Since Alex Stosic’s heart failed in 2021, everyday tasks like waking up and getting dressed take hours and require a lot of effort.
Key points:
- Mr. Stosic is one of more than 87,000 people waiting for elective surgeries in Victoria
- Quarterly government statistics show waiting times have stabilized despite a rise in emergency department presentations
- Ambulance Victoria faced its busiest quarter ever, for the third time in a row
For more than a year, the normally energetic 71-year-old Frankston man, who runs his own business with his wife, has lived with his heart operating at only a fifth of its usual capacity.
Earlier this year, his surgery for a new valve was deemed semi-urgent, also known as category 2, which meant treatment was recommended within 90 days.
But he has waited more than 150 days.
Since his body shut down, Alex has lost more than 30 kilos, struggles to keep his small business afloat and has barely been able to see his grandchildren, who live in regional Victoria.
“I can only take about 20 or 40 steps and I have to have a significant rest,” he said.
“Even when I’m working on the computer, I can only really do a couple of hours and then I have to rest.”
Normally, Alex is on the tools at his small business, which specializes in removing scratches from surfaces such as glass, but since he became ill, he has only been able to do accounts.
“It definitely limits my lifestyle and limits what I can do,” he said.
Alex’s poor physical health has left him and his wife Maureen largely housebound, taking a toll on his mental health and preventing him from seeing his three children and five grandchildren as much as he used to.
In Victoria, elective surgery is defined as any necessary operation that can be delayed for at least 24 hours.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, elective surgery has been repeatedly put on hold to help the state’s health system cope with an influx of cases, leading to a backlog.
In early April, the Victorian Government announced a $1.5 billion investment package to address this backlog, but as the latest wave of Omicron ramped up, the individual hospitals began to postpone all but category 1 cases again.
The latest quarterly data, published today, shows that at the end of June there were 87,275 people on the waiting list, which is slightly less than the previous three months.
This is partly due to the more than 41,000 elective operations carried out during the quarter, almost 50 per cent more than in the previous three months.
But the waiting list is dramatically higher – around 21,000 people more – than at the same time a year earlier.
And while hospital waiting lists showed little sign of stabilising, other areas of the health system came under increasing pressure.
Busiest neighborhood in Ambulance Victoria under ‘unprecedented’ demand
The three-month data, released by the government a week later than expected, showed hospital emergency room presentations had risen by 5.1 per cent in the three months to June 30.
That took the figure to 486,701 emergency calls, an increase of more than 23,000 over last quarter.
The increase is attributed to a number of factors, including deferred care from shutdowns and a more severe flu season than previous years.
“What we’re seeing in Victoria at the moment is unprecedented demand,” Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said.
Average hospital stays also increased, and sick patients stayed in beds longer.
For the third consecutive quarter, Ambulance Victoria experienced its busiest three months on record.
Urgent Code 1 calls rose to 97,982, an increase of almost 5,000 over the previous quarter. This is 16 percent more than the same period last year.
Only about 64 percent of those urgent Code 1 cases were answered within the 15-minute benchmark, down from last quarter.
At least the pressure has led seven code red escalations are called in as many monthscompared to the nine called between 2017 and 2021.
Authorities have continued to urge Victorians to save triple-0 for emergencies only, with Ambulance Victoria saying around 500 calls each day did not require paramedics.
The Health Minister thanked paramedics, health workers and those in the hospital system for their work at a time when up to 2,000 hospital staff are being released each day.
“This is our third COVID winter,” Ms Thomas said.
“All winters are hard in our hospital system, but this winter has actually proven to be particularly challenging.”
A study published in June showed that deadly ambulance crashes were already on the rise before the pandemic hit.
The opposition has criticized the government for the delay in publishing the statistics and called for more to be done to fix problems in the system.
“This is not just because of COVID,” Shadow Health Minister Georgie Crozier said.
“These are years of underinvestment and mismanagement by the Andrews Labor government.”
The government has announced a number of measures as part of its $12 billion pandemic recovery plan, including the expansion of virtual EDs, new paramedics and overhaul of crisis-stricken triple-0 system.
Alfred among hospitals limiting operations due to Omicron surge
The Alfred Hospital, where Alex Stosic will be treated, issued a statement in mid-July saying that due to the winter wave of Omicron, it made operational changes, such as postponing some elective surgeries and procedures.
It was one of a number of health services across the state to implement similar measures.
“It should never have come to this,” said the opposition’s Ms Crozier.
“That’s a huge number of Victorians waiting for this vital operation and while they’re waiting, they’re waiting in pain.”
Despite the way the wait has affected his life, Alex described his attitude as “stoic”.
“Provided I change my whole lifestyle, I can manage,” he said.
“I feel like there are people out there who are probably worse off than me, who have COVID and need ventilators — I don’t need a ventilator.”
The keyhole surgery he requires is relatively new, meaning only a handful of surgeons are able to perform it.
Meanwhile, Alex said he was unable to do much other than wait for the phone call about the surgery that would likely put his life back on track.
He said he was extremely grateful to the paramedics, doctors and other health workers who saved his life and stabilized his organs after his body first shut down last year, and tried to remain patient.
“I’ve always had the attitude that you can play the cards you’re dealt and those are the only cards you can play,” he said.
“I’ve been dealt these cards, so I just have to play them.
“All I can do is live a pretty sedentary, limited life and hope that somehow we get the hospital system and COVID-19 under control so I can get in there and have my surgery.”
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