News

Associate Professor Sonal Nagra,  Director of General Surgery

I am proud to lead a team of dedicated health professionals at University Hospital Geelong who are focused on supporting people in our community who need surgery. Each year, Barwon Health performs almost 22,000 operations across 20 different specialties, including some of the most complex cardiac surgery and the more routine day surgery procedures. Our teams include surgeons, anaesthetists, junior medical staff, nurses, allied health staff and many other support staff who collaborate with our patients across their healthcare journey to ensure they get the treatment and support they need. We work across the hospital, the McKellar Centre and in community care, as well as specialist clinics where we assess patients who are referred to us from GPs, in the Emergency Department responding to acute patients who may need emergency surgery, in the operating theatres, surgical wards, rehabilitation, and supporting patients at home after surgery.

This complex system requires the precise coordination of teams of specialist staff, operating theatres, equipment and beds to match the patients needs. Hospitals everywhere have the challenge of prioritising care for those who need surgery the most. This is a daily logistical task where we balance emergency patients and planned surgery patients across our 10 main operating theatres, the three-day theatres at the Gretta Volum Centre and our four new theatres at the Youang Surgery Centre.                                                                                                   

As you can imagine, this finely balanced system was significantly disrupted during the pandemic when we needed to prioritise care for patients who had COVID and we deferred care wherever possible to reduce potential exposure to COVID.

As the pandemic faded, we knew we had to shift gear and plan for the inevitable ‘catch up’ surgery. The commissioning of the four new theatres in the Youang Surgery Centre has allowed us to treat more patients, and we’ve also successfully partnered with St John of God Geelong Hospital and Epworth Geelong for selected specialties.

I am pleased to say this planning, investment and hard work has really paid off, with Barwon Health treating almost 14 per cent more planned surgery patients in 2023-24 compared to the previous year, while halving the average waiting time for surgery from 88 days to 40 days. Once assessed as requiring surgery, nearly all of our patients (98 per cent) are being treated in the clinically recommended times. We know we have more work to do to improve access to our specialist clinics, and our recent investment in expanded ENT, general surgery and ophthalmology clinics will make a significant difference.

As a surgeon on the frontline, as well as a leader behind the scenes, it has been fantastic to see our staff rise to this challenge. I would like to acknowledge everyone at Barwon Health and our partners, including the general practitioners, who have contributed to this success – it truly has resulted in positive outcomes for our community.

The challenges of the pandemic have made us more resilient, strengthening great partnerships with primary care, neighbouring hospitals, and the private sector. Our focus remains on providing the very care best to our patients, embedding innovative practices into daily operations, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. With this mindset, we feel optimistic and well-prepared to meet the healthcare needs of our community in the years ahead.