Page 173 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 16 February 2011
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Under median waiting times, it is actually better to keep your long-wait patients on the list because, the minute you remove a long-wait patient, it changes your median waiting time. If we were to only focus on category 1s and those category 2s that are done in the first 60 days, the median waiting time would be down to 20 in a flash.
But that is not what we are doing. What we are doing is attacking the long waits and getting those people their operations. Median waiting times are about people getting their operations and getting their operations as soon as we can. That means removing people who have had waits of 120 days. And that will affect your median waiting time.
I know what the right thing to do is. I suspect if Mr Hanson was in this job he would be doing whatever made the numbers look good.
MR HANSON: A supplementary question, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Minister if you have been focusing on the long waits, why are 15 per cent of patients waiting for longer than a year—five times the national average?
Mr Seselja: It doesn’t add up, Katy. It doesn’t add up.
MS GALLAGHER: Well, it does, because whilst you are removing your long waits, unless you are significantly increasing your throughput—like over a thousand extra operations a year—you are going to have long waits continue. As you remove long waits, there are long waits that are coming. Until you remove the tail—
Mr Seselja: The two stories don’t work.
MR SPEAKER: Order, members.
MS GALLAGHER: You think it is funny. It is actually not funny.
Mr Hanson: Five times the national average.
MR SPEAKER: Ms Gallagher, stick with the question.
MS GALLAGHER: While you are dealing with the patients that are long waits, more patients have joined the list and are becoming long waits. If you cannot follow that, you are just plain stupid.
Mr Seselja: More than any other jurisdiction.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Seselja.
Mr Seselja: More than any other jurisdiction.
MS GALLAGHER: Well, who knows what other jurisdictions are doing with their long waits, Mr Seselja.
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