27,000 more elective operations a year

Tony Ryall announced:

A record 145,414 patients received elective surgery in the year ended July 2011 says Health Minister Tony Ryall.

Elective surgery operations include hip and other joint operations, cataracts and grommets amongst other important life improving surgeries.

“This means an extraordinary extra 27,000 patients a year are now benefiting from elective surgery compared with the numbers treated under the previous Government”, Mr Ryall says.

“Over the term of this Government, around 60,000 more elective operations have been delivered over the three years.

This would be a good achievement if it occurred during a time when the Government had massive surpluses and could throw unlimited dollars into Vote Health.

To manage to get an extra 27,000 elective operations a year during a time of our largest ever fiscal deficit, and a global recession is quite extraordinary.