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AAP
AAP
Health
Callum Godde

New centre to ease Melbourne surgery woes

A new surgery is expected to help 5700 Victorians a year get the surgery they have been waiting for. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

A new centre dedicated to public elected surgery will open in Melbourne to ease the backlog brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bellbird Private Hospital in Blackburn will be transformed into a centre to help 5700 Victorians each year get the surgery they have been waiting .

The facility, which will open in October and is expected be fully operational by February next year, will have four operating theatres, a 10-bed day procedure unit and 43 inpatient beds.

All 95 staff working at the Blackburn site will be offered equivalent roles on "no less favourable" terms than their current pay deals.

The move will cost about $140 million but be covered under the state government's $1.5 billion COVID catch-up plan strategy, Premier Daniel Andrews said.

The centre is the second repurposed private hospital dedicated to elective surgery, with another in Frankston set to open in September.

Once fully operational, the Blackburn and Frankston facilities are expected to deliver close to 15,000 surgeries each year.

"We have a clear plan to catch up on elective surgeries deferred due to COVID-19," Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said.

Quarterly health performance data released on Saturday revealed Victoria's wait list for elective procedures fell from 88,920 to 87,275 over the past quarter.

While the overall figure dipped marginal, there were still an extra 21,000 Victorians waiting for elective surgery than at the same time 12 months ago.

However, the number of elective surgery procedures completed in Victoria during the June quarter rose by 48 per cent compared to the March quarter.

Mr Andrews said he is confident his government will hits its target to carry out 240,000 surgeries each year by 2024 but acknowledged there is a "long way to go".

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