Non-urgent, elective day surgery to resume at three private hospitals in St George and Shire

Surgery will resume from next Tuesday (October 5) at Kareena Private, St George Private and Hurstville Private, as well as at 16 other private hospitals throughout NSW.

NSW Health said the decision followed declining community transmission of COVID-19 and increasing vaccination rates.

"Day surgery, which does not require the patient to stay in hospital overnight, will recommence for both public and private patients in private facilities only," a statement said.

"This is to ensure we retain adequate system capacity, as well as patient, staff and public safety, for the delivery of healthcare services during the COVID-19 response.

"Emergency surgery and urgent elective surgery will continue to be performed in public hospitals during this challenging period. Surgery restrictions will only be in place as long as necessary.

"Patients due to receive non-urgent elective surgery impacted by the current measures are encouraged to seek medical attention should they experience a change in their condition so they can be clinically assessed and re-prioritised to a more urgent category if required."

NSW Health said staff from private hospitals across Greater Sydney, including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong, as well as some regional locations, were being deployed to assist the NSW Government's response to the current COVID-19 outbreak.

This includes the large-scale vaccination effort currently underway and supporting workforce demands in the NSW public health system.

"NSW Health acknowledges the critical importance of private hospitals in delivering timely and high-quality care for our communities and we thank them for their ongoing partnership in responding to the current pandemic," the statement said.

"The NSW Government is providing $30 million to support private hospitals to undertake additional elective surgery on behalf of the NSW Health system to ensure that patients who have their non-urgent elective surgery postponed will be scheduled for surgery as soon as possible.

"In 2020-21 the NSW Government provided an extra $458.5 million to fast-track elective surgeries which were delayed as a result of the Federal Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic last year, and a further $80 million has been provided as part of the 2021-22 NSW Budget.

"The NSW Government has committed more than $4 billion to the NSW health system to manage the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020."