Coalition health spokeswoman Mary Wooldridge said Bendigo Health had started paying St John of God and the Bendigo Day Surgery to perform some procedures after the number of patients waiting for elective surgery at the hospital blew out by more than 400 during the past year.

Ms Wooldridge called on Health Minister Jill Hennessy to ask the state’s healthcare safety agency to review the hospital’s decision to replace highly trained anaesthesia assistants with less experienced anaesthesia nurses late last year.

“The action I seek is for her to ask Safer Care Victoria to review the situation with respect to anaesthetic technicians, to assess the poor management of the transition from anaesthetic technicians to anaesthetic nurses and determine what impact that has had on the safety of surgical services,” she said.

When the staffing change was announced in 2016, specialists at the hospital raised concerns it would result in “grossly inadequate” numbers of trained anaesthesia nurses and put patient safety at risk.

Ms Wooldridge said she had been told more than 100 anaesthetic nursing shifts per week were being filled by agency staff at a cost of $100,000 a month, while the waiting list grew “significantly”.

“The hospital is paying St John of God Bendigo hospital and Bendigo Day Surgery to try to bring those waiting lists down by doing some elective surgeries at those locations,” she said.

“That is well and good, but the problem is that they need to fix what is happening in terms of elective surgery.”

But a Bendigo Health spokeswoman said the hospital had performed more than 1000 procedures itself in May, more than any previous month, and the outsourcing had helped reduce the elective surgery waiting list by more than 200 patients since March.

“A phased approach to increasing surgical sessions has taken place as we transition to the new Bendigo Hospital to ensure there is no compromise to safety and quality while new systems are established,” she said.

“Along with increasing surgical capacity, and arrangements with Castlemaine Health, St John of God Bendigo and Bendigo Day Surgery, the elective surgery waiting list has reduced by 230 since March 2017 and continues to diminish.”

The spokeswoman acknowledged some surgical shifts were being supported by agency staff, but said Ms Wooldridge’s figures “appear overstated”.

“We have an ongoing recruitment program as you would expect of an organisation of our size in a time of growth,” she said.

“This financial year there were 220 more full and part-time jobs at Bendigo Health as part of the new hospital project.”

A spokeswoman for Ms Hennessy said the government would continue to work closely with Bendigo Health to support them to perform more surgeries and reduce waiting times and lists.

“This year's budget includes a record $174.3 million for 2017/18 to tackle elective surgery wait lists, and this funding will help health services across the state – including Bendigo Health – deliver more than 200,000 surgeries this year,” she said.

Ms Wooldridge said the anaesthetic staffing changes meant there was “still no paediatric surgery happening” at the hospital, but the Bendigo Health spokeswoman said this was not the case.

“Paediatric surgery has not been suspended at Bendigo Health,” she said.

The spokeswoman said SCV, which visited the hospital late last month following complaints from clinical staff about changes to the hospital’s pathology services, told the Bendigo Health board it was “impressed with the safety culture at the organisation”.

It is understood some surgery was also outsourced at the Royal Children’s Hospital when that facility opened in 2011 and Ms Hennessy’s spokeswoman said the arrangement was “common practice”.

“It is common practice with hospital moves of this size to put in place a phased approach to increasing surgical sessions – such as the temporary outsourcing of surgeries – to ensure there is no compromise to patient safety and quality while new systems are established,” she said.

“Despite the challenges associated with a hospital move, Bendigo Health are performing more surgeries than ever before, and the community can be assured we will continue to invest in, and support Bendigo Health to get more people off waiting lists and into operating theatres, sooner.”