Blow out in maximum wait times to see some public hospital specialists in South Australia

A child born today who needs a specialist appointment may start school before even getting in the door with a doctor, new data shows.

Wait times to see a public hospital specialist continue to blow out, with latest data showing 12 key specialities now with a maximum wait of five years or more — including four of more than six years.

This compares to 11 with waits of five years and two of six years in the previous quarter.

The longest maximum wait times were 79 months to see a general surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, 74 months for an ENT consultation at Lyell McEwin and 72 months each for immunology at Flinders Medical Centre and neurology at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

In more positive developments, 40 specialist outpatient services reduced maximum waiting times.

Lyell McEwin Hospital where outpatients face a maximum wait of more than six years for an ENT consultation.

FMC’s urology service cut its maximum wait time from 47 months to 37 by establishing nurse-led clinics for long-wait patients and adding more weekly clinics.

However, the report for the quarter ending September 30, 2024, also shows 30 services increased maximum waiting times by three months or more, some due to correcting errors in previous data.

Wait times for the same speciality can vary significantly between hospitals, such as 55 months for a respiratory consult at FMC while there is no wait at RAH, or more than two years to see a haematologist at Lyell McEwin compared to no wait at FMC or QEH.

The new wing of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

However specialties in high demand such as orthopaedics, ophthalmology, ENT and neurology — where conditions can markedly deterioritate if not treated — have wait times stretching into years at all metropolitan hospitals.

Once patients finally see a specialist, they may then be put on a separate wait list for elective surgery if needed — this list now has 22,777 patients ready for surgery including 5480 listed as overdue.

SA Health officials say increased waiting times are often a result of patients with an appointment returning to the waiting list, due to cancelled appointments or failing to attend.

If this occurs, patients are returned to their previous position on the list, causing an increase to the maximum waiting time recorded.

Acting Deputy Chief Executive Clinical System Support and Improvement Jeanette Walters said: “Demand continues to be high across the public health system, but hospitals are working hard to reduce outpatient service waiting times.

“Actions being taken include monthly audits to identify patients who no longer require specialist care, and digital solutions to reduce clinic no-show rates and maximise short-notice bookings for long-wait patients.”

FMC urology head of unit Dr Michael Chong said it was “heartening to see that the longest time to see us has come down.”

“This is due almost entirely to our nurse consultant and her urology long-list nursing clinic working to effectively contact these patients and triage their ongoing need for urology assessment,” he said.