Australia: Seven year hospital wait

In one of the world's oldest (from 1944) "free" hospital systems



It took five years for this woman to get a seven-minute operation. The queues are growing and people are ... still waiting. Dorothy Bauer does not believe the State Government when it says Queensland's beleaguered health system has improved. Not when she waited five years for an eye operation that takes seven minutes. The Bundaberg 84-year-old still needs surgery on her other eye, joining another 36,000 Queenslanders on waiting lists for elective surgery. "Anything can happen. Nobody has any guarantees today with this health system," Mrs Bauer said.

It has been 1000 days since the State Government promised to fix the health system. Then-premier Peter Beattie made the pledge after scathing findings from the Davies inquiry helped expose the real waiting lists and systemic problems within Queensland Health, a development headlined by The Courier-Mail as The Truth At Last. However figures released yesterday show waiting lists for elective surgery have blown out by almost 15 per cent in those 1000 days. And the list of people waiting to see specialists has rocketed by 50 per cent to a record of almost 160,000. Only 900 hospital beds have been added in the same time.

Health Minister Stephen Robertson insists the system is working better than in September 2005. "We are reforming the system root and branch," he said. Premier Anna Bligh yesterday defended the system. "We have a larger, stronger workforce and are treating more Queenslanders than ever before," she said.

Queensland Health yesterday said $4.3 billion of $10 billion it had pledged to be spent by 2010 had been used. However it hasn't been enough to allow Mrs Bauer to have cataract surgery on both eyes. The former school teacher was forced to give up charity work because she couldn't read music to play the piano at fundraisers. Then late last year Queensland Health finally arranged for surgery for one of her eyes. The dramatic change allowed her to return to charity work and to care for her sister, who is 86. Mrs Bauer praised the doctors and nurses who treated her, but condemned politicians and health bureaucrats who "played God to people's lives".

Seven people who were profiled in the 2005 Courier-Mail series, The Truth at Last, say they owe their lives to getting off elective surgery waiting lists. All eventually had their health issues resolved, and some credited media attention for accelerating their cases.

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Australia: Surgery blowouts hit reform agenda

A blowout in the number of clerks and administrators would be more accurate



QUEENSLAND Health says it is being swamped with patients as it defends blowouts which have pushed surgery waiting lists to record levels. A Queensland Health bureaucrat said the state's public hospitals treated 825,725 people last year - up 6 per cent or three times population growth. However the key barometers - waiting lists - have ballooned by a greater margin. In the 1000 days since then premier Peter Beattie promised to fix the health system:

* The waiting list for elective surgery has increased by almost 15 per cent (31,478 to 36,030).

* The list of patients waiting to see a specialist is up by almost 50 per cent (108,568 to 159,223).

* In comparison to other states, Queensland spends less per capita on health and the number of hospital beds and medical staff per 1000 people is lower, according to the Productivity Commission. The Government says it is closing the gap.

* There has been an increase of only 900 hospital beds despite a 100,000 population gain.

* In the past 12 months, the number of patients waiting longer than the expected 30 days for the most urgent Category 1 surgery has blown out by 112 per cent.

* The number of patients waiting for Category 2 surgery, which has a 90-day benchmark, has increased by 16 per cent but the figure for the least-urgent Category 3 surgery (365 days) has decreased by 19 per cent.

Dr Stephen Duckett, Queensland Health's executive director for health reform and development, said the system was improving. "There is no doubt in my mind we are much better than we were three years ago," he said. "We're up 20 to 30 per cent in doctors and nurses, and have many, many more beds." Dr Duckett said public hospitals had treated a record number of patients in emergency departments last year. But concern continues in the community.

Deception Bay resident Sally Stanley remains upset after her brother died while waiting for a cardiac defibrillator. "The promises made didn't get kept," Ms Stanley said. "I think staff are doing the best they can with the resources they have. Politicians give them a bit, but it's not enough."

Australian Medical Association state president Ross Cartmill said the health system remained "chronically underfunded" by both state and federal governments. "I find it frustrating that the two levels of government are always arguing about which one hasn't paid its way," he said. "For health, we don't need a 2020 Summit, we just need to fund things properly." Dr Cartmill acknowledged the state was pumping an increasing percentage of funds into health, "but because we started so low, we still have not reached the level of other states."

Opposition health spokesman John-Paul Langbroek, a former Gold Coast dentist, blamed poor management and planning for inadequate beds and staff, while a bureaucratic culture continues to drive away doctors.

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