South Australian woman's elective surgery cancelled several times since July

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A South Australian woman diagnosed with cancer says she's been waiting months for an elective surgery which has been cancelled four times. According to SA Health, six thousand patients across the state are now on a growing list of people overdue for life-altering procedures.

Transcript

00:00Just two days before her elective surgery, Monica received an evening phone call telling

00:08her the procedure was cancelled.

00:10Receiving that news when you're home on your own has been emotional and destroying.

00:18The 66 year old has blood cancer and needs surgery for bone fragility.

00:23She says her operation has been cancelled four times now and her health has suffered.

00:29Even though I'm 66, I feel like a 90 year old.

00:33This is a government who went to the election promising that health would be a priority

00:38and that has slipped further and further down the ranks.

00:40According to SA Health, nearly 25,000 South Australians are waiting for elective surgery.

00:476,000 of those are overdue.

00:49The government says hospitals performed a record number of nearly 62,000 elective surgeries

00:55last year, an increase of almost 9,000 each year since it formed government.

01:01The health minister says he apologises for delays in patient care and says Monica's previous

01:07operations were cancelled due to pressures in the hospital system, issues with medication

01:12and another time when the patient opted for a preferred surgeon.

01:16In this case, this patient had a particular preference for one particular surgeon to do

01:21that work and one of those occasions was a situation in which that surgeon wasn't available.

01:27The delays were absolutely regrettable, however some of those decisions were made to ensure

01:33that we could meet her preferences but also ensure that her surgery was safe and had a successful

01:39outcome.

01:40Monica has a new surgery date in December which she says can't come soon enough.

01:45But as often, I haven't seen issues with brainığınıaid.

01:48I thought it was a component of my sight every slightly when the patient's experience

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