Vision 2020 Australia says it is “thrilled” by changes in New South Wales to the urgency categorisation of cataract surgery for the second eye of a patient, describing the policy change as a “major advocacy win”.
In the wake of the NSW election, the NSW Ministry of Health announced that from 1 July 2024, a patient presenting for cataract removal for their second eye at a public hospital will be entered on to the elective surgery waitlist as a category 2, resulting in surgery within 90 days.
Until then, Local Health Districts will receive additional funding to meet this target for current waitlist patients.
“We are pleased with this outcome as our campaign efforts during the NSW election focused on the unacceptable wait times for cataract surgery in the state’s public hospitals,” Vision 2020 said.
“This result is testament to the collective impact of our members and represents a major outcome for the sector.”
We are pleased with this outcome as our campaign efforts during the NSW election focused on the unacceptable wait times for cataract surgery in the state’s public hospitals
Vision 2020 Chief Executive Officer Carly Iles said the wait times for cataract surgery in NSW were the worst in the country.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) Elective Surgery Waiting Times Report 2021–22 showed NSW had the longest median wait time in Australia at 278 days, compared to the national median of 158 days, and well behind the best performing states, Victoria and Queensland (84 days).
