The number of patients overdue for elective surgery in NSW public hospitals has tripled as doctors warn staff shortages and budget cuts are leading to waiting lists longer than at any point since the COVID pandemic.
There were 6842 people overdue for elective surgery at the end of last year, quarterly public hospital data released on Wednesday reveals. Eye surgeries, joint replacements and tonsillectomies topped the list of procedures with the largest backlog.
Australian Medical Association (NSW) president Dr Kathryn Austin said the latest quarterly hospital figures were alarming and unacceptable. Credit:
The figure is a dramatic rise from the 2133 patients overdue for elective surgery at the end of 2023, which followed a massive push by the NSW government to tackle ballooning waiting lists after the disruption of the pandemic.
The most significant increase is in cataract extraction procedures. At the end of 2023, just 53 people were overdue for surgery to remove cataracts. By the end of last year, more than 1700 patients were overdue.
Vision 2020 Australia chief executive Carly Iles said delays in having cataracts removed could leave patients unable to work and relying on family members to perform basic tasks.
“If it’s left for too long, it can cause people to go needlessly blind,” she said.
Ophthalmologist Ashish Agar, an associate professor at UNSW and Australian Medical Association NSW councillor, said workforce shortages and budget cuts were contributing to the longer waitlists.
“We are hearing reports from across the state of surgical lists being cancelled because they can’t get nurses, they can’t get anaesthetists,” he said. “One of the tragedies is that cataract surgery is one of the most effective ways of maintaining independence and ensuring that people don’t fall subject to other adverse health outcomes.
“It’s really low-hanging fruit.”
Health Minister Ryan Park said a change to the urgency category for cataract surgeries may have contributed to more patients being classified as overdue.
“Ultimately, it means we’re holding ourselves to a more stringent standard,” he said.
More than 100,000 patients were on a surgical waitlist at the end of last year, 11,617 more than the year before. The figure is only 800 fewer than the peak reached in June 2020, when the COVID pandemic forced a pause on non-urgent elective surgeries.
Tackling surgical lists has been a key priority for Health Minister Ryan Park. An elective surgery taskforce, announced by Park in his first day on the job, was charged with cutting the backlog, including by trialling same-day joint replacement surgery.
The government also outsourced thousands of procedures to the private sector, but that has since declined, with only 660 procedures performed in private hospitals between October and December.
In the state’s emergency departments, which continued to face record demand, 67,902 people left hospital without starting or completing treatment.
One-third were classified as having an urgent condition needing treatment within 30 minutes, a figure AMA NSW president Dr Kathryn Austin described as alarming and unacceptable.
“This is what happens when a health system does not have enough doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers to care for its community,” she said.
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