Member for Nanango, Deb Frecklington has welcomed the announcement that the LNP Government will inject $23.4million to help cut the wait for people needing important eye surgery, including 361 people in the Darling Downs regional health area and a further 826 in the West Moreton region (Somerset).
Mrs Frecklington said the statewide blitz will help slash ophthalmology (eye surgery) long wait lists for people with vision impairment or debilitating eye conditions.
“In September this year, there were more than 7900 people around Queensland waiting longer than clinically recommended for an initial ophthalmology appointment. Locally, within the Darling Downs Hospital & Health Service region around 361 local residents are waiting and in the West Moreton region 826 people are waiting,” Mrs Frecklington said.
“Queensland Health has engaged ophthalmology service providers in a bid to clear this long wait list. The Health Minister, Lawrence Springborg will be sending letters out soon to eligible local ophthalmology patients to advise them of the good news,” she said.
“We are progressively revitalising the Queensland health system and the LNP Government is now focussing firmly on the unacceptably long wait for ophthalmology appointments to ensure Queenslanders have better access to vital eye care,” Deb said.
“We all know and appreciate how important good eye sight is to people’s health and well-being and the Government has a strong plan to ensure Queenslanders who have been waiting too long to see an ophthalmologist get that important treatment.”
Deb said the contracts with service providers were developed off the back of the Queensland Government’s successful campaign to provide cochlear implants for people with hearing loss.
“The Government has accepted proposals from service providers which will mean every ophthalmic patient who had waited longer than clinically recommended will be seen and treated by 30 June, 2015,” she said.
“Patients will be assessed for a range of vision impairments and debilitating eye conditions, such as cataracts, before receiving medical treatment or surgery if required.
The multi-million dollar eye surgery blitz follows the release of new long wait elective surgery figures showing a massive reduction of more than 90 per cent in the number of patients waiting longer than clinically recommended for their surgery.
The services will be delivered in addition to ophthalmology services currently available and did not represent a cut to existing public hospital services. Health and Hospital Services around the state will retain current funding for the delivery of healthcare in line with their service agreement.
“In addition to this project, longer-term strategies are being developed to ensure Queenslanders have better access to ophthalmology services into the future,” Deb said.
“It will allow patients to be treated as close to their place of residence as efficiently, effectively and safely as possible.”
