Planned Surgery Reform Blueprint

Goal: Deliver same-day models of care as standard care, expanding to further procedures, when and where safe to do so.

2a. Evidence-based alternatives to surgery

Goal: Consistently implement and scale evidence-based alternatives to surgery across Victoria, improving access to best care management pathways where clinically appropriate.

2b. Optimisation pathways for surgery

Goal: Implement and scale new and existing optimisation pathways for surgery, to support a better experience and outcomes across the patient’s surgical journey.

Goal: Strengthen the integration and communication between health services and the primary care workforce, including through improved information sharing and co-designed collaborative care pathways that support the entire surgical journey.

Goal: Establish and expand novel and advanced scope of practice roles to support the sustainable delivery of planned surgery.

Goal: Build and retain a modern, sustainable and engaged healthcare workforce across the entire perioperative journey.

Goal: Implement and scale high-throughput approaches – underpinned by best-practice guidance – across all Health Service Partnerships (HSPs), delivering them when and where appropriate.

Targeted high throughput approaches to theatre list management

Safer Care Victoria (SCV) has been resourced to assist the department's Surgery Recovery and Reform Branch to progress its reform agenda.

This report was requested to provide clinical advice to support the implementation of high throughput approaches to theatre list management, such as high intensity theatre (HIT) lists (or similar).

Goal: Implement digital referral pathways and integrate these with health information platforms, in turn streamlining planned surgery pathways for patients and the workforce.

Goal: Implement and expand virtual models of care for planned surgery, increasing workforce flexibility, optimising health service efficiency, enhancing patient engagement and promoting equitable access to pre- and post-surgical assessment and care.

Goal: Develop and implement regionalised planned surgery preparation lists (also known as waiting lists) for all Victorian public health services.

Goal: Improve system integration, ensure direction setting is based on accurate, timely and transparent data aligned with what matters most to patients, and improve collaboration between health services, HSPs and the department at each step of the patient journey.