Bowel cancer sufferer Graham Wilson sees specialist days after going public with long delay – and now faces another queue

A man who went public over a five-month wait to see a public specialist about a positive cancer test has quickly been given an appointment – and placed on another “urgent” list.

Graham Wilson has finally seen a public health system cancer specialist, more than five months after a bowel cancer screening test returned a positive result – and is now on another list to wait for a colonoscopy.

The Seaview Downs grandfather who previously survived bowel cancer finally saw a Flinders Medical Centre specialist on Tuesday afternoon who put him on the “urgent” list for a colonoscopy but was then told this could take another month.

“I’ve already waited five and a half months – I was expecting they would say come back next week for it but the nurse said the urgent list has a wait of up to 30 days,” he said.

“It is fine to be told you are now on the urgent list but to then be told it may take up to 30 days before the colonoscopy, when I have been waiting since February, surprised me.”

Opposition Leader Davis Speirs and health spokeswoman Ashton Hurn with Seaview Downs man Graham Wilson. Picture: Supplied

SA Health officials scrambled to get Mr Wilson seen as soon as possible after Opposition Leader David Speirs raised his case publicly – prompting a flood of complaints from other people waiting, in some cases years, to see a public hospital specialist for various conditions.

Mr Speirs called for urgent action in Mr Wilson’s case on Sunday, and he went from being unknown to the public health system to having an appointment at 2.50pm on Tuesday at Flinders Medical Centre.

Mr Wilson, 69, has suffered bowel cancer previously and told The Advertiser referral letters sent by his GP to the hospital following the positive home screening test kept being returned.

“I finally went there and they could not find me in the system,” he said.

“I am very happy to now be in the system but it has been a nightmare five and a half months.

“It’s the fear of the unknown, when you go to bed every night. Are they going to have to take a section of my bowel? It’s the unknown.”

Mr Wilson was notified in February through the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program that his bowel cancer test was positive, leading to the debacle in trying to see a public hospital specialist.

While Mr Wilson’s paperwork was somehow lost in the system, he is among many people waiting years for an appointment with a public hospital gastroenterology expert.

SA Health figures show as of March 31, the maximum waiting time for such appointments for routine or non-urgent patients is almost five years at FMC and also Lyell McEwin Hospital, while at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital it is 39 months and at the Royal Adelaide Hospital eight months.

Mr Speirs said Mr Wilson’s situation was “yet another sign of a broken health system, despite Labor’s promises to fix it,” while Health Minister Chris Picton said “we are investing over $4bn extra into our health system to address what we have inherited”.