Qld reconstructive surgery backlog: Another victim languishing in limbo

Another Queensland breast cancer patient in limbo on a reconstructive surgery waiting list has issued a desperate plea.

Tracy Chapman has been waiting 1400 days for reconstruction surgery after having a double mastectomy. Picture: Tara Croser

Queensland breast cancer survivors could be waiting indefinitely for reconstructive surgery after mastectomies, with the State Government unable to advise the length of the delays.

As Queensland Health comes under increasing fire over a lack of transparency, patients tell The Sunday Mail of being “given the run-around” for the operation, which is classified as elective but which women say is essential to their physical and mental recovery.

Brisbane accounts manager Tracy Chapman had a bilateral mastectomy on August 12, 2019 – and 1434 days later her chest is still flat and scarred.

“I’d walk through Queen Street Mall with my top off if I thought politicians would take notice,” Mrs Chapman said.

“Annastacia Palaszczuk needs to come down from her ivory tower and see what’s happening to women in this state.”

Mrs Chapman is speaking out after The Sunday Mail last week revealed Mareeba woman Sharyn Washington had been waiting 614 days “to feel normal again”.

“Like Sharyn, I want things to improve for all women – the mental toll is crippling,” she said.

Mrs Chapman, 57, has had several consultations at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in the almost four years since her mastectomy, only to be told in March this year her surgery would be “postponed indefinitely”.

“I am so pissed off – they don’t look at it from a humane aspect; this is an emotional rollercoaster,” she said.

At her first post-mastectomy assessment in October 2019, Mrs Chapman was asked to drop down to 90kg before she could have DIEP flap surgery, which transfers skin and fatty tissue from the stomach to the chest.

After losing weight ahead of her next three appointments, in June 2020 (weight 95kg), April and October 2021 (both 90kg), she was put on the surgery waist list.

Tracy Chapman has been waiting over 1400 days for reconstruction surgery after having a double mastectomy. Picture: Tara Croser

In March 2022 Mrs Chapman received a letter from Queensland Health, stating elective surgery at RBWH had been cancelled due to a Covid-19 backlog.

“I sunk to an all-time low – almost as low as the shock of my initial diagnosis and having to tell my husband Russell, whose previous wife Linda died of breast cancer,” she said.

“My mental health was terrible, and I comfort-ate, drank and cried. There was no light at the end of the tunnel anymore.”

Out of the blue, on June 28, 2022, the clinic advised her surgery had been booked for the following Monday, July 4.

At her pre-admission appointment on June 30, Mrs Chapman tipped the scales at 97kg.

“I was beyond devastated,” she said.

“I’ve never been a thin woman but had I known a date for surgery in advance I’d have been ready for it; instead I’ve been given the run-around.”

In November 2022, Mrs Chapman, then 88kg, was “promised” surgery by June 2023.

But in March, she said the clinic advised it could be “postponed indefinitely”, again blaming Covid.

“Women shouldn’t have to live in limbo hoping Queensland Health gets its act together,” she said.

“I didn’t choose to get breast cancer and take offence at the term ‘elective’ surgery; I am partially disabled,” said Mrs Chapman, who cannot wear a bra for prosthetic breasts due to pain caused by chunks of skin left under her arms from the mastectomy.

Latest data on the Queensland Hospital and Health Service Performance website shows from January to March this year, 3338 people had plastic and reconstructive surgery but 4544 people were still waiting, 1085 longer than the recommended time.

Tracy and Russell Chapman at their wedding in February 2022. Picture: Joanna Kate Photography

A Queensland Health spokesperson said 131 women were on the waitlist for breast reconstructions – 59 past the clinically recommended time, according to latest January-March quarter figures.

But the department was unable to advise the length of the delays.

Of the 59, one is in the most urgent category 1, eight in category 2 and 50 in category 3 – where Mrs Chapman and Sharyn Washington sit.

A spokesperson for Metro North Health said medical or clinical factors meant some patients were not suitable or ready to undergo reconstructive surgery safely.

“Those reasons may include things like being a smoker or falling outside a safe BMI range,” he said.

“Patient safety is always our first priority, and we support our patients throughout their cancer care journey.

“That support may include referral to allied health professionals or other services to help patients become clinically ready for their reconstructive surgery to be done safely. When they are clinically ready, those patients then proceed into the surgical pathway.”

Mrs Chapman said she had never been offered referrals to allied health services.

Following last week’s Sunday Mail coverage, Health Minister Shannon Fentiman met with Mrs Washington and said she would prioritise reducing wait times and was “looking forward to an outcome in the near future”.

Opposition health spokeswoman Ros Bates said on Saturday it was “clear the minister doesn’t have the solutions to fix this ever-deepening crisis”.

“It is unforgivable for women who have already experienced the trauma of breast cancer to be left languishing on a waitlist for reconstructive surgery past the medically-recommended time frame,” Ms Bates said.

She said more than half of all patients waited longer than they should for a consultation, let alone the surgery they needed.