Tasmanians awaiting elective surgery surge due to state government missing the mark

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Tasmania's elective surgery waitlist is on the rise once again creeping past nine thousand. It follows a period of mixed success in delivering surgeries. While the wait list has come down from it's all time high. The state government has missed several key targets and Tasmanians are still waiting longer than recommended for care.

Transcript

00:00By 10 at night, the pain in Tim Smith's legs is so severe he's paralysed from the waist

00:08down.

00:09When he is able to move, it's pretty limited and he's bound to a stick.

00:13My days are filled where I've got to wait for someone to dress me, someone to help undress

00:17me.

00:18If something falls anywhere and there's no one about, I can't pick it up because I can't

00:23bend.

00:24He's been waiting years on Tasmania's elective surgery list for a vascular procedure that

00:29has a recommended wait time of three months.

00:32In that time, he's also developed ulcers on his legs.

00:36You can see there the state of the swelling of the legs and how it's come up there and

00:42bad it is.

00:43Tim's not alone.

00:45Tasmania's elective surgery wait list sits at more than 9,000.

00:49While the state government was able to reduce it from more than 12,000 in 2021 to less than

00:548,000 in 2023, it's risen since then.

00:58It's a massive resourcing issue.

01:00So our health service is not funded on the demand, it's funded on a budget allocation.

01:08Tasmania's peak medical body says people like Tim are falling through the cracks due to a

01:13lack of beds, emergency surgery needs and cherry picking.

01:17To make the wait list look better, you pick the patients that are fit, well and healthy

01:24to get their operation done and get them on the wait list, but what you're not doing is

01:27treating patients in turn, i.e. the patients that have been waiting the longest, because

01:30often they require more resources.

01:32The AMA is calling on the federal government to boost funding to states.

01:38The state government released a four-year elective surgery plan in 2021, but it hit just three

01:44out of 20 KPIs, all about the actual number of surgeries performed.

01:50It didn't meet any relating to reducing the backlog, increasing the proportion of people seen

01:55on time or clearing long-term wait list occupants, like Tim.

02:01What we're seeing is that the waiting list is still large and Tasmanians are still waiting

02:06too long.

02:07The Health Department has apologised to Mr Smith, saying it acknowledges the impact.

02:12It has a new four-year surgery plan, with the state government investing another $70 million.

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