The Victorian government has announced some elective surgery can resume in the state from Monday, with private hospitals and day procedure centres able to operate at 50 per cent capacity.
Elective surgery was cancelled in early January as Victoria's health system grappled with increasing COVID-19 case numbers due to the Omicron wave.
Health Minister Martin Foley today said a date for the full resumption of elective surgery had yet to be decided.
"That is very much a first step. But a return then to normal elective surgery continues to be our goal to be achieved as soon as possible. And, as soon as it can be safely achieved across the entire system," Mr Foley said.
The announcement came as Victoria recorded 36 more COVID-19 deaths.
The number of people in hospital after contracting the virus fell to 707, down from 752 yesterday.
Of those patients, 79 are in intensive care units, including 29 on ventilators.
"Pending how those hospitalisations and case numbers trend next week we will then consider resuming further elective surgery as we move into the week beyond particularly based on the health advice that I will receive next week," Mr Foley said.
The state opposition criticised the government's plan, saying a "staggering" 80,000 people were waiting on the state's elective surgery list.
Deputy Opposition Leader Georgie Crozier said more elective surgery should resume sooner, and that more than 1,000 Victorians were being added to the waitlists each week.
"We need to be treating our patients, we need to be caring for them, there are too many Victorians languishing on these waitlists, waiting in pain their health deteriorating, their quality of life is just falling by the wayside," she said.
Surgeons say waiting lists a 'massive problem'
Urologist Mark Frydenberg from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons said while he welcomed the partial resumption of elective surgery, there was disappointment the plan did not go further.
He said the college wanted day surgery to return to 100 per cent and for some in-patient elective surgery to resume now.
"We're obviously advocating for more because we're very concerned about our surgical patients coming to harm."
Professor Frydenberg said many category 2 patients were "actively suffering, they're in pain, they may be immobile, they're not able to access care and that's certainly something that's concerning us a lot".
He said there was spare capacity in some hospitals and that a "more nuanced" approach would be ideal.
He also said a clearly articulated plan leading to the resumption of full elective surgery within the next few weeks would be "wonderful".
He said Victoria's current growing waiting lists were "extremely difficult".
Victoria has reported 11,240 new COVID-19 cases.
Of the new cases, 7,351 were detected by rapid antigen tests and 3,889 by PCR test results.
The total number of official active cases is 65,968, down from the 66,648 reported a day earlier.
Funding announced in bid to ease pressure on health system
Meanwhile, the state government today announced a $1.4 billion package to reduce the strain on Victoria's health system.
The bulk of the funds ($938 million) will go to the state's public hospitals to meet increased operational costs and continue surge payments for healthcare staff.
The government will allocate $161 million to the state's personal protective equipment (PPE) stockpile.
A further $225 million will go to emergency rooms and the state's ambulance network, as well as to programs to provide clinical support for COVID-19 patients in their homes in a further bid to ease pressure on the health network.
"Our health system continues to be the subject of unprecedented levels of demand from this Omicron wave," Mr Foley said.
"Not only is that pressure on our system, there is continual 24-7 pressure on our people, who are our system."
The opposition was also critical of the new funding, saying it was "an admission of failure by a state government that has mismanaged our health system over the last two years".
"The additional funding comes as too little, too late for a system that continues to fall apart and is failing Victorians in need," Ms Crozier said.
Ambulance Victoria's busiest quarter on record
Meanwhile, the state's ambulance service has had the most code 1 call-outs in a quarter on record as the pandemic continues to put unprecedented pressure on the stressed paramedics.
The latest data for the second quarter of 2021/22 shows a 16.2 per cent increase on the same time in 2020.
Ambulance Victoria CEO Tony Walker said ambulances were called to 91,397 code 1 cases between October and December, the most code 1 cases in a quarter ever.
The service said 66.5 per cent of code 1 cases were responded to within the statewide average response time target of 15 minutes.
The statewide average response time to code 1 cases was 15 minutes and 11 seconds.
But Professor Walker said as many as one-in-five callers to triple-0 for an ambulance did not need an emergency ambulance response.
Between October and December, 45,087 triple-0 callers were instead connected by paramedics and nurses to more appropriate care.
"We are asking all Victorians to help us by saving triple-0 for emergencies," Professor Walker said.
"Every call for assistance that isn't an emergency puts significant strain on our crews to reach those who need us the most.
"Most people with COVID-19 will not need an ambulance, as minor COVID-19 symptoms can be managed at home."
But he said if people developed severe symptoms, they should call triple-0 immediately.
Professor Walker said paramedics were under increasing pressure due to fatigue and record workload, wearing PPE to all cases and furloughing due to COVID-19 exposure.
He welcomed an extra $35 million announced by Mr Foley in today's funding announcement to help fast track the recruitment of another 120 paramedics.
