Sarah Courtney,Minister for Health
The Tasmanian Liberal Government will provide a massive boost to the state’s elective surgery capacity in this year’s State Budget, helping more Tasmanians receive their surgery quicker.
We will invest a further $45.5 million into elective surgeries over the next 18 months, delivering more surgery for more Tasmanians, reducing waiting times, bringing down the waiting list, and driving better outcomes for patients.
This new funding, together with the previously announced $15 million provided through the Commonwealth, means our health service will deliver an estimated 8500 additional elective surgeries for the Tasmanian community over the next 18 months.
This is a huge boost to our surgery capacity, with an estimated 19,000 surgeries now planned for the 2020-21 financial year.
Importantly, this funding also means we have now delivered an additional $170.5 million for elective surgeries since 2014.
The Department of Health and surgical service leaders within the THS will work together to plan the additional surgeries and ensure they best meet the needs of the Tasmanian community.
I would like to thank Tasmanians for their patience during COVID-19 and our hardworking health workers for their continued work in supporting and caring for those in the community during a year like no other.
These have been challenging times for our health system and every day I will continue to look at how we can better protect and care for Tasmanians.
