With heightened uncertainty around the continuity of timely access to public healthcare in Australia, I have been in the unique position to utilise over 25 years of experience in the Australian public healthcare system across clinical, operational and health purchasing roles to help create safe clinical access options for Queenslanders. Similar to other jurisdictions resource constraints and service limitations has required us to develop new ways to ensure the delivery of priority care through public health purchasing and private contracting options. The healthcare purchasing team have built upon the long-standing Surgery Connect arrangements in Queensland to enhance our collaboration with private facilities to support the immediate system challenges and help restore the elective surgery access performance.