THE Liberals have slammed the first ACT surgery report card, saying the Territory’s elective surgery wait times remain the worst in the country.

The Government’s first surgery report card recorded 11,336 people from the ACT and NSW had operations in 2010-22, 16 per cent higher than last financial year.

However, ACT public hospitals are still behind admittance targets for elective surgery under the National Health Reform.

Liberal health spokesperson Jeremy Hanson said around one in three people are still waiting longer than is clinically recommended for elective surgery in the ACT.

“Katy Gallagher broke the elective surgery system, has attempted to cobble it back together, and is now claiming some sort of victory while the ACT is still the worst performing jurisdiction,” he said.

“Earlier this month, due to Katy Gallagher’s failure as Health Minister, the ACT failed to meet agreed COAG targets for elective surgery and our health system missed out on $900,000 in reward funding as a result.

“The Canberra Liberals have demanded action on elective surgery and referred the matter to the Auditor-General who delivered a damning report of ACT Labor’s inaction and mismanagement.”

Under the National Health Reform, the current target for admitting a patient within 90 days is 55 per cent, but currently sits at 50 per cent. The target for admitting patients within 365 days is 82 per cent but the ACT is currently at 79 per cent.

The proportion of patients admitted wihtin 30 days is on target at 95 per cent.

The report card also showed the number of patients waiting longer than clinically recommended was down by 44 per cent from 2500 to 1300. And one third of all elective and emergency surgery activity was delivered to non-ACT residents.