Patients Being Kept Off Official Waiting Lists

“More than 33 000 Victorians are waiting for outpatient’s appointments and the numbers keep rising,” says Helen Shardey, Shadow Minister for Health. As of December 2007 there were an additional 8722 patients waiting for an appointment than there were in the three months previously at the end of September 2007. This represents a 35 percent increase.

These 33 869 people waiting for an outpatient appointment in Victoria are on top of the 39 502 published elective surgery waiting list for Victoria’s public hospitals.

“Freedom of Information documents obtained by the Opposition reveal that the Brumby Government is failing in its duty of care when it comes to getting sick Victorian’s treated in a timely manner,” says Mrs Shardey.

“There are literally tens of thousands of patients languishing on the Government’s secret outpatient waiting lists and thousands more who don’t have appointments who are waiting to get onto these lists to see a doctor.

“People must be seen and assessed in hospital outpatient clinics before they can be put on a waiting list for surgery,” explains Mrs Shardey

“We are now in the unconscionable position of having people waiting to get onto these lists in order to join the queue for elective surgery,” says Mrs Shardey. “

“Hospitals are being forced to manipulate their waiting lists in order to avoid being penalised by the Government. The result is that thousands of people who are waiting to see a specialist do not show up on the “official” elective surgery waiting list, which is tabled in the Your Hospitals report. In many cases these people are waiting years,” says Mrs Shardey.

These figures reveal just how bad our waiting lists have become with thousands of country Victorian’s being pushed onto outpatient appointment lists,” says Mrs Shardey.

Forty -four percent of people waiting for outpatient appointments are from regional Victoria. The outpatient waiting lists for Victoria’s main regional hospitals (Ballarat, Barwon, Bendigo, and Goulburn Valley Health) show a staggering 14 855 people waiting for appointments.

Some patients are being forced to wait years for treatment. A Category 1 (urgent) patient at Barwon Health waited an incredible 1605 days* or just over four years for an outpatient’s review appointment to see a specialist about his/her Lymphedema.

Lymphedema is a disease of the lymphatic system which causes excruciating pain, and massive swelling which reduces the patient’s ability to move.

Two people at Ballarat Base Hospital waited 194** days each for their oncology appointments.

Another patient at Goulburn Valley Health had to wait over 500 days for an orthopaedic outpatient appointment. While two anxious parents faced an 89 day and 84* day wait respectively for Category 1 paediatric clinic appointment.

*As of September 2007

“A combined total of regional and metropolitan hospitals bring this secret waiting list to 33 869. This figure is enormous considering that Western Health and few other hospitals failed to provide information, “says Mrs Shardey.

“As of December 2007 there are 33 869 “hidden” patients and it is high time the Brumby Government saw to it that these patients are treated in a timely manner.

In metropolitan Melbourne it’s a case of waiting on the never-never list when it comes to some of the major hospital’s outpatient waiting lists. At Royal Melbourne Hospital three neurosurgery patients were forced to wait 783 days, 719 days and 671 days respectively for their appointments.

Patients attending Box Hill hospital are also not immune to lengthy waits. The hospital recorded a patient waiting 714 days for an orthopaedics appointment, while five others had to wait between 547 and 672 days for their orthopaedic appointments.**

A cardiology patient was forced to wait 355 days** for an outpatient appointment at St Vincent’s while another patient at St Vincent’s had to wait 301** days to see a doctor about his/her diabetes condition.

“How long should sick Victorians be forced to be patient with our crumbling health system, while waiting for care? Our sick deserve better treatment and a Government that fronts up to this mounting health crisis, says Helen Shardey. “

“No wonder 40 percent of doctors surveyed in the Herald Sun rate the Victorian Health Minister’s performance as below average and called up him to “come clean on the inadequacies of the system and why.”

“The persistent response by the Minister that “there is more to be done” – pays lip service to the thousands of Victorians waiting for treatment,” said Mrs Shardey.

Uregent Surgeries Cancelled

Seriously ill Victorians are having their urgent Category 1 surgeries cancelled on a regular basis,” Helen Shardey, Shadow Minister for Health, said today.

“Freedom of Information (FoI) documents show that the Brumby Government has been economical with the truth when it claimed that 100 per cent of urgent Category 1 patients were treated within the benchmark time of 30 days. Mr Brumby and his embattled Health Minister have a lot to answer for.

“The FoI documents detail the number of Hospital Initiated Postponements (HIPS), which are not reported in the Government’s Your Hospitals report, and show that there are literally hundreds of Category 1 patients who have had their surgeries cancelled or postponed,” Mrs Shardey said.

Patients who have encountered a HIP will have already been on a waiting list to receive treatment. Therefore a HIP is another extended period of waiting that in almost all instances is beyond the control of the patient.

“Reasons given for these postponements range from no ICU beds being available, overbooked lists or no staff or surgeon available. What is alarming is that there are multiple Category 1 patients who have waited on the HIP list beyond the 30 day benchmark, even though they had already been waiting for some period prior to having their treatment postponed,” Mrs Shardey said.

The following hospitals are suffering from a system in crisis as FOI documents* show:

Name of hospital: Category 1 HIPs: No. of patients more than 30 days on HIPS: No. patients more than 30 days prior to HIPS
Royal Melbourne 278 45 79

Monash 89 4 4

Austin Health 164 22 95

St Vincent’s 26 No data provided** No data provided**

The Alfred 48 5 13

Box Hill 86 11 0

Bendigo 14 4 4

Geelong 14 2 0

*These figures relate to a three month period from 1/10/2007 to 31/12/2007
** In all categories in all individual instances – St Vincent’s Hospital was not able to provide patients with a rescheduled admission date or determine the length of waiting time prior to the HIPS.

“At the Royal Melbourne Hospital a Category 1 patient requiring urgent neurosurgery was placed on the HIP list with a further delay of 51 days to receive treatment. The reason given for the postponement was that there had been an emergency priority,” Mrs Shardey said.

“A further 36 Category 1 patients requiring procedures such as vascular surgery, vascular shunt/bypass, amputation of a limb or thoracic surgery were placed on the HIP list without any reschedule date to receive their treatment. This implies an indefinite wait for seriously ill people,” Mrs Shardey said.

“In Geelong, a Barwon Health Category 1 patient has waited 82 days for urological surgery while
another urgent Category 1 patient at Bendigo Health has been waiting for a TUR obstruction ureter/renal pelvis procedure which has been postponed without any reschedule date. This seriously ill patient had already waited 38 days prior to their postponement.

“The situation in metropolitan Victoria is equally as concerning as in regional Victoria.

“Austin Health is just as bad with one Category 1 patient waiting 162 days for the replacement of a heart valve. This person’s surgery was cancelled because of an elective priority. A further two Category 1 patients were cancelled at the Austin because there was no surgeon available while one patient waited 98 days for renal dialysis – with the procedure being cancelled because of a clerical error.

“At Monash Medical Centre two Category 1 patients have waited 52 days for thoracic surgery.

“The Alfred Hospital has also postponed urgent surgeries with two Category 1 patients both requiring a bowel resection being placed on the HIP list. One seriously ill patient has waited over 400 days – 113 days on the HIP list and 380 days prior to being postponed. The reason for the postponement was given as ‘elective priority’.

“The other Category 1 patient has waited 35 days on the HIP list and a further 48 days prior to being postponed. The reason for this postponement was given as ‘unavailability of hospital staff’.

“Sick Victorians deserve better treatment and a government that tells them the truth,” Mrs Shardey said.

“When will Mr Brumby finally realise that our health system is in crisis?”

The State of Our Hospitals — Nothing To Crow About

Despite the Brumby Government’s rhetoric and grandiose promises, Victorians are still waiting longer for treatment in emergency departments than ever before, said Shadow Minister for Health Helen Shardey.

The State of Our Hospitals annual report shows that Victorians are waiting an average of 22 minutes to be seen in emergency departments, an increase of three minutes from the last report. The report also reveals that there has been a decrease in the percentage of Victorians seen within the recommended time, from 77 per cent to 74 per cent.

“What I find staggering is that 19,050 sick Victorians were categorised as overdue/extended wait and were forced to wait for a prolonged period of time before receiving their elective surgery. Category 2 patients, who are semi-urgent, are also being forced to wait longer for treatment,” said Mrs Shardey.

“Victoria is still not meeting the 80 per cent benchmark for Category 2 patients treated within 90 days.

“Our public hospitals’ performance has dropped even further from the 2006 report which showed the percentage of patients treated in 90 days had dropped to 75 per cent.

“A year later and Victoria still has the lowest availability of public hospital beds with only 2.3 beds available per 1000 people, compared with the national average of 2.6.

“It appears that nothing much has changed.

“Victoria’s public patient admissions have dropped significantly from 239 admissions per 1000 weighted population in 2005/06 to 212 admissions per 1000 weighted population in this year’s report.

“This drop shows us that although Victoria’s population has grown and the number of emergency presentations has increased, fewer patients are being admitted, which is not good enough.

“Victorians deserve a health system that treats them in a timely manner and provides a hospital bed for them when they need it,” said Mrs Shardey.