Elective Surgery

As the population on the Mornington Peninsula increases, so does the demand for elective and emergency surgery. New surgical procedures are being developed all the time to treat an ever expanding range of conditions.

Surgery is now safer than ever, making it a more acceptable option to more people. 

Waiting list

Peninsula Health endeavours to treat all patients on the waiting list in a timely manner. All patients placed on the waiting list are allocated a category of urgency by their surgeon. Waiting times can also vary depending on the particular surgical speciality.

Category 1 – Urgent	Category 2 – Semi-Urgent	Category 3- Non-Urgent
People who require urgent surgery. Usually admitted within 30 days of placement on the waiting list.	People who require less urgent surgery. While all health services endeavour to treat these people within 90 days, this is not always possible.	People requiring non-urgent surgery. No recommended waiting time allocated.

If your condition significantly alters or deteriorates, please discuss with your General Practitioner, as the surgeon may upgrade your category accordingly.

We strive to ensure you receive the treatment you need in as short a time as possible. For our consumers and for us – it’s sometimes longer than we would wish. So we continue to attack the problem on all fronts by:

• using hospital beds and operating theatres more efficiently
• offering surgical options at partner hospitals through the Elective Surgery Access Service
• increasing surgical services at Rosebud Hospital
• ensuring patients are fit and ready for surgery through pre-admission clinics, thus reducing last minute cancellations
• making pre-surgery reminder calls
• adding extra interim care beds to help reduce the use of scheduled elective surgery ward beds for emergency patients
• and many other strategies including the expansion of our Admission/Discharge Lounge.

We aim to minimise the number of Hospital Initiated Postponements, but occasionally people may find themselves postponed on the day of surgery. We endeavour to provide you with another date for surgery before leaving the hospital.