3 new operating theatres to slash wait times

Tasmania's State Government has announced the opening of three new operating theatres in the state this week as part of their plan to rebuild Tasmania’s health system. With serious questions being raised about the allocation of dollars earmarked for Tasmanian health, this will be only a drop in the ocean but it is a step in the right direction.
Launceston General Hospital (LGH) will open two new theatres and one will open at the Royal Hobart. An additional 15 nurses and four support staff have been recruited to the LGH along with a new short stay surgical unit (SSSU) that will begin operation as part of the LGH Support Plan announced late last year. The SSSU will admit and process all elective surgery patients prior to transfer to theatre and will provide post-operative care.
The new operating theatres come with a promise from the government that elective surgery waiting lists will be slashed. The new theatres will increase capacity across the public system in the second half of this financial year.
It’s expected more than 1250 additional elective surgical cases will be completed with the opening of the operating theatres.
The Hodgman Liberal Government has stated that 'consistent with the Tasmanian Health Service (THS) elective surgery capacity, elective surgery activity will increase by 23 per cent in the second half of this financial year, compared to the same period in 2014-15.'
This will be facilitated by the strategy which includes opening of the three new theatres and the utilisation of existing private hospital contracts and the new private panel arrangements. The Tasmanian Health Service (THS) has set ambitious surgical targets to help reduce public hospital waiting lists.
The additional theatre capacity coupled with the use of private contracts will enable the THS to meet its ambitious 2015-16 targets.
The opening of the SSSU at the LGH will allow for the separation of medical day procedures and surgical day procedures/surgery, which is designed to increase efficiency.
The hospital’s day procedure unit will handle medical cases including endoscopy, cardiology, infusions and pre and post angiography.
These improvements will be complemented by the dedicated elective surgery service we are establishing at the Mersey, which commenced in September 2015 with an additional 300 additional endoscopy procedures performed each year.
The Mersey 23 hour surgical service will be fully implemented in July this year.
Michael Ferguson, Minister for Health. Tasmanian Government. 31 January 2016