Qld health crisis: Surgery waiting lists blow out

Sick Queenslanders are languishing on ballooning elective surgery lists, while the state’s peak doctors’ body says the problem will likely get worse before it gets better.

• Report: Discontent at major hospital

Sick Queenslanders are languishing on ballooning elective surgery lists where the number of patients waiting longer than clinically recommended has doubled in a year, with a shocking one in five heart patients not seen on time.

The state’s peak body representing doctors is warning that the problem will likely get worse before it gets better, while some patients have grown so desperate they are now resorting to paying for their own surgery through the private system.

The Courier-Mail today begins a series examining the state of Queensland’s health system.

Covid-19 wreaked havoc on surgery waiting lists across the country with hospitals left struggling to deal with the high caseload.

New figures show that 59,300 Queenslanders are waiting for surgery – an increase of 754 people from the previous quarter.

An analysis of previous data shows that in the December quarter 2021 around 10 per cent of patients were waiting longer than clinically recommended – that number has now jumped to 22 per cent.

The waiting list to see a specialist has 284,546 patients on it, an increase of 12,218 patients since the September quarter.

The data also reveals that only 63.4 per cent of cardiothoracic patients, 70-odd per cent of neurosurgery patients are seen within clinically recommended time frames with similar figures for plastic and reconstructive surgery.

An Australian Medical Association research paper released in January predicted that Queensland’s surgery backlog number could reach a staggering 63,677 patients by June if urgent action wasn’t taken. The report found that even before the pandemic, patients were waiting longer than the clinically recommended time for elective surgery in public hospitals and that public hospitals have not been able to return to pre-pandemic surgery numbers.

AMA Queensland president Maria Boulton said the Queensland government needed to advocate for federal support to shorten elective surgery waiting lists and stop people becoming sicker while they wait.

“This will reduce public hospital costs by preventing patients deteriorating due to the unacceptable delays and ending up in our EDs,” she said.

“We thought we had a worst-case scenario when we predicted 60,000 people on the wait list by June. Finding out that we are only 700 cases away in February is shocking.”

Dr Boulton said she expected the waiting list to continue to trend north.

“Without urgent action, we will only see these wait lists grow, particularly when we have almost 300,000 Queenslanders who are waiting to see a specialist and aren’t even on the surgery wait list.

“We know there is a backlog from Covid and we need to look at better ways to get these wait lists down.

“We hope this is the peak, but I’m worried things will get worse before they get better.”

Nyssa Brill and daughter Alivia, 8

But a spokeswoman for Ms D’Ath said Queensland was leading the way as the state with the fewest number of patients not seen within recommended time frames.

“The number of elective surgeries performed in Queensland hospitals increased by six per cent in this quarter, compared to the quarter immediately prior. More than 14,000 of those surgeries were for the most urgent category one patients,” she said.

Royal College of Surgeons spokesman Dr Sanjeev Naidu said his organisation shared the concerns of other medical groups that patients were waiting “for any type of care including elective surgery”.

“The surgical team is working in earnest to provide care in a timely manner in both emergency and elective cases, regardless of existing and future challenges to minimise compromise to our patients,” he said.

He said the unanticipated growth of Queensland during the pandemic and an ageing population with significant, complex health conditions had compounded the problem.

Rockhampton mother Nyssa Brill said she was forced to go through the private system after her eight-year-old daughter Alivia waited over three years for a consultation with a surgeon, despite being referred by their GP in 2019.

“We finally got in to see an ear nose and throat doctor at the Rockhampton hospital at the end of last year to be told she would then be put on the surgery wait list,” she said.

“We received a letter from the booking office placing her as a category 3 so there will be another 12 months or more waiting to get them out.”

Ms Brill said her young daughter had since begun developing further symptoms impacting her schoolwork and everyday life.

“She started snoring, and she’s also had a couple of episodes where she’s had sleep apnoea and she stopped breathing,” she said.

Her school work has also suffered on the back of her poor sleep.

“I have since seen our GP and had a referral sent to a private ENT that visits Rockhampton and have an appointment booked for April for a consultation which is going to cost $350, then the cost of surgery on top, but hopefully she will have the amount before much longer,” she said.

“So we’ve now got to cut back on stuff so that we can save up money to be able to afford to get surgery done.

“A child shouldn’t have to live with adult size tonsils.”

Opposition Health spokeswoman Ros Bates said the government’s failure to properly plan and resource its health system meant more Queenslanders were not getting the surgery they needed.

“These are people waiting for operations like hip replacements, knee surgery or other life-changing procedures like restoring sight,” she said.

Ms D’Ath’s spokeswoman said AMA analysis showed Queensland made up 20 per cent of the nation’s population but only accounted for 10 per cent of the elective surgery backlog.

“The Palaszczuk government is committed to improving our elective surgery capacity,” she said.

“By building specialist facilities, expanding our bed base, and employing record numbers of staff, the Palaszczuk government has a real plan to deliver ongoing access to elective surgery.”

AMAQ president Dr Maria Boulton. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen