Super Saturdays reduce elective surgery waitlist
A small theatre team at Maryborough District Health Service (MDHS) is making a big impact for people living in Central Victoria and beyond.
In the last year MDHS has helped an additional 270 regional Victorians on the planned surgery wait lists have their surgery sooner and in many cases, closer to home.
According to MDHS Executive Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health, these additional 270 surgeries were performed as part of MDHS’s involvement in the Planned Surgery and Reform Project and the Grampians Region Health Service Partnership.
“While the Victorian elective surgery blitz began around 18 months ago, our commitment to tackling waitlists dates back to 2017, when we first added a sixth day of surgery, known as our Super Saturdays,” said Robyn Wilson, Executive Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health at Maryborough District Health Service.
The Super Saturdays surgical list has helped 1,200 people get off the waitlist in Ballarat and into the MDHS theatre to receive the surgery they need. That’s on top of our regular surgical list! With a positive flow on effect that ripples through the region.
An impressive result for a small regional theatre.
“Any inroads we can make into surgical waitlists has a direct and positive impact on health outcomes everywhere,” said Ms Wilson.
“Redirecting patients on a planned surgery waitlist to MDHS is obviously a great result for that individual. It also frees up the team in Ballarat to perform other surgeries, improving outcomes for people across the region.”
“Our focus in the Grampians Region Health Service Partnership is on how we can better meet the needs of people in our communities collectively and we are consistently looking at ways we can find even more efficiencies,” she adds.
“The Maryborough Hospital Redevelopment, due for completion in 2025, will deliver an additional theatre with the latest technology to further enable us to boost our capacity, which is very exciting.”
MDHS specialises in women’s health surgeries including gynaecology and obstetrics, as well as general surgery, urology, ear nose and throat, public and private dental.
“Our community is extremely fortunate to have such high quality nursing, theatre and surgical services available right here in Maryborough,” said Ms Wilson.
“We couldn’t have achieved this result without the dedication and commitment of our team, our surgeons and GP anaesthetists and the support of the surgical liaison team at Grampians Health Ballarat.”