Managing large surgical backlogs are a challenge across Australia and New Zealand. Everyone understands that you can’t manage what you can’t measure. What ANZ hospitals lack is a surgical patient prioritization software solution to electronically connect the surgeon’s rooms with the hospitals, providing both with accurate and real-time data on the volume of patients in the queues. Our hospitals and healthcare systems are struggling. The Novari ATC electronic request for admission (eRFA), patient prioritization, wait list management, pre-op optimization and backlog analytics system is part of the answer.
In their recent article Healthcare Spaces describes this challenge that Australia and New Zealand hospitals face. They write: “In October, reports in the media said hospital waiting lists had skyrocketed by up to 40% as a result of a ban on surgery during the initial stage of the pandemic.
By June, there were more than 260,000 people waiting for elective surgery in Australia’s public hospitals, with those needing cataract surgery, hip and knee replacements and tonsillectomies facing some of the longest waits.
In an article in the Herald Sun, industry analyst Andrew Goodsall reported that a further 280,000 surgeries were estimated to have been deferred in the private sector, and said he predicts it will take almost two years to address the pre-pandemic backlog.
As well as delays caused by bans, other effects of the pandemic have included capacity issues due to social distancing, and appointments being cancelled for fear of contracting Covid19. Some people have also moved away from private insurance, adding pressure on the public healthcare sector”…