Elective Surgery Waiting Time
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WRITTEN QUESTIONS
10th Assembly
12/04/2006
248. Elective Surgery Waiting Time
Dr Lim to for Minister for Health
QUESTION
1. How many people are currently waiting for elective surgery across the Territory?
2. Please provide the number of people on elective surgery waiting lists by hospital?
3. Please provide the number of people on elective surgery waiting lists for Territory hospitals by category of elective surgery?.
4. What is the longest waiting period for elective surgery, and how many persons are involved, by each Territory hospital?
5 How many persons have died while waiting for an elective surgery medical procedure, by calendar year and for each Territory hospital.
ANSWER
Answered on 06/10/2006
WRITTEN QUESTIONS
10th Assembly
12/04/2006
248. Elective Surgery Waiting Time
Dr Lim to for Minister for Health
QUESTION
1. How many people are currently waiting for elective surgery across the Territory?
2. Please provide the number of people on elective surgery waiting lists by hospital?
3. Please provide the number of people on elective surgery waiting lists for Territory hospitals by category of elective surgery?.
4. What is the longest waiting period for elective surgery, and how many persons are involved, by each Territory hospital?
5 How many persons have died while waiting for an elective surgery medical procedure, by calendar year and for each Territory hospital.
ANSWER
Answered on 06/10/2006
- 1. As at 31 May 2006, there were 3277 people on elective surgery waiting lists at NT public hospitals.
2. The number of people on elective surgery waiting lists by hospital as at 31 May 2006 is as follows:
| Hospital | No. of people on waiting list at 31 May 2006 |
| Royal Darwin Hospital | 1438 |
| Alice Springs Hospital | 1225 |
| Gove District Hospital | 241 |
| Katherine Hospital | 273 |
| Tennant Creek Hospital | 100 |
| Total | 3277 |
3. The number of people on elective surgery waiting lists for Territory hospitals by category of elective surgery is as follows:
 | Elective: Urgent | Elective: Semi-Urgent | Elective: Non-Urgent | Total |
| Royal Darwin Hospital | 174 | 462 | 802 | 1438 |
| Alice Springs Hospital | 115 | 560 | 550 | 1225 |
| Gove District Hospital | 10 | 88 | 143 | 241 |
| Katherine Hospital | 10 | 60 | 203 | 273 |
| Tennant Creek Hospital | 3 | 36 | 61 | 100 |
Total | 312 | 1206 | 1759 | 3277 |
4. What is the longest waiting period for elective surgery, and how many persons are involved, by each Territory hospital?
- The standard measure for measuring “long waits” on elective surgery waiting lists is to count the number of patients currently on the list who have waited more than 365 days. As at 31 May 2006, the following numbers of patients who were waiting greater than 365 days was as follows:
| Hospital | No. of people on waiting list greater than 365 days at 31 May 2006 |
| Royal Darwin Hospital | 297 |
| Alice Springs Hospital | 748 |
| Gove District Hospital | 54 |
| Katherine Hospital | 69 |
| Tennant Creek Hospital | 68 |
| Total | 1236 |
5. How many persons have died while waiting for an elective surgery medical procedure, by calendar year and for each Territory hospital?
- Departmental information systems are not able to capture the full extent of this information. Any data provided here would be incomplete and could be open to misinterpretation.
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016