Geelong patients struggle to see ENTs

Geelong patients say they face “horrible” waits, are forced to travel to other cities, or fork out large sums to see ear, nose and throat specialists.

Tahlia Dowie recently had a long wait for getting her tonsils removed.

Geelong patients say they are facing “horrible” waits, being forced to travel to other cities, or fork out large sums of money to see ear, nose and throat specialists.

Whittington’s Tahlia Dowie said she sat on the waitlist for a non-urgent appointment with an ENT at Barwon Health for two years.

She said she was re-referred at the start of the year as a semi-urgent case, but told the wait could be another 18 months.

The 28-year-old decided to pay extra to go private instead to deal with the recurring tonsillitis that had dogged since she was and a child, and was particularly bad this year.

Ms Dowie said she researched ENTs in Geelong but could not find any who could take her on as a private patient either, with a number of them only taking children.

She travelled to Bendigo to see an ENT in September, and he removed her tonsils in Melbourne in October.

She said this cost about $6000.

Ms Dowie said the situation was frustrating, and especially difficult for those who could not afford to go private.

Armstrong Creek’s Mackenzie Hough said her two-year-old son James spent months on the waitlist, despite being in an “urgent” category, before being seen by an ENT at Barwon Health.

Mackenzie Hough with family, Penelope, Luke and James Billows. Picture: Sugar Images

She said they saw a GP in January for a referral and got confirmation they were on the waitlist at Barwon Health in May, but James was not seen until October.

She said James snored like a grown man, had breathing difficulties in his sleep and hearing loss.

He requires the removal of his tonsils and adenoids and the insertion of grommets.

The family is waiting for surgery to be scheduled, and Ms Hough said the woes accessing help were “horrible”

“He doesn’t get quality sleep, it affects him emotionally and developmentally,” she said.

Some private practices in the region are not seeing new patients because of the high demand.

Barwon Health’s acting clinical director of surgical and critical care Michael Rowland said a specialist procedure hub would open in late 2023, which will improve its ability to see patients requiring minor procedures and reduce waiting times.

He said its ENT specialist clinic was operating as usual and accepting new patient referrals.

“Urgent patients are seen within a month – this is the clinically recommended period of time,” he said.

“Barwon Health sees 93 per cent of patients for routine appointments (not just ENT) within a year (also the clinically recommended period of time).

“We are continuously working to improve wait times to ensure people in the region get the right care.”

Originally published as Geelong patients struggle to see ENTs