department and they wait inside the emergency department.
‘They wait for a bed and then they are discharged early to make room for other patients.’
Elective surgery is not important surgery, so just tell the people to have patience.
Len Heggarty, elective surgery such as cataract operations and knee replacement ops are very important for the people who need them and their families and loved ones.
Notwithstanding the stats I have to say (apart from the food) my infrequent involuntary interactions with this hospital have left me with only fond memories of the professionalism and amiability of the staff.