Inside one Territorian’s long wait for elective surgery during the Covid pandemic

A Territorian waiting for two knee replacements is in ‘excruciating pain’, while her elective surgeries are pushed out due to the pandemic.

DIANE Hawkey is in pain.

The 58-year-old is waiting for two knee replacements at the Royal Darwin Hospital and with elective surgeries put off again due to Covid-19, the waitlist is only growing longer.

Ms Hawkey woman suffers from osteoarthritis and, under the NT’s pandemic plan, must remain on the waiting list for 12 months.

“My latest X-rays show that both my knees are bone on bone and the pain is excruciating. I don’t know how I am going to manage,” she said.

While Ms Hawkey’s condition may be non-life threatening, living in extreme pain every day has severely impaired her ability to live a full life. “I’ve been depressed,” she said. “When you wake up with pain every single day you don’t have much of a good outlook.”

The pain has completely taken over her life, forcing her to become a different person to who she was before.

Diane Hawkey lives with debilitating osteoarthritis and is on a waitlist for surgery that she fears will blow out because of covid. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

From being a people person with a love of entertaining, she now can no longer cook, bake or enjoy time with friends.

“My social life has gone down dramatically because I struggle to walk and being in pain you just can’t have a good time,” she said.

Ms Hawkey used to her own business in her home country of South Africa, but now she has lost work and has been unable to start her new business venture selling antiques online.

“I have to photograph each item and then I’ve got to type a description in for each item, so it’s a lot of work. I haven’t been able to get it off the floor yet [and] I’m sitting with a whole bedroom full of stock,” she said,

An NT Health spokeswoman said they were addressing the long wait times for elective surgeries through initiatives to improve surgical capacity.

“[This includes] commencing an additional operating theatre at Palmerston Regional Hospital,” she said.

“Multiple system improvements are underway to reduce inpatient bed pressures at Royal Darwin Hospital to minimise the risk of elective surgical cancellations.”

Diane Hawkey lives with debilitating osteoarthritis and is on a waitlist for surgery that she fears will blow out because of covid. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

However, four months into being on the waitlist, Ms Hawkey has not heard of any changes to her wait time.

Even after her GP sent another referral to the hospital highlighting the urgency of Ms Hawkey’s case, her request for a shorter wait time was rejected.

“I just could not control the tears of desperation and absolute frustration,” she said.

Without surgery, Ms Hawkey cannot move forward with her life and is stuck in a time loop, reliving her pain everyday.

Even at her lowest point, Ms Hawkey will not back down and is calling for others in a similar situation as herself to share their stories.

“I’m a strong person, I’m a fighter,” she said.

“Maybe we can raise our voices together about this disgusting and painful lack of medical treatments and surgeries.”

Elective and day surgeries were again paused at Territory hospitals on Friday as the number of Covid-19 hospitalisations grew to 148, which further increased to 151 on Saturday with four people in the ICU and 22 people requiring oxygen.

Originally published as Inside one Territorian’s long wait for elective surgery during the Covid pandemic