Health vision cuts waiting

By Alison Noonan
CRANBOURNE Integrated Care Centre now offers the shortest time cataract surgery in the metropolitan area, Health Minister Bronwyn Pike announced this week.
Ms Pike was in town yesterday for a whirlwind tour of Southern Health sites in the south-east, including celebrating Moorabbin Monash Medical Centre’s 30th birthday and new dialysis centre and opening a $700,000 renovated Doveton health service.
Ms Pike praised the Cranbourne ICC’s innovative eye service, which won a major award in the Victorian Public Healthcare Awards earlier this month.
The centre won the coveted “Innovation in patient access — access to elective services” category for its ophthalmology program, which has cut the waiting time for cataract surgery from 336 days to 58 days.
Ms Pike said Cranbourne ICC had established its ophthalmology program with State Government funding through the Elective Surgery Access Strategy, which is providing hospitals with an extra $30 million over two years to cut waiting times.
“This funding will enable an extra 10,000 elective surgery patients to be treated in 2005 and next year, targeting those who have been waiting longer than is ideal,” Ms Pike said.
“Cranbourne’s excellent and innovative services have benefited from extra Bracks Government funding and have been at the forefront in providing elective surgery for patients who have been waiting longest.
“Cranbourne Integrated Care Centre is the major centre for ophthalmology in the south-east.
“It is second only to the Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital in providing public eye surgical services, so it’s a facility that Cranbourne can be proud of,” she said.
Ms Pike said patients at the Cranbourne ICC were now also able to have their reviews, assessments and operations on the same day under the new See & Treat initiative, cutting waiting times for elective surgery patients.
“The See & Treat service, which started on 8 November, is initially providing surgery for patients suffering carpal tunnel injuries in their wrists,” Ms Pike said.
“It is expected to provide surgery or treatment for 120 patients before the end of this year, and is a major innovation in that it eliminates multiple appointments and assessments for patients.
“They can be reviewed, assessed and receive their surgery on the same day, and go home at the end of it to rehabilitate.”
Ms Pike said See & Treat at Cranbourne would soon be expanded to other elective surgery conditions.
“Southern Health will then pool its patients with these conditions and expects to provide them with their surgery or treatment about a year earlier than they would otherwise get it,” she said.