Victoria spent over $1b on a surgery catch-up plan. The financial watchdog can't say if rapid clinics worked
The government program delivered 30,000 fewer catch-up operations than originally hoped, and this shortfall was driven by issues between the Health Department and the private hospitals tasked with carrying out extra public procedures, the Victorian Auditor-General's Office has found.
In a report on its investigation, tabled in state parliament on Wednesday, the Auditor-General's Office determined that 209,925 elective procedures had been conducted in the 12 months to July last year – below the catch-up program's target of 240,000 procedures.
The watchdog also heard that, as of May this year, there were 583 long-wait patients on the surgery waiting list. This group was already on the waiting list and overdue for surgery as of March 2022.
The Auditor-General's Office heard from the department that the surgery shortfall was because private hospitals were either grappling with their own backlogs and infrastructure issues or asking for too much money as part of public-private surgery partnerships. It also heard from one health service that the modelling that helped shape the department's targets was flawed.
The Andrews government allocated $1.5 billion to a surgery catch-up plan in April 2022, given the pandemic had triggered a backlog in elective procedures.
What the Auditor-General's Office found
1. The department increased the number of planned surgeries and reduced the waiting list, but did not fully meet the plan's targets.
2. The shortfall against the overarching target was mainly from the public-in-private initiative.
3. The plan delivered additional facilities for planned surgeries, but their current and future effect on the health system's performance is unclear.
As part of this program, which ran from April 2022 until June 30 last year, public health services were tasked with increasing their partnerships with private hospitals to deliver extra operations. These kinds of operations are called public-in-private surgeries.
In the case of Frankston Private Hospital, one of the institutions to add a public surgical centre under the catch-up program, just over 6000 planned procedures were delivered in the 2023-24 financial year. The department's target was 9000 procedures.
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Victoria's billion-dollar COVID catch-up plan for elective surgery fell short of its targets, and the effect of rapid surgical hubs on the health system remains unclear. The government program delivered 30,000 fewer catch-up operations than originally hoped, and this shortfall was driven by issues between the Health Department and the private hospitals tasked with carrying out extra public procedures, the Victorian Auditor-General's Office has found. In a report on its investigation, tabled in state parliament on Wednesday, the Auditor-General's Office determined that 209,925 elective procedures had been conducted in the 12 months to July last year – below the catch-up program's target of 240,000 procedures. The watchdog also heard that, as of May this year, there were 583 long-wait patients on the surgery waiting list. This group was already on the waiting list and overdue for surgery as of March 2022. The Auditor-General's Office heard from the department that the surgery shortfall was because private hospitals were either grappling with their own backlogs and infrastructure issues or asking for too much money as part of public-private surgery partnerships. It also heard from one health service that the modelling that helped shape the department's targets was flawed. The Andrews government allocated $1.5 billion to a surgery catch-up plan in April 2022, given the pandemic had triggered a backlog in elective procedures. What the Auditor-General's Office found 1. The department increased the number of planned surgeries and reduced the waiting list, but did not fully meet the plan's targets. 2. The shortfall against the overarching target was mainly from the public-in-private initiative. 3. The plan delivered additional facilities for planned surgeries, but their current and future effect on the health system's performance is unclear. As part of this program, which ran from April 2022 until June 30 last year, public health services were tasked with increasing their partnerships with private hospitals to deliver extra operations. These kinds of operations are called public-in-private surgeries. In the case of Frankston Private Hospital, one of the institutions to add a public surgical centre under the catch-up program, just over 6000 planned procedures were delivered in the 2023-24 financial year. The department's target was 9000 procedures.
