Patients are dying before they get surgery as public hospital waiting lists explode

THOUSANDS of patients are dying before they undergo surgery as hospital waiting times dramatically blow out.

EXCLUSIVE

Thousands of patients are dying before they get elective surgery as waiting times blow out by 37 per cent, a damning new report on public hospitals has found.

And The Australian Medical Association says it won’t stand in the way of an increase in the Medicare Levy to solve the funding crisis.

Waiting times for elective surgery like hip and knee replacements have soared with over half of all patients waiting over 37 days, up from 27 days in 2001-02.

This is the highest waiting time in 14 years, and a 37 per cent increase since the turn of the century.

More than 14,000 patients waited over a year for their surgery and official figures show 7,000 patients died while they were waiting or could no longer be contacted.

Waiting times for elective surgery have exploded by 37 per cent. Picture Thinkstock.

The picture in emergency departments is no better with not a single state meeting the target to treat 80 per cent of patients within four hours.

Nationally, one in three patients were not treated within clinically appropriate times in emergency departments.

Public Hospitals are failing 40 of the 48 performance benchmarks they set themselves an Australian Medical Association Public Hospital Report Card has found.

“Inadequate funding has consigned Australia’s public hospitals and all the dedicated health professionals who work in them to a constant state of emergency,” AMA president Dr Michael Gannon said.

“Without sufficient funding to increase capacity, public hospitals will never meet the targets set by governments, and patients will wait longer for treatment,” Dr Gannon said.

Dr Gannon says the AMA “won’t oppose” an increase in the Medicare Levy to solve the funding crisis “as long as all those funds are hypothecated to health spending”.

Both federal and state governments have cut their spending on public hospitals and bed numbers are not keeping pace with the growth in the population, the report shows.

Without extra funding hospitals can’t meet performance targets says the AMA. Picture: iStock

In 2013-14 the federal government slashed hospital funding by $7.9 billion in the lead up to 2020, restoring just $2.9 billion last year.

The states have dramatically scaled back their hospital spending from a ten year average growth of 4.4 per cent to just 0.4 per cent.

Waiting times for elective surgery in NSW have been steadily rising for years with half of all patients now waiting over 55 days for surgery in 2015-16, well above the national average 37 days.

Two per cent of patients have waited over a year for their surgery.

Waiting times for elective surgery in Victoria were below the national average with 39 per cent of patients waiting more than 39 days in 2015-16, but 2.3 per cent of patients waited over a year for surgery.

Waiting times for elective surgery in Queensland have been rising steadily and half of all patients waited over 29 days in 2015-16, up from 27 days.

One in three emergency patients wait longer than clinically appropriate for treatment. Picture Thinkstock.

However just 0.4 per cent of patients waited over a year for surgery.

Waiting times for elective surgery have been rising in Western Australia with half of all patients waiting over 30 days for elective surgery in 2015-16.

South Australia has the nation’s second longest wait time for elective surgery with half of all patients waiting over 40 days in 2015-16.

And 1.8 per cent of patients waited over a year for surgery.

Tasmania has the longest waiting times for elective surgery in the country with half of all patients waiting over 72 days for elective surgery in 2015-16, nearly twice as long as the national average.

A staggering one in six patients waited over a year for surgery.

Waiting times for elective surgery in the Northern Territory fell with half of all patients waiting 29 days for surgery in 2015-16, down from 32 days.

Health Curs Dr Michael Gannon Head of AMA

Consumer’s Health Forum chief Leanne Wells said the blowout in waiting times showed the huge amount spent subsidising private insurance to relieve pressure on public hospitals had failed to do the job.

“When the Government introduced the health insurance rebate at significant expense to the taxpayer, it said increased privately insured members would take the strain off public hospitals,” she said.

“The significantly longer average waiting times for elective surgery between 2001 and now indicate those strains are greater than ever. Various factors have contributed, including a reduction in the proportion of public hospital funding provided by the Commonwealth Government.

“The private health insurance rebate, now costing the taxpayer around $6 billion a year, by itself has clearly failed to deliver a better outcome for the majority of Australians who do not have health insurance and who now face waiting times much higher than in 2001.”