North Canberra hospital re-open new operating theatres after damaging fires
In North Canberra, three operating theatres shut due to a fire at the North Canberra hospital last year. Now, they will re-open but will have to catchup on a backlog of thousands of procedures.
Category
đź“ş
TVTranscript
00:00 It was an electrical fire that closed all seven of the hospital's operating theatres
00:06 last December. Four reopened earlier this year, but three needed rebuilding.
00:13 Everything was damaged, including the interior walls and lights and everything you can possibly
00:18 think of.
00:19 The repair job has cost around $15 million and the time it's taken has caused chaos for
00:26 the delivery of elective surgeries, with both private hospitals and the Canberra Hospital
00:32 picking up the slack.
00:33 The goal last financial year was to perform 14,800 elective procedures. Instead, just
00:40 over 12,600 were completed.
00:44 That's obviously very disappointing, but I do want to really congratulate the teams across
00:48 the board for the incredible work that they've done to even get to that number.
00:52 The hospital's head is confident the backlog will be cleared, but when?
00:57 I'm going to be very political and say as soon as possible.
01:01 The government has committed an extra $6.7 million in the hope of hitting a new ambitious
01:07 target. It wants 15,500 elective surgeries completed this financial year.
01:14 And that's going to be done through a combination of Canberra Hospital and North Canberra Hospital
01:19 with these theatres reopening, but also partnerships with our private hospital partners, including
01:25 in New South Wales.
01:26 The Minister says Canberrans are happy to travel if it means a shorter wait, but the
01:31 opposition has labelled the tactic a disgrace.
01:35 I think it shows that Canberrans are finally sick of not being able to get their health
01:40 care when they need it, and that's a direct result of lack of funding, lack of support,
01:46 poor culture.
01:47 The new operating theatres will be ready for patients from mid-October.
01:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]