People needing the common elective surgeries of hip and knee replacements and cataract extractions will benefit from a NSW Government $3 million funding boost.

Minister for Health Brad Hazzard said the investment – possible due to a record $23 billion total health Budget – will help reduce wait times for patients right across NSW.

“NSW already has the best on-time elective surgery performance in the country and this $3 million boost will make it even better,” Mr Hazzard said.

“The sooner people have their operations, the sooner they can get on with their lives.”

A panel of NSW Health and Agency of Clinical Innovation staff will assess proposals from Local Health Districts right across the state and allocate funding accordingly.

Mr Hazzard said record investment and the hard work of public hospital staff has seen NSW patients get access to elective surgery quicker than anyone else.

In 2016/17:

• more than 320,000 patients had surgery in NSW public hospitals
• NSW maintained or improved on-time performance in all clinical priority categories and sustained or reduced median wait times across all categories
• overdue elective surgery patients have significantly decreased, from 2,657 in December 2009 under Labor to 210 in June 2017.