Surgery waiting lists 'heading in right direction'
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The ACT Government is claiming success in its fight to reduce surgery waiting lists.
An injection of Commonwealth and ACT funding has helped Canberra's public hospitals achieve record levels of elective surgery in the September quarter.
Health Minister Katy Gallagher says surgery has also been provided for 86 per cent of patients who were on waiting lists for a year or more.
Ms Gallagher says the aim is now to reduce waiting times for less urgent cases.
"People who have been waiting longer than one year, some two years, for their surgery and as they come off the list those categories will improve," she said.
"So whilst they don't look as good as we want them to look, we're heading in the right direction.
"We haven't seen this level of achievement in the ACT since we started keeping records.
"We're on target to almost reach 10,000 procedures this year, we're 600 ahead of where we were last year which is really great because we are headed into the Christmas time when doctors take leave and surgery starts winding down so it's great to be ahead."
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