Surgeons from Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital will perform surgery in Geelong in a new arrangement that could cut waiting times and, if successful, may be replicated across other regional centres in Victoria.
The surgeons would visit Geelong once a fortnight to perform at least 200 operations a year – most urological procedures – as well as offer outpatient services.
However, patients requiring more complicated operations, including heart surgery, would have to be transferred to Melbourne.
Victorian Health Minister David Davis said the program would reduce waiting lists, and families from south-west Victoria would no longer have to travel to Melbourne for surgery.
He said the plan was in its early stages, but it could also work for other regional hospitals.
“I think it’s a model we will watch very closely,” he said.
“It’s a model that carries a lot of promise, and as this is worked through and implemented here, I think we can see a very good result statewide.”
Under the new treatment model, Kuiper Hede, of Moggs Creek, will not have to travel to Melbourne for surgery.
The chief executive of Barwon Health, David Ashbridge, said the service would grow and develop.
“We’re taking a fairly significant step and we’ll see how it develops from there,” he said.
Professor Ashbridge said local families would appreciate not having to travel to Melbourne for treatment.
“The option of having surgery done here in Geelong, and even for the people in the western district and closer to home around the Bellarine Peninsula, it’s obviously a real benefit for them,” he said.