SA’s worst public specialist waits: Some people waiting six years to see specialists

Shock new data shows a baby born today will be in school before some people get to see sought-after public hospital specialists. So which patients face the worst waits?

Waiting times for key specialist outpatient appointments at public hospitals have blown out, with the maximum wait for 11 consultations now more than five years – including two more than six years.

The longest maximum wait in the last quarter was 76 months to see a general surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, followed by 74 months for an ENT consultation at Lyell McEwin –and 70 months to see an immunologist at Flinders Medical Centre.

In the previous quarter, there were seven specialties with maximum waiting time above five years, led by ENT at Lyell McEwin of 68 months.

The longest maximum wait in the last quarter was 76 months to see a general surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

These are appointments to see a specialist; if elective surgery is then deemed necessary, patients go on a separate waiting list which now has 22,280 people ready for surgery, including 4630 listed as overdue.

As the government advertises it is building a bigger health system, there are 24 specialties at metropolitan hospitals where the maximum wait time for an appointment stretches beyond 50 months.

While there is no waiting time for some appointments, such as for medical oncology, there are years-long long waits for orthopaedics, ENT, endocrinology, gastroenterology, neurology, ophthalmology, respiratory, plastic, vascular and urology consultations.

The good news is the longest waits are far less than the 16 years for some appointments recorded in 2018.

There were also cuts to maximum wait times in dozens of cases.

A new patient messaging system helped cut maximum wait times for an appointment by up to 28 months in some specialties.

Text updates meant fewer appointments needed to be rescheduled, and helped identify patients who had been seen elsewhere or had their issue resolved.

The Lyell McEwin Hospital urology service achieved the biggest cut in maximum waiting time of 28 months, falling to 33 months, largely due to hiring an additional urologist.

The Lyell McEwin Hospital urology service achieved the biggest cut in maximum waiting time. Picture: Supplied

The general medicine service at the Royal Adelaide Hospital had a 14 month improvement in maximum waiting time, from 17 to three months.

Officials says the blowout in general surgery wait times at the QEH was due to a single patient returning to the wait list and regaining their place in the queue.

South Australian chief medical officer Dr Michael Cusack. Picture: AAP Image/David Mariuz.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael Cusack said: “Our hospitals continue to have a sustained focus on further reducing the waiting times for outpatient services.

“These additional staff members and enhanced processes are having a real impact on wait times and will continue to make sure people are able to be seen across our public healthcare system as soon as possible.

“With high demand across the public healthcare system, we encourage anyone waiting to talk to their GP if their condition or circumstances change and to let us know as soon as possible if they no longer need an appointment.”