People waiting more than five years for outpatient appointments, one clinic ‘too busy’ to send results of patient care

SOUTH Australians are waiting more than five years for some outpatient appointments at major hospitals — and at least one public hospital clinic claims it is “too busy” to send letters to GPs about the patients it sees.

The Royal Adelaide Hospital.

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SOUTH Australians are waiting more than five years for some outpatient appointments at major hospitals, excluding them from elective surgery waiting lists.

There is an average wait of more than five years for a routine ophthalmology appointment at Flinders Medical Centre, and more than four years for endocrinology at Lyell McEwin Hospital and for gastroenterology at FMC.

Clinics at major hospitals have average waiting times of more than a year for appointments in areas including cardiology, neurology, urology, orthopedics, endocrinology, gastroenterology, and ear, nose and throat.

And at least one public hospital clinic claims it is “too busy” to send letters to GPs about the patients it sees, leaving doctors in the dark about people in their care.

Patients cannot get on to elective surgery waiting lists until they have been assessed by the relevant specialists.

One Adelaide woman told The Advertiser she had waited more than six years for an orthopedic appointment at a major hospital for problems with her feet and toes. While she can still walk, she said she was in constant pain and felt like her life was in limbo.

The Advertiser has obtained a copy of a letter sent by a Royal Adelaide Hospital outpatient clinic to a GP saying it was “too busy” to send a patient’s test results to the GP.

The GP had requested correspondence after three visits to the clinic by a patient but was told the clinic no longer writes outpatient letters.

“They haven’t done so for many years as their clinic is too busy,” the letter states.

GPs also are being told by public hospital clinics to make referrals “private” — to named specialists — which allows the hospitals to bill Medicare for the work.

Doctors are being told appointments will be refused if the referrals are not private, and that private patients will jump queues.

Both practices contravene SA Health official policy.

SA Health chief executive Vickie Kaminski has ordered an overhaul to cut waiting times.

“SA Health will commence with the nine most common outpatient clinics to improve the accuracy of the number of people on the waiting list and, where long waits exist, reduce the time it takes for patients to see a specialist,” she said.

Acting deputy chief executive Lynne Cowan said SA Health had standard letters sent to GPs and patients to offer them options to see a private specialist and providing a named referral.

“An appointment for a public outpatient clinic does not require a named referral,” Ms Cowan said.