NSW hospitals outperform other states and countries but patients are having to wait longer for cataract surgery and common procedures, a report has found. 

September 27, 2017

NSW hospitals outperform other countries and Australian states, but there is still room for improvement, a report has found.

The Bureau of Health Information’s annual Healthcare in Focus report, released on Wednesday, compared how NSW performed with other Australian states and territories and 11 countries including the US, UK and Canada.

NSW outperformed comparable systems for 80 per cent of the measurable data.

It wasn’t all good news, with the report showing NSW patients wait longer for cataract surgery and for common procedures such as hip and knee replacements, and have higher rates of post-surgical complications than those in other parts of Australia.

However, a NSW Health spokesman said despite increased demand for services, the health system had continued to perform to a “high standard”.

“In the April to June 2017 quarter, 97 per cent of elective surgery procedures were performed within clinical time frames,” he told AAP on Wednesday. 

“This high performance is above the state target.”

Bureau of Health Information’s acting chief executive Dr Kim Sutherland said “no country had lower spending and better health than NSW.”

“Healthcare is accessible to most people in NSW and patients generally receive it in a timely and safe way,” Dr Sutherland said.

But opposition health spokesman Walt Secord disagreed and blasted the Berejiklian government, saying the report “should serve as a wake up call”.

“The Berejiklian government claims that NSW had a world-class health and hospital system, which was the envy of the world, but we discover otherwise,” Mr Secord said.

NSW Health said the government had committed additional funding of $3 million in 2017/18 to reduce median wait times for cataract extraction, total hip replacement, and total knee replacement.