Waiting times for surgery (Part 1)

Why am I waiting so long for surgery? I've heard that I will wait longer at Hospital X compared to Hospital Y. Why can't my doctor do my operation in another hospital?

There are several factors which will determine how long you would have to wait for your surgery.  In this post, I would focus on Elective versus Emergency surgery.

Elective vs Emergency
In NSW, all surgery is classified into 2 major categories. They are Elective surgery or Emergency surgery.

According to the NSW Ministry of Health Guidelines, the definitions of the two categories are as follows [1]:
Elective surgery
Emergency surgery
"Surgery which, although deemed necessary by the treating clinician, in their opinion can be delayed for at  least 24 hrs."
"An emergency procedure is one being performed on a patient whose clinical acuity is assessed by the clinician as requiring the surgery within 24 hrs or in less than 72 hours where the patient is not physiologically stable enough to be discharged from hospital prior to the required surgery. "

The majority of Emergency surgery is done at public hospitals. More surgeries are classified as Elective as compared to Emergency [2].

If you are in a situation where you are very sick and need Emergency surgery, you would get your surgery done alot quicker than if you were less sick. For example, if you fracture your hip or have appendicitis, chances are you do need an Emergency surgery.

In most hospitals, the operating theatre manager will have allocated a given amount of time each day with enough theatre space and staffing to undertake Emergency. If the allocated time is insufficient, Elective surgery will likely be cancelled to make way for the critically unwell patient. This decision of who would be cancelled can be made by the surgeon or the nurse manager.

See also...
Waiting times for surgery (Part 2) - Public vs Private Hospitals
Waiting times for surgery (Part 3) - Wait list category

References[1] NSW MoH Emergency Surgery Guidelines
[2] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

COVID-19 Stay-at-home Day 6: Kimchi Pork Stew Recipe

Image
Hi guys! It's day 6 of our COVID-19 stay-at-home plan. I've decided to resurrect my blog by sharing our meals with you guys. Tonight on the menu is my version of a Kimchi Pork Stew. It's super easy to make and you don't have to follow the vegetable recommendations strictly here. You can use whatever veggies you like. So here's it! It's best served with rice. Ingredients 200g Pork - Best cuts are belly if not shoulder or leg is fine. 1 tablespoon Oil 1 cup Kimchi 1 tablespoon Korean spicy red pepper paste (Gochujang) 3 cups water Your choice of mushrooms and vegetables. 1 packet of spicy Korean instant noodles 300g Medium tofu sliced (Optional) Spring onion to garnish Marinade Mixture 2 tablespoon of wine - Chinese cooking wine, Mirin/ cooking sake, or sherry 1 tablespoon of soy sauce 1 teaspoon of black pepper Method 1) Cut pork into thin slices. I have around 200g of pork shoulder here, but pork belly would be even better. It's bes...
Read more

COVID-19 Stay at Home Day 7: Crispy Rice Cakes Recipe

Image
Hey guys! Just sharing a quick analogy about numbers and COVID-19 and why you should avoid the disease before I post my recipe of the day. Imagine you have a packet of M&Ms with 100 little chocolates in it. Now you're being told between 2-6 pieces in that packet has cyanide in it, and there are a few that will give you violent diahorrea what would you do?  1) Throw the whole packet away 2) Eat it cause I won't die from diahorrea 3) Eat it cause what's the risk of dying, it's just 2-6%?! 4) Eat it and share it with all your friends and family and even your doggy! Personally, the most logical answer for me is to throw the whole packet away. It's the same reason why I'm staying at home to help stop the spread of COVID-19. I guess it's really food for thought! That said, here's my recipe for today! I've had some leftover rice from last night and NO WAY, not wasting any rice as it's super hard to find rice out there. I've turn my lef...
Read more

How to pick your notebook for Bullet Journal

Image
The bullet journal is a "back-to-traditional" organisational tool. It has won many fans not only from those who like being organised with to-do lists, but also from many craft and stationary enthusiast. If you've not heard of bullet journalling (or bujo for short), it is a system using a combination of long term and short term to-do lists, coupled with calendars to keep organised. Variations include meal prep lists, shopping lists, goals, etc. Many craft lovers also use their bujos for variations of paper crafts (like scrapbooking) and calligraphy. There are a good variety of different types and styles of notebooks available on the market. One of the most common dilemmas most newbies to bullet journalling have is what type of notebook to use. It might seem quite trivial for those who have never stepped into the bullet journalling world, but in fact the different types of notebook are used quite differently. To pick your first bullet journal, I've tried to catego...
Read more