A new health deal designed to speed up waiting lists for surgery has been signed by New South Wales and ACT authorities.
Thousands of people travel from the South Coast, Monaro and Tablelands in NSW each year to get treatment at Canberra Hospital.
Under the new cross-border deal, low-risk surgeries and caesarean sections will be performed at Queanbeyan and Bega Hospitals, rather than in Canberra.
The ACT Government hoped to reduce pressure on its elective surgery waiting list by asking NSW patients to have their operations done closer to home.
Health Minister Simon Corbell said current demand for ACT services was high.
“Each year Canberra’s hospitals provide over 11,500 elective surgeries, of those about 3,500 are for people living in the surrounding NSW region,” he said.
“This new arrangement will see more low-risk surgery undertaken in regional hospitals rather than the ACT, reducing the pressure on elective waiting lists.”
NSW Health Minister Skinner said the investment in regional hospitals would provide benefits for local patients who previously needed to travel for treatment.
“It gives our great hospitals in southern NSW the opportunity to care for their communities,” she said.
“The NSW Government will fund the additional services and provide all the resources required, including medical and nursing staff to manage patient care.”
Mr Corbell predicted the change would see patient numbers in NSW to increase over the next 18 months.
“We expect in this financial year about 300 occasions of service, growing to 600 occasions of service in the coming financial year,” Mr Corbell said.
“This will include work such as some orthopaedic joint surgery procedures, some general surgery at Queanbeyan and Bega Hospitals and up to 50 planned low-risk caesarean births at Queanbeyan.”
NSW patients will be told that where their medical procedure meets the clinical guidelines, they would be referred for surgery in the relevant regional hospital.