KEY POINTS:
Chronically sick people in South Auckland are being urged to check with their GPs, as they may now qualify for an operation.
Waiting times have fallen at Middlemore Hospital, meaning people who were previously turned down for surgery may now be eligible.
Dr Andrew Connolly, the Counties Manukau District Health Board's clinical director of surgery, said the board, which runs Middlemore Hospital, had so far this year already performed more operations than last year.
In the past 10 years rates of cardiac surgery at the board nearly doubled, hip replacements doubled, knee replacements nearly tripled, cataract extractions rose 50 per cent and gall bladder removals were up 40 per cent.
Almost all procedures, apart from those on patients with other pre-existing conditions that need treatment first, are done within six months of a surgeon's assessment, with the average wait between three and four months. Urgent surgery such as cancers still have priority.
The threshold to qualify for surgery in public hospitals has steadily risen over the past few years as they have struggled to cope with an ageing population.
Last year, health boards culled waiting lists after the Health Ministry decreed patients should wait no longer than six months for surgery.
Counties was already compliant so it did not drop any patients.
But 20,000 people in other parts of the country were dumped overnight, and the decree had a further effect of tightening qualification criteria.
Because the status of some residents who may not have qualified in the past for surgery is not known, Counties is urging people with chronic conditions who may benefit from surgery to get their conditions reassessed.
It is assuring people that patients who need surgery will be treated in six months or less.
"This is a great result," said chief executive Geraint Martin. "The unprecedented increase in elective surgery is a result of a deliberate policy by [the health board] to improve services over a five-year period."
A further $6 million of targeted spending is planned for 2007-2008. Extra operations include hip replacement, knee replacement, cataract removal, gastroscopy, colonoscopy, hysterectomy and prostatectomy.
WAITING TIMES
Average for Counties Manukau at June 30, 2007:
Hip replacements: 12 weeks.
Knee replacements: 12 weeks.
Cataract removal: 12 weeks.
Colonoscopy: 18 weeks.
Hysterectomy: 11 weeks.
Breast reconstruction: 17 weeks.
Tubal ligation: 10 weeks.
