Eye patients waiting more than a decade for appointment at RAH public clinic

PATIENTS referred to the RAH public outpatient clinic for an eye check are waiting years for an appointment — including one person who has waited almost 13 years, and a dozen waiting for more than 10.

• No action on plan for specialist eye-care centre in Adelaide

THE waiting list for an eye-­patient appointment at the Royal Adelaide Hospital continues to blow out, with one person listed as waiting almost 13 years to be seen.

Data obtained by The Advertiser shows 299 people have been on the ophthalmology outpatient waiting list for five years or longer, including 13 on the list for more than a decade.

There are currently 3667 people on the waiting list and the average time a person has been waiting is 548 days — up from 531 days in September when there were 1507 people waiting.

The longest wait, as of late January, was listed as 4692 days — and counting.

Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade said the blowout in waiting times “is a damning indictment of Labor’s failure to maintain key health services”.

“South Australians are waiting so long for eye care that there is a significant risk of irreversible damage and ongoing disability,” he said.

“Even before people get on the list for surgery, they have to endure scandalous outpatient waiting times.

“Almost 300 eye patients have been waiting more than five years for an outpatient appointment at the RAH — more than a dozen have been waiting for over a decade.

“The Liberal Party has committed to make the outpatient waiting times public. People have the right to know how long they will be waiting so they can make informed decisions.”

Revelation of the backlog comes as there is still no sign of the statewide eye hospital promised in February 2015 as part of Transforming Health.

The centre was planned for Modbury Hospital, but that plan was dumped in October 2015 after opposition from eye health groups concerned that people with low vision faced public transport difficulties getting to Modbury.

Health Minister Peter Malinauskas said SA Health was undertaking a review of all outpatient waiting lists to improve the accuracy of the number of people on the list and, where long waits exist, reduce the time it took for patients to see a specialist.

“Clinicians regularly review their lists to identify patients whose circumstances have changed and may need a priority appointment,” he said.

“The Labor Government is committed to establishing a world-class centre for dedicated elective eye surgery in South Australia and continues to work towards identifying the best location for this ­facility.

“Community and stakeholder feedback broadly ­supports the centre’s establishment in the Adelaide CBD, within proximity of our world-class health and biomedical precinct, including the Royal Adelaide Hospital.”