In short:
The Victorian Opposition has promised $1.27 billion to use private hospitals to deliver 25,000 additional elective surgeries each year. The announcement adds to competing healthcare promises ahead of Victoria’s November election.
$1.27B Pledge Announced
Victoria’s major parties are escalating their healthcare promises ahead of the state election, with the Opposition pledging $1.27 billion to send thousands of public patients into private hospitals for surgery.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson announced the SurgerySooner policy on 4 October, promising an additional 25,000 elective surgeries each year and to halve Victoria’s elective surgery waiting list.
Under the four-year plan, public patients could be offered treatment at participating private hospitals at no cost to them, targeting procedures including hip and knee replacements, cataracts, hernia repairs, gynaecological procedures, gastroscopies and colonoscopies.
The Coalition says more than 100 private hospitals and day surgeries would participate, although the policy remains an election commitment and its promised reduction in waiting lists would depend on available private hospital capacity, staffing and implementation.
Private Hospitals Back Plan
The Australian Private Hospitals Association has backed the proposal, arguing available private capacity could help relieve pressure on the public system.
APHA chief executive Brett Heffernan said longer contracts would also give private hospitals greater certainty to plan staffing and surgical workloads.
“For patients, this is about getting the surgery they need sooner rather than spending longer on a waiting list. For the public system, it means reducing pressure by using hospital capacity that already exists.”
The Opposition says the model is based on Queensland’s Surgery Connect program.
It says Victoria’s elective surgery waiting list is approaching 69,000 people, more than 10,000 higher than a year earlier.
Election Healthcare Promises Fly
The announcement adds to an emerging healthcare contest ahead of November’s election, with both major parties making ambitious promises to expand access to treatment.
Premier Ben Carroll has promised a re-elected Labor Government would spend $230 million establishing 10 free public dental clinics across Victoria, with the government claiming they would eventually treat more than 100,000 people each year.
The clinics do not yet exist, and the government has not announced where they would be located, leaving questions about their rollout, staffing and accessibility.
Both policies promise significant increases in healthcare capacity, but their ultimate impact would depend on the next government turning election commitments into functioning services.
