$100 million boost to deliver more elective surgeries
- Crisafulli Government announces a $100 million boost to Surgery Connect, helping ease the elective surgery waitlist.
- Surgery Connect Surge will boost the partnership with private hospitals to help deliver more life changing surgeries Queenslanders are waiting to receive.
- The investment will kick-start efforts to stabilise Queensland’s elective surgery waitlist.
The Crisafulli Government has today announced a $100 million boost to Surgery Connect allowing thousands more Queenslanders to receive life changing surgery.
The Surgery Connect Surge will deliver 10,000 additional elective surgeries by the end of June, utilising private sector capacity to deliver planned elective surgery within private hospitals.
Additional surgeries that will be delivered faster under this program will include cataract surgery, tonsils and adenoids, and knee replacements.
Surgery Connect Surge underpins the Crisafulli Government’s election commitment to stabilise Queensland’s elective surgery wait list which skyrocketed under the chaos and crisis of the former Labor Government.
Under Labor’s Health Crisis, the number of Queenslanders requiring elective surgery more than doubled. In February 2015 27,950 Queenslanders were on the elective surgery waitlist, that number rose to 64,171 in October 2024 and the latest quarterly data reveals it is now 66,632 patients.
The Crisafulli Government’s $100 million boost to Surgery Connect will kick-start efforts to stablise the waitlist, in line with the fresh start promised to Queenslanders.
Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Tim Nicholls said the Crisafulli Government’s Easier Access to Health Services Plan would diagnose, treat, and cure Labor’s Health Crisis.
“The Crisafulli Government has delivered an additional $100 million to deliver more surgeries, more quickly for Queenslanders on the waitlist,” Minister Nicholls said.
“After a decade of Labor, the health system is in crisis and Queenslanders have been paying a high price.
“The Crisafulli Government is working to stabilise the elective surgery waitlist, and our boost to Surgery Connect is just the beginning.
“We will be working with more than 60 private partners to help deliver the boost to Surgery Connect across ENT, General Surgery, Orthopaedics, Urology, Ophthalmology, Gynaecology and Plastics.
“Shamefully, the former Labor Government ran a desperate scare campaign around Surgery Connect, but the Crisafulli Government is boosting the program to deliver more surgeries to more Queenslanders as part of our $100 million boost.”
The announcement follows the launch of Open Hospitals, delivering on the Crisafulli Government’s commitment to releasing real-time health data, via https://openhospitals.health.qld.gov.au .
