Public hospitals in regional Victoria have wound back all non-urgent surgery as part of last week’s new restrictions to protect the state from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The State Government has ordered a pause on all category-three and non-urgent category-two elective surgery as part of stage-three restrictions to ensure hospitals have beds, equipment and staff they need to continue the fight against the virus.

Where possible, category-three and non-urgent category-two surgery already booked is likely to continue, but at hospital discretion. People cannot book any new non-urgent surgery.

The announcement followed a decision to pause all category-three and non-urgent category-two elective surgery in metropolitan Melbourne and reduce elective surgery lists across public and private hospitals.

Category-one and urgent category-two surgery will continue. The government has assured regional Victorians that if they needed emergency care it would be available.

In vitro fertlisation or IVF activity will also be exempt from  restrictions.

Victorian health minister Jenny Mikakos said the changes were due to COVID-19 numbers growing at a slow but steady rate in regional Victoria.

“While we won’t be taking any new bookings for the time being, regional Victorians can be assured that where possible, already booked elective surgery will proceed, as well as for those who need unexpected, urgent care,” she said.

“We know this will mean an anxious time for many Victorians whose surgery is delayed, but we’ll resume our elective surgery blitz as soon as it’s safe to do so, to catch up any backlog as quickly as possible.”

Ms Mikakos said it was more likely that hospitals would have to manage additional patients and needed to be equipped to meet the challenge.

She said pausing all non-urgent elective surgery across the state would create additional capacity within the health system –particularly necessary in the event of large-scale aged-care outbreaks, where in some cases, the best option for the patients was to transfer them out of aged-care facilities and into hospitals.

“The decision on whether to transfer an aged care resident to hospital is made on a case by case basis, taking into account what is clinically best for the patient,” she said.

Ms Mikakos said the government would reinstate elective surgery across the state as soon as it was safe to do so – aiming to catch up on any backlog ‘and get as many Victorians as possible into the operating theatre and back on their feet’.

She said massive efforts across the health system meant the state now had 800 intensive-care unit beds across, with hundreds more ready to be rapidly scaled up and down as needed to for coronavirus patients.

“We also have more than 1500 ventilators currently in Victorian health services, can access thousands more if needed to convert additional beds into ICU capacity – as well as more than a thousand IV pumps, hundreds of patient monitors and plenty of PPE to distribute to frontline workers.”