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Government of South Australia, Department of Health
 Elective Surgery
 
  Elective Surgery Performance  

Below is a report outlining elective surgery performance in South Australian metropolitan public hospitals. 

 





 

  Elective Surgery Performance October 2009 

This report provides information on elective surgery undertaken in metropolitan Adelaide public hospitals.  Information is prepared by the Department of Health every month.


Clinical Categories


Patients requiring elective surgery are assigned a clinical category based on an assessment of their condition and likelihood of their condition deteriorating. This establishes the timeframe in which surgery ideally should be provided.


 

There are three categories:

  • Category 1 (Urgent): admission within 30 days desirable.
  • Category 2 (Semi-urgent): admission within 90 days desirable.
  • Category 3 (Non-urgent): admission at some time in the future for a condition causing minimal or no pain, dysfunction or disability.

 

Booking List Hospitals


Information is collected from Booking List Hospitals that form part of a national collection of indicator data on waiting times for elective surgery.  The Booking List Hospitals in South Australia are:

  • Flinders Medical Centre
  • Lyell McEwin Hospital
  • Modbury Hospital
  • The Queen Elizabeth Hospital
  • Repatriation General Hospital
  • Royal Adelaide Hospital
  • Women's and Children's Hospital
  • Noarlunga Hospital

Exclusions from the Waiting List


Some patients on the waiting list are excluded from the calculation of elective surgery statistics. They include:

  • Patients who have deferred their admission to a time more convenient to themselves. The time these patients wait is beyond a hospital’s control.
  • Patients whose admission to hospital has been deferred for medical reasons such as having a cold or other infection.
  • Patients waiting for cosmetic, dental, obstetric (eg, caesarean section) and diagnostic treatments (eg, endoscopy, colonoscopy, bronchoscopy).

Notes: The amount of elective surgery undertaken will vary from month to month due to seasonal factors. For example, the increased demand for emergency admissions during the winter may cause a reduction in hospital capacity to undertake elective surgery.


Data on this website may differ from information previously published through the Elective Surgery Bulletin and other DH publications.  These differences are due to regular updates in data provided to the DH by Booking List Hospitals and the timing at which data may be extracted from the database.