The Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital will be exempt from the scheme until April 1. Picture: Mark Cranitch. Source: News Corp Australia
Health minister Lawrence Springborg said the money for the guarantee scheme would come from “existing savings”. Picture: Tim Marsden Source: News Corp Australia
BONE-lengthening procedures and weight-loss surgery will not be covered by the State Government’s wait time guarantee scheme, along with eight other specialised operations.
Health Minister Lawrence Springborg says the scheme – which covers accommodation and transport costs for patients travelling more than 50km from the original hospital – will cost $170 million but “won’t cost Queensland taxpayers one cent more”.
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Labor yesterday labelled the scheme a “surgical merry-go-round” that would lead to “cuts, cuts, cuts”, but Mr Springborg said the money would come from “existing savings”.
“There is no additional funding for this from Treasury,” he said. “This is being funded from within Queensland Health by a significant reduction in bureaucracy and red tape.”
The Government is guaranteeing every patient will receive surgery within the clinically recommended time, with costs covered if it means travelling to a more distant hospital.
The Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital will be exempt from the scheme until April 1.
The vast majority of elective surgeries will be covered, including cardiothoracic, ENT, gynaecology, ophthalmology, orthopedic and neurosurgery procedures, among others.
Exceptions include surgeries not covered by the public health system, surgeries that require an organ to be donated, or procedures for which “there are not enough surgeons with the required highly specialised skills in Queensland”.
The exemption list – to be reviewed every six months – includes bone lengthening, post-mastectomy breast reconstruction, deep brain stimulation, penile prostheses, weight-loss surgeries, “complex upper and lower limb” surgery, complex urology surgeries involving spinal cord injuries, and sacral nerve stimulator implantation and removals.
HIPEC chemotherapy and orbital implants and oculo-plastic procedures will also not be covered.
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- TEN
- 12 Nov 2014
- News