Horror elective surgery logjam threatens to blow-out to 500,000

The AMA calls for new funding arrangements to address the blow-out in public hospital election surgery waiting lists, which threaten to top the half-a-million mark if nothing is done. 

A blow-out in waiting lists is a “horror” figure and timely elective surgery is out of reach for many Australians, a new report from the AMA has found.

The AMA’s new report, Addressing the elective surgery backlog, finds the number of people waiting for elective surgery is expected to reach more than 500,000 by 30 June.

AMA Professor Steve Robson said in the Australian, “This is a horror figure. We are now at a critical point where access to timely elective surgery is out of reach for many Australians”.

The Australian said one in every 50 Australians now face being stuck in growing elective surgery backlogs at public hospitals.

Professor Robson called for a plan funded by states and the federal government to deliver a permanent expanded workforce and increased capacity to deliver services in public hospitals.

A new funding agreement would include upfront advance payments from the Commonwealth to support state and territory governments to expand their capacity to address the elective surgery backlog.

Professor Robson said, “We also need to see data on waiting lists (including the hidden waiting lists) reported more regularly and transparently across all jurisdictions to ensure the health system can be appropriately managed and patients are receiving the right care at the right time”.

“People waiting for surgery were suffering”, he said. “People can’t see, people can’t hear, people can’t move. People are in pain,” he said on ABC News at Noon.

“So we need to put patients first. There are many different types of surgery, from cataract surgery to joint replacements to operations to deal with pain.

“My own area, for example, is in the pain to do with endometriosis and we are seeing people waiting for years in pain, often pain that is worsening before they can get surgery to deal with it.

“So it’s a compassionate issue, but it’s also an economic issue. In the current workforce shortage, we need Australians to be at the top of their game and having so many hundreds of thousands of people needing surgery to get back to good health is a real problem.”