“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.