All non-urgent elective surgeries in Queensland hospitals have been postponed until 1 March.
Minister for Health, Yvette D’Ath said postponing Category Three and some Category Two elective surgeries had been made to help ensure the system had sufficient capacity to deal with the expected peak of COVID-19 Omicron cases.
“Throughout the pandemic, our healthcare services have continually adapted to meet demand and deliver life-saving care,” Ms D’Ath said.
“Postponing non-urgent elective surgeries is an unfortunate but necessary step to ensure Queenslanders can continue to access urgent and critical healthcare if and when they need it,” she said.
Ms D’Ath said public hospitals would also be looking to either postpone, or deliver by telehealth, all non-urgent outpatient appointments, whether new or follow-up, for the same period.
“Emergency and trauma surgery and Category One urgent planned surgery will proceed as normal as will critical services like chemotherapy and renal dialysis,” she said.
“These changes will ensure we still have enough staff available to continue providing essential healthcare to the Queenslanders who need it.”
The Minister said the decision mirrored the national postponement of routine elective surgery in the early part of the pandemic in 2020.
“We will review the situation at the end of January to determine if we are in a position to recommence non-urgent Category Two and Three elective surgeries earlier than planned,” Ms D’Ath said.
