WA Health put elective surgery on hold across Perth as demand and ramping exploded to a new daily record

5 hours ago

The West Australian
exclusive
WA Health put elective surgery on hold across Perth as demand and ramping exploded to a new daily record

Hashtags

Health

#WestAustralian

#WAHealth

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

WA public hospitals reschedule elective surgeries after surge in demand

ABC News

4 hours ago

ABC News

WA public hospitals reschedule elective surgeries after surge in demand

A number of planned elective surgeries have been put on hold in Western Australia due to a significant surge in demand on hospital emergency departments. In response to questions from the ABC, Health director general Dr Shirley Bowen said a high volume of patient presentations to WA's public hospitals overnight on Monday into Tuesday caused the surge. As a result, a number non-urgent surgeries planned for Wednesday in the metro area have been rescheduled. The postponement of elective surgeries is a strategy used by health authorities when the system is under pressure. In November 2021, widespread cancellations of non-urgent surgery across WA occurred during a strain on resources due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Bowen said that was to ensure access to emergency healthcare for the rest of the week and impacted patients would be notified by their treating hospital. "To ensure access to emergency healthcare for Western Australians for the remainder of the week, WA Health is proactively rescheduling some non-urgent surgeries in the metropolitan area," Dr Bowen said. "We continue to prioritise our most seriously ill and injured patients. Dr Bowen acknowledged that the rescheduling might be "inconvenient and difficult for some patients". "We are committed to ensuring patients' surgery is re-scheduled as soon as possible."

West Australian

5 hours ago

West Australian