Extra $1m to slash heart surgery queue

By FRANCESCA MOLD

The Health Funding Authority will spend $1 million on private operations for more than 130 patients waiting for heart bypasses.

Green Lane Hospital revealed last week that 137 patients had been waiting more than six months for potentially life-saving surgery - more than four times as many as a year ago.

The hospital has said it is unlikely to have the capacity to perform all the catch-up operations, so it will ask private hospitals, including Auckland's Mercy and Ascot, to take care of the overflow.

Health Minister Annette King has said operations paid for by the taxpayer should be done in public hospitals.

But a speaker for Mrs King said yesterday that if public hospitals could not cope, it was acceptable to seek private sector options.

The HFA will also allocate an extra $2.5 million to boost the number of bypass operations performed at Green Lane in the long term.

The new money means that the hospital will be able to employ more nurses and develop extra theatre space to cope with up to 180 more patients a year.

The Government has said no one should wait longer than six months for elective bypass surgery.