Despite slashing some specialist waiting lists by years, some wait times remain stubbornly high

New data from SA Health reveals wait times for seeing specialist doctors has generally decreased however, some queues remain stubbornly high with wait times of five years or more. See the full list.

Waiting time to see a specialist doctor in public hospitals has fallen by years — in some cases — new SA Health data shows.

Flinders Medical Centre and the Royal Adelaide Hospital lead the way with dramatic improvements in maximum waiting time for some outpatient appointments.

These are appointments before a patient may be put on a separate waiting list for elective surgery.

The latest outpatient waiting time quarterly report shows 46 speciality outpatient services at metropolitan hospitals reduced maximum waiting times by up to 34 months, compared with the last quarterly report.

The greatest improvement was a reduction of 34 months by Flinders Medical Centre — its rehabilitation outpatient service wait was cut from 41 months to seven months, while FMC urology fell from 27 months to one month.

Other major cuts were RAH neurosurgery which improved its maximum wait time by 56 months (60 months to four months), followed by RAH cardiology (from 70 months to 15 months), RAH urology (71 months to 21 months) and RAH general surgery (57 months to eight months).

Officials say hospitals have cut wait times through reviewing and improving booking processes, moving to digital systems and improving care plans.

SA Health Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael Cusack said work is continuing in order to ensure South Australians can access the healthcare they need in a timely manner.

“There have been significant improvements made across the system, particularly evident across the last quarter at the Flinders Medical Centre and the Royal Adelaide Hospital,” he said.

“Our hospitals are continuing to improve patient flow, alongside conducting clerical audits reviewing their outpatient speciality services to ensure they accurately reflect people still waiting for an appointment.

South Australian deputy public health officer Dr Michael Cusack. Picture: David Mariuz

“As a result of these audits, significant reductions in maximum waiting times are realised as people who have already had an appointment, or who may no longer need an appointment, are removed from lists.”

Four specialties remained with waiting times of five years or more — ENT at Lyell McEwin Hospital (63 months) gastroenterology at Lyell McEwin Hospital (60 months), and neurology at RAH and Queen Elizabeth (60 months at each).

Orthopaedics, ophthalmology and ear, nose and throat appointments remained stubbornly high, all stretching into several years at major hospitals

The data shows big differences in wait times for an appointment at different hospitals, and that many specialists appointments have no waiting time, such as palliative care.

This compares to wait times for some appointments of longer than 16 years in 2018.

There are ways to beat the queues.

One is to see a specialist privately, either using private health insurance or simply paying for it.

Another is to try to get a GP referral to a hospital with a shorter wait list, however, this may be rejected if the person is not in the right catchment for a particular hospital.