Patients wait in pain

By Casey Neill
ANGLISS Hospital is in crisis, according to opposition health spokeswoman Helen Shardey.
Ms Shardey said the latest Your Hospitals report confirmed the Angliss Hospital was not a priority of the Brumby government.
“There are 613 patients on the waiting list and 3338 patients endured more than four hours’ waiting in the emergency department waiting room before being treated and discharged,” she said.
“Each one of these reported figures represents a Victorian in pain, seeking treatment.”
Statistics for the Angliss Hospital from July to December last year revealed 613 patients were on the elective surgery waiting list, an increase of 110 patients since December 2006.
An extra 365 emergency department patients were forced to wait for more than eight hours for a bed.
More than 3000 patients waited longer than four hours in the Angliss emergency department before being treated and discharged, an increase of 228 patients from the previous year.
Responding to the report two weeks ago, Angliss Hospital general manager Natalie Sullivan said that while semi and non urgent elective surgery waiting lists appeared to have increased, she remained confident that the hospital would attend to a majority of patients within clinically ideal times.
In a statement last week she said: “However, it must be noted that waiting list figures are taken at a single point in time and they do fluctuate.”
A spokesman for Health Minister Daniel Andrews said Victorian hospitals treated a record number of patients during the second half of last year, despite the impact of a severe flu season, a spike in gastro cases and industrial action by the state’s nurses.
“While some of the ambitious performance targets were not met, the Brumby Government has announced a massive $1.81 billion boost for health, including elective surgery, outpatient appointments, emergency departments and ambulance services,” he said.
“This money will enable an extra 60,000 to receive treatments each year, while a blitz on elective surgery will provide for an additional 9400 operations for long-wait patients on hospital lists.”
He said the government would also fund a $6 million winter demand strategy which includes opening up an extra 100 hospital beds for up to 100 days.