With no COVID-19 cases in hospitals, the Department of Health says bookings for multi-day, non-urgent Category Two and Category Three elective surgeries can continue to be taken for a further two weeks.
Announcing the arrangement, the Department said the surgery schedule would be reviewed ahead of any temporary pause to some surgeries, based on Omicron COVID-19 case numbers and advice from the Chief Health Officer.
“The temporary scale-down on non-urgent, multi-day elective surgery is now set to commence on 14 March at all public hospitals and on 21 March at some larger private hospitals,” the Department said.
“There is no change to Category One bookings and the surgery schedule for these will continue as normal.”
The Department said it would continue to closely monitor COVID-19 cases in the community and hospitals.
Minister for Health, Amber-Jade Sanderson said while COVID-19 cases continued to rise, the increase had been slower than expected and, therefore, additional elective surgeries could be booked for a further two weeks.
“This is an agile and planned approach to elective surgery, and will ensure some patients who have been waiting for surgery can be treated,” Ms Sanderson said.
“I wish to thank all our healthcare staff across the system for their hard work and commitment and thank everyone awaiting elective surgery for their understanding,” she said.
