Elective surgery waiting lists: a rapid review to ensure full transparency

In December 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services became aware of over 900 patients who had not been placed on the publicly reported elective surgery waiting list due to an administrative error.

Between January and May 2017, the Victorian Agency for Health Information commissioned an independent review of all health services reporting elective surgery waiting list data to the department. The agency engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers to:

• undertake an immediate and comprehensive review of 11 health services where patients had been assigned to the obsolete elective surgery procedure code, to ensure health service compliance with instructions provided by the department concerning these patients
• determine the status of these patients as of 31 March 2017, including whether they had received surgery or were still waiting for care
• review compliance with the Elective surgery access policy for surgery and the management of the patients waiting for elective procedures at all 23 health services that contribute to the elective surgery information system.

The review was completed and released in July 2017.