SYDNEY, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- The number of patients having elective or non-emergency surgeries in fiscal year 2021-22 in Australia's public hospitals fell to the lowest level since fiscal 2010-11, due to disruptions led by the COVID-19 pandemic, a government agency has found.
According to the latest data released on Wednesday by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 623,000 patients were admitted for surgery from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists - a 17 percent decrease compared to fiscal 2020-21.
The number of elective surgeries performed in 2021-22 hit the lowest level since 2010-11 when 627,200 admissions occurred.
"The decrease in admissions in 2021-22 was likely due to restrictions implemented as part of the response to COVID-19 outbreaks throughout Australia and disruptions to hospital services as a result of COVID which affected staff and patients," the institute noted in its hospital system updates.
Australian Medical Association President Steve Robson said in a statement that the latest data is just more evidence that the public hospital system "is in crisis, and has been for many years, but is now at the breaking point."
Across Australia, all states and territories, except Tasmania, saw a reduction in elective surgery admissions. The largest decreases in 2021-22 were reported in New South Wales (27 percent) and Western Australia (23 percent).
As for waiting times, the newly-released data showed that 50 percent of patients were admitted within 40 days, down from 48 days in 2020-21 when waiting times were "notably higher than usual" due to the restrictions put in place on elective surgery.
In 2021-22, 6.3 percent of patients waited longer than a year to be admitted, a drop from 7.6 percent in the previous year but a rise from 1.8 percent in 2017-18.
"While the AIHW data reveals that wait times for essential elective surgery decreased in 2021-22, this is most likely the result of fewer patients being added to the waiting list to receive surgery," said Robson.
"Sadly, even the lucky patients who got their surgery often waited longer than the clinically recommended time. One in three patients waited over one year for a knee replacement, and almost one in five waited over a year for a hip replacement. This is nothing short of disastrous," he added. ■