The Hodgman Liberal Government is committed to continuing to reduce the time patients are waiting for elective surgery.

That’s why we are investing a further $20 million of new funding in 2018-19, to continue improvements made over the past four years in ensuring even more patients are seen within the clinically recommended time.

Over the past four years, the percentage of patients seen in time has improved, with an increase from 59 per cent when we came to Government in 2014-15 to 74 per cent in 2017-18.

The funding provided for the next financial year will be at the same level as previous financial years under our successful first term initiative, the $76 million Rebuilding Health Services – Elective Surgery Program.

We have seen a record low number of patients waiting for elective surgery since coming to Government in 2014.

These results reflect the significant investment this Government has made in employing more nurses and doctors, and opening more beds.

This initiative is all about ensuring more Tasmanians enjoy a better quality of life.

But we know this is not as good as it gets, which is why we have set new ambitious health targets as part of our Plan to Build your Future. That includes 90 per cent of Tasmanians waiting for elective surgery being treated within clinically recommended timeframes, and nine out of 10 patients being in and out of the emergency department within four hours, by 2022.

Elective surgery has been a strong focus of this Government after the years of neglect at the hands of Labor and the Greens that everyone remembers. The lists blew out and people waited up to 10 years for care.

The Tasmanian Government will continue to work hard to build a better health system.

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