	{"id":109631,"date":"2025-09-02T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/tweedcoasttimes\/?p=109631"},"modified":"2025-08-27T19:42:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T09:42:40","slug":"overdue-surgery-wait-list-slashed-by-6000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/tweedcoasttimes\/news\/overdue-surgery-wait-list-slashed-by-6000\/","title":{"rendered":"Overdue surgery wait list slashed by 6,000"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MORE than 6,000 overdue surgeries have been cleared in New South Wales since the end of March, with almost 12,000 cut from the waitlist since March 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Health minister Ryan Park said the government was determined to keep driving down wait times.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This government is absolutely determined to ensure that everyone who needs surgery in NSW gets it as quickly as possible,&#8221; Park said.<\/p>\n<p>The NSW Government has committed $23 million in the 2025\u201326 Budget to further reduce the number of patients waiting longer than clinically recommended. That funding builds on the $186 million provided at the end of 2024, which health officials say has already eased pressure.<\/p>\n<p>By the end of June, around 2,500 patients were waiting beyond recommended timeframes \u2014 down from more than 8,500 at the end of March.<\/p>\n<p>Park credited hospital staff for helping cut the list.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I want to say a massive thank you to NSW Health staff, with many working on additional theatre lists on evenings and weekends to allow more procedures to be performed,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>He added the government would continue to expand same-day surgeries where it was safe to do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MORE than 6,000 overdue surgeries have been cleared in New South Wales since the end of March, with almost 12,000 cut from the waitlist since March 2023. Health minister Ryan Park said the government was determined to keep driving down wait times. &#8220;This government is absolutely determined to ensure that everyone who needs surgery in [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/tweedcoasttimes\/news\/overdue-surgery-wait-list-slashed-by-6000\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":109632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-109631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Overdue surgery wait list slashed by 6,000 - Tweed Coast Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NSW surgery waitlist slashed. Over 6,000 overdue surgeries cleared with new funding, helping patients get the care they need faster.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/tweedcoasttimes\/news\/overdue-surgery-wait-list-slashed-by-6000\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Overdue surgery wait list slashed by 6,000 - Tweed Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NSW surgery waitlist slashed. Over 6,000 overdue surgeries cleared with new funding, helping patients get the care they need faster.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/tweedcoasttimes\/news\/overdue-surgery-wait-list-slashed-by-6000\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tweed Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-01T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2025\/08\/27-aug-tng-27.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Angus Smith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@angussmithh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Angus Smith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/tweedcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/overdue-surgery-wait-list-slashed-by-6000\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/tweedcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/overdue-surgery-wait-list-slashed-by-6000\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Angus Smith\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/tweedcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/25bcc2cb3a5fd7fe4016d31a167d1b9b\"},\"headline\":\"Overdue surgery wait list slashed by 6,000\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-01T18:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/tweedcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/overdue-surgery-wait-list-slashed-by-6000\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":186,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/tweedcoasttimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/tweedcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/overdue-surgery-wait-list-slashed-by-6000\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/30\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/27-aug-tng-27.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/tweedcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/overdue-surgery-wait-list-slashed-by-6000\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/tweedcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/overdue-surgery-wait-list-slashed-by-6000\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/tweedcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/overdue-surgery-wait-list-slashed-by-6000\\\/\",\"name\":\"Overdue surgery wait list slashed by 6,000 - Tweed Coast Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/tweedcoasttimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/tweedcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/overdue-surgery-wait-list-slashed-by-6000\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/tweedcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/overdue-surgery-wait-list-slashed-by-6000\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/30\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/27-aug-tng-27.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-01T18:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"NSW surgery waitlist slashed. 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