RAMPANT BUREAUCRATIC MISREPRESENTATION: OFFICIAL HEALTH COVERUP UNMASKED

At least we are finding out about it in Queensland: The official number of people on hospital waiting lists in Queensland is 31,478. Claims that the list is, unofficially, much longer have been frequently denied. The Morris inquiry yesterday was told the true figure: 108,571 people are waiting for specialist medical appointments or a hospital bed in Queensland. Isn't "single-payer" medicine wonderful?

The full extent of queues for Queensland public hospitals has finally been made public, with 140,049 people either waiting for an operation or waiting to have their medical condition assessed to determine whether they need an operation. Until this week, the Beattie Government said the Queensland Health Elective Surgery Waiting List Report gave a true indication of the numbers of people waiting for operations in the state's public hospitals. On Thursday, however health commission chair Tony Morris, QC, produced a confidential memorandum to Townsville Health Service district manager Dr Ken Whelan that revealed there was another list of people waiting for outpatient appointments. Public hospital medical specialists see patients at outpatient appointments to assess what medical care they need and whether they need to go on to the "official" waiting list or whether they need other medical procedures.

After tabling the Townsville memo, Mr Morris called on Queensland Health to provide full details of the Specialist Outpatient Department Profile Survey, which was provided to the inquiry yesterday. As at July 1, 2004, there were 31,478 people on the state's official elective surgery waiting list, with a further 108,571 people waiting for outpatients appointments. The issue dominated State Parliament yesterday, with Queensland's new Health Minister Stephen Robertson saying it was misleading to compare people waiting for an appointment to see a specialist with waiting times for elective surgery. "It's like trying to compare apples with oranges and it's dishonest," Mr Robertson said. "Following an initial specialist outpatient consultation, a patient may be returned to the referring general practitioner with recommendations for ongoing management; admitted to the hospital; placed on a waiting list for elective admission; or followed-up in specialist outpatient clinics."

Liberal Health spokesman Dr Bruce Flegg said a large number of Queenslanders die before they are ever seen by a public hospital specialist and conditions of other people deteriorate so badly they can no longer be fixed. "Thousands of Queenslanders have no idea when they can get medical treatment," Dr Flegg said.

A prominent critic of the state's public hospital waiting lists, former Australian Medical Association (Queensland) president David Molloy, last night said even with both sets of waiting list figures, other people were being prevented from getting access to medical services. Dr Molloy said that, earlier this year, a number of letters were sent to Brisbane GPs, telling them waiting lists were so long that they should seek alternative treatment for their patients. "They did this to reduce the number of outpatients and the number of outpatient appointments," Dr Molloy said. "They also don't have to keep official data on when you need entry procedures - colonoscopies or endoscopies - which are used to detect stomach and bowel cancer. They don't keep data on a whole lot of investigative procedures for potentially life-threatening situations."

When 46-year-old Bray Park quadriplegic Elizabeth Yates visited the Princess Alexandra Hospital with bowel problems back in March, she said she was given an appointment for a colonoscopy in July. However, when she arrived at the hospital two weeks ago, she was told there was no bed for her. "It's bad enough for able-bodied people to go through this, let alone someone with special needs like myself," she said. The hospital has now rescheduled her procedure for October, although she remains sceptical as to whether or not there will be a bed for her when she arrives. "With what I've seen in the media about the situation at the moment with the health system, I'm not optimistic I'll get it done," she said.

Gold Coast resident Don Jordan does not understand how the State Government can afford to spend millions of dollars building a new football stadium in his home suburb of Robina when the state's public health system is in a shambles. The 67-year-old whose body is riddled with four potentially lethal aneurisms - one behind his heart and three in his groin and leg area - says he is on the waiting list to get on the waiting list. "I could go any minute, aneurisms are so unpredictable because they can rupture at any time," Mr Jordan said. "I wish they would just tell you the truth (about how long one has to wait)." Mr Jordan says he is frustrated by the State Government's willingness to spend millions on a new football stadium 2km from his home while there are beds sitting empty in the nearby Robina Campus of the Gold Coast Hospital. "I don't know how they can find all that money for stadiums and brag about having a surplus while people are dying waiting to be seen in hospital," he said.

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation. Both Australia and Sweden have large private sector health systems with government reimbursement for privately-provided services so can a purely private system with some level of government reimbursement or insurance for the poor be so hard to do?

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