Surgery wait times soar in the Top End as COVID measures strain the NT’s already overburdened hospitals

OPERATION wait times at the NT’s biggest hospital have blown out amid resourcing changes made to manage the coronavirus pandemic, the Territory’s top medical body says

OPERATION wait times at the NT’s biggest hospital have blown out amid resourcing changes made to manage the coronavirus pandemic, the Territory’s top medical body says.

According to statistics from the Australian Medical Association NT, as of July 42 per cent of patients on the Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) operations waitlist were waiting longer than the recommended time, which varies depending on the procedure, for surgeries they needed.

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In June 2019 that figure was 7 per cent.

The situation has prompted the AMA NT to call on all election candidates to commit to boosting resourcing in the NT health system.

“This is an elephant in the room that hasn’t come about because of COVID-19,” AMA NT vice president Dr Cameron Scott said.

The main entrance of Royal Darwin Hospital. Picture: Che Chorley

“It’s been happening for the past several years now and it hasn’t been addressed, and COVID-19 has only compounded the issue, so we want to know how candidates are going to address this.

“We would like to see a party say we will resolve this and make this a priority.

“For a problem we predicted would be an issue several years ago, it’s the same and it’s not getting any better.”

Dr Scott said the waiting list blowout stemmed from a proportion of beds, operating theatres and staff being re-purposed to accommodate potential coronavirus cases in the Top End – a move that, while needed, had placed huge additional pressure on the Territory’s already overburdened hospital system.

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According to the AMA NT, those resource changes include about 100 of the 400 hospital beds across RDH and Palmerston Hospital being taken out of general use and RDH putting one out of its nine operating theatres into standby mode.

“We have resources there but because of coronavirus we can’t use them, and given we’re already under-resourced it just compounds the problem,” Dr Scott said.