Wait times stretching to years for some public medical specialists

ABC NEWS (Australia)

New figures have revealed some Australians are waiting more than six years to see specialists like neurologists in parts of the country.

Transcript

00:00The ABC has analysed the available data to determine some of the longest waiting times

00:07for public specialists across the nation, with the results being described as heartbreaking

00:13and offensive by doctors.

00:15In South Australia, some people are waiting more than six years to see specialists like

00:20neurologists.

00:21In Tasmania, some are waiting more than five years to see paediatric allergy and respiratory

00:26specialists.

00:28Also notably, in Tasmania, some people are waiting more than three and a half years for

00:33urgent appointments with brain surgeons.

00:35An urgent appointment, the clinically recommended timeframe is within 30 days.

00:39These people are waiting more than three and a half years.

00:42In Victoria, some people are waiting more than 3.7 years to see ear, nose and throat surgeons.

00:49Clinical Professor of Medicine, Graeme Stewart, says much more needs to be done to address

00:53this issue.

00:54Take a listen.

00:54Well, as a clinician, I'm deeply offended by it.

01:00Each statistic is a person who's waiting for essential care way beyond the time that is

01:07clinically appropriate.

01:09And that carries with it the risk of preventable death.

01:12Getting a true idea of the extent of the problem is really difficult.

01:17The states all collate the data differently and only some routinely publish it.

01:21So, New South Wales, Western Australia and the Northern Territory all declined the ABC's request to provide us with this

01:28information, saying it's not publicly available.

01:31Now, the Australian Medical Association says that's a problem.

01:34They say there needs to be nationally consistent data so that we can see how big of a problem,

01:39how widespread of an issue this is across the entire country.

01:44Now, these public specialist outpatient clinics, they are run by the states, but they receive

01:48federal funding as part of a broader public hospital funding deal.

01:52And AMA Vice President Julian Wright says the Commonwealth needs to step in and better resource these clinics

01:58because they're leaving too many people behind.

02:01Clearly, we'd like to think in a society such as Australia, a so-called rich country, that we can actually

02:07deliver, you know, a first-rate health care system.

02:10And unfortunately, Australia doesn't actually do that well in terms of equity.

02:16Now, for this story, we spoke to Gold Coast mother Kylie Goldsborough.

02:20Kylie's son, William, was diagnosed with hearing loss at the age of two, but she was told that she would

02:25likely have to wait at least three years to see an ear, nose and throat surgeon.

02:31She ultimately paid for him to see a private specialist.

02:34Take a listen to Kylie describing the moment after he had surgery where she realised that he could finally hear properly.

02:42It was a life-changing moment.

02:45We hopped in the car and it was raining and he's like, what's that noise?

02:49And it was the pitter-patter of the rain on the car roof that he could hear for the first time.

02:54Now, in a statement, a federal health department spokesperson said the Commonwealth was investing

02:59a record amount in public hospitals and said that managing public specialist waiting lists

03:05was a matter for the states, primarily their responsibility.

03:09The states and territories have told the ABC that they're working to try to bring these waiting lists down.

03:14So if you're speaking to the president, book by Хорошо who won, which is also a deep general alliance to the

03:16government, the government, the Obrigado.

03:17So if you have answered it's university, I'll keep us speaking to which case.

03:18So I'm out of the comments below, and if we even stay in contact with a student with a

03:19member of the person if you think they don't have an ear from one of the speakers,

03:22what are they hopefully going to read them on.

03:23So if there were any patients, they also were going to rob a zero million to do

03:24well-toothP sets together for years of worshiping, and then finally they're not going to come after

03:27theirutter-pare of failure.

03:28And if you had the Joaqu kalian kids hat by buying the physicians, the possibility of the

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