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Focus on elective surgery welcome, but new model a concern
AMA Victoria President Dr Mark Yates has welcomed the State Government’s commitment to tackle the elective surgery waiting list, but has raised concerns the opening of the new Alfred centre could drain scarce specialist doctors from other hospitals.Premier Steve Bracks opened the new $90 million Alfred Elective Surgery Centre this week.
The centre is the first of three planned for inner Melbourne. The Alfred centre is expected to see 40,000 patients in the first full year of operation.
“Investment, extra capacity and new resources in our health system are welcome, however, the Alfred centre model does have shortcomings.
“In a time of medical workforce shortage, a key concern is these centres will draw staff from regional and outer metropolitan hospitals.
“The flow of patients might also impact the viability of services and training at other hospitals.
“These centres could have serious implications for hospitals struggling to retain doctors and may lead to cuts in services in outer metropolitan hospitals,” Dr Yates said.
“In addition, AMA Victoria is also concerned patients will have to travel long distances to access services and may have difficulty accessing follow-up services.
“Hospitals should be resourced and funded to provide the services required by their local communities.”
Dr Yates said AMA Victoria’s concerns about the model being used had been raised with government over many years.
“Now the first new centre is in place we would expect the government to monitor its impact not just on numbers of patients treated, but the impact on other health services in the state.”
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