Jillian Skinner MPMember for North Shore |
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Thursday 27 March 2008
The Iemma Government’s health incompetence has been exposed yet again after a woman flew from Bellingen in the state’s north to Sydney for a triple bypass operation on her heart, only to be told her procedure was cancelled, Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said today.
76-year-old Anne Peek was booked to have a triple bypass at Prince of Wales hospital on February 15. After flying 500km to Sydney and undergoing several hours of pre-surgery testing she was told the operation had been cancelled and she would have to fly home.
“Flying a 76-year-old woman down from northern NSW only to cancel her surgery and send her home highlights everything that is wrong with the health system under incompetent Labor Minister Reba Meagher,” Mrs Skinner said.
“Not only was the patient caused considerable angst, inconvenience and unnecessary cost, but she continues to become breathless and is unable to get on with her life,” she said.
“The revelation that only one cardiac theatre was operating the day Mrs Peek’s surgery was scheduled highlights the inability of our hospitals to cope with elective and emergency surgery - under Reba Meagher it’s either one or the other but never both.
“And the explanation that the hospital ‘forgot’ Mrs Peek because she’d had the temerity to go home rather than hang around in Sydney waiting for a new date is simply unacceptable.
“No-one should have to endure the anxiety of being prepared for major, life threatening surgery then having it cancelled at the last minute because there is insufficient operating theatre capacity.
“People with life-threatening conditions, or conditions that severely impact their general health and wellbeing are simply given a ticket and told to wait in line under the incompetent Iemma Government,” Mrs Skinner said.