SA Liberals announce policy to reveal the ‘hidden’ wait list to get on elective surgery wait list
THE ‘hidden’ waiting list to actually get on to elective surgery waiting lists would be made public under a State Opposition health policy.
- SA Health’s sick spin on overdue patients’ waiting times
- Country Health needs ‘urgent’ $30m transfusion
- ‘Too late now’: Coroner blasts SA Health
THE ‘hidden’ waiting list to actually get on to elective surgery waiting lists would be made public under a State Opposition health policy.
At present people referred by their GP may face years of waiting for a specialist appointment at a public hospital outpatient clinic to then be put on waiting list for elective surgery.
The State Government has repeatedly said it is too difficult to compile such information, despite it being readily available on computer systems.
Opposition Leader Steven Marshall is set to announce a policy committing the Liberals to providing wait time information for outpatient clinics.
“Patients need clear and reliable information about how long they will wait for the surgery to make informed choices about their health care,” he said.
“Knowing how long you may need to wait for an operation could enable you to consider other
opportunities to minimise pain and discomfort, at least while you wait.”
Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade said outpatient clinics are the gateway to elective surgery and accused the government of ‘deliberately concealing’ how long people are forced to wait for the first consultation.
“Under the Weatherill Government people needing surgery often wait longer to get an outpatient appointment than to get the surgery — for many patients it can take more than three years before an initial consultation, then if you need surgery, you may have to wait another year before you get it,” he said.
“South Australia currently does not release data on outpatient waiting times. It is a hidden waiting list.”
Retired tour operator Jack Miller, 79, of Barmera was told by his doctor it would be ‘five or six years’ before he would get a hip replacement if he went public.
With no private health insurance, he sought a quote for surgery in the private system and was told $35,000.
He is now on the waiting list for an outpatient appointment, to see a specialist who is expected to then put him on the waiting list for elective surgery in the public system.
“I have no idea how long it will take to get the appointment, but with the pain I am in and the strain on my body I am pretty sure I will need two hip replacements by the time I am seen,” he said.
Australian Medical Association state vice president Dr Chris Moy welcomed the move, saying the AMA had been calling for publication of the ‘hidden list’ for years.
“The transparency of readily available current data would hold the system to account, and the patient would at least see the delay and possibly seek alternative treatment, which they currently do not because they have no idea just how long they could be waiting,” Dr Moy said.
The Advertiser this week revealed Royal Adelaide Hospital patients classed as overdue on elective surgery waiting lists are being reclassified into less urgent categories — which means they are no longer classed as overdue.