THE number of elective surgeries at Bathurst Health Service fell over 32 per cent in the April to June quarter for 2020.
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According to figures released this week by the Bureau of Health Information (BHI) 344 surgeries were performed in the period April to June 2020 compared to 511 in the same period for 2019.
The figures look at the activity and performance of public hospitals and ambulance services.
The statistics also provide a greater insight to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the state's health system, and the changes to people's lives.
On March 26, 2020 the National Cabinet suspended all non-urgent elective surgeries, with all urgent and some exceptional semi-urgent surgeries continuing, before a staged resumption of surgical activity took place in late April.
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Urgent elective surgery in Bathurst was unaffected, with 82 urgent surgeries performed for the 2019 quarter compared to 85 in 2020.
However semi-urgent surgeries fell over 38 per cent, with 179 completed in the 2019 quarter compared to 110 this year.
Non-urgent surgery fell 39.7 per cent from 224 in 2019 to 135 this year.
As a result of fewer surgeries, patient waiting lists for elective surgery grew. In 2019, for the quarter, there were 12 people waiting for urgent elective surgery, compared to 15 for the same period this year.
The waiting list for semi-urgent surgery increased by 11.1 per cent from 90 in 2019 to 100 for the 2020 quarter, while the non-urgent wait list grew 13.8 per cent, from 776 for the 2019 quarter to 883 for the same period this year.
