25 Oct 2022

Not clear how long clearing surgery backlog will take - task force

From Checkpoint, 6:07 pm on 25 October 2022

A taskforce that's devised a plan to clear a backlog of patients waiting months longer than they should for treatment still cant say how long it will take to work through the queue.

The group was set up help the tens of thousands of people waiting too long for planned, or non urgent, surgery.

It's made 101 recommendations, including giving GPs more authority to deal with patients without the need for a specialists, moving patients between regions, more efficient use of surgical theatres.

But task force chair Dr Andrew Connolly cannot give a time frame to clear the backlog.