Years in limbo just to see a specialist – and that’s an improvement

New data shows the maximum waits to see some specialists in SA is just under 10 years - and shockingly, that’s an improvement. Search our interactive database for all hospitals.

Waiting times to see some public hospital specialists stretches into years — but in mixed good news the maximum wait for many is falling to “only” a few years.

However in one case the wait time has blown out by four years.

From brain surgery and orthopaedic work to urology and eyes, the wait for an appointment to see a public specialist drags into years — then you might be put on a waiting list for elective surgery.

New data shows how the wait lists varies wildly among hospitals — advertiser.com.au has crunched the data to show the median and maximum wait for every problem, from breasts to vascular, at every public metropolitan hospital to show the shortest queues.

The data as of December 31, 2020, for Routine (category 2) and Non-urgent (category

3) patients shows the longest maximum wait time was for ophthalmology at Flinders Medical Centre at 119 months followed by urology also at FMC at 115 months — almost 10 years.

Maximum wait times were as long at 16 years in 2018.

The data shows no wait lists for some appointments, such as medical oncology, and variations for the same problem — the maximum wait for an orthopaedics consultation at the Royal Adelaide Hospital is 100 months but at Lyell McEwin Hospital it is “only” 58 months.

People with private health insurance, or who choose to pay for it themselves, face a wait of just days or weeks for a consultation.

SA Health Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael Cusack who has made tackling the wait list a priority says there are steady improvements being made by all Local Health Networks (LHNs).

A $1.5m overhaul includes an audit to see if people still on the wait list should be taken off, and more links to GPs so people are not coming back for unnecessary repeat specialist consultations.

Dr Cusack said for the three months to December 31, 2020 compared to the previous three months there has been a 12 per cent reduction in the average maximum wait time for the five largest outpatient specialities.

“We are committed to sustainably reducing outpatient waiting times, with each LHN undertaking specific targeted actions to support patients to access care sooner,” he said.

“As an example, the Women’s and Children’s Hospital has allocated additional clinics for Allergy and Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) services, while the Southern Adelaide Local Heath Network has implemented super clinics for their Plastics outpatient services.

Dr Michael Cusack. Picture: AAP/David Mariuz

“We have seen 39 specialist outpatient services reduce maximum wait times by as much as 44.1 months.”

The biggest fall was for ENT services at Flinders Medical Centre going from 67.7 to 23.6 months, immunology at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (91.1 to 48 months) and rheumatology at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (91.4 to 48 months).

However, the maximum waiting time for ENT services at the QEH blew out by almost four years, from 36 months to 82 months.

Dr Cusack said this is due to changes in the clinical service, with patients transitioning from the RAH to the QEH. There has been a reduction in the maximum wait time for ENT services at the RAH from 112 to 89 months.

“Additionally, there have been reductions in the median waiting times of up 24.4 months across 41 specialist outpatient services in this reporting period,” Dr Cusack said.

“The greatest reduction in median waiting times was seen in metabolic services at WCH, from 25.6 to 1.2 months, rheumatology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital from 26.3 to 6 months and endocrinology at FMC from 14.7 to 1.4 months.”