Data showed a 220.8% increase in patients waiting longer than clinically recommended for elective surgery.
Waiting times for optional surgery in New South Wales (NSW) have skyrocketed to levels last seen during the Covid-19 pandemic, sparking criticism from the opposition.
The Liberals and the Kuomintang said the health system is under “unprecedented tensions” with presentations in more than 800,000 emergency departments.
Additionally, 6,842 patients waited longer than clinically recommended, indicating an astounding 220.8% increase compared to December 2023.
The report also found that the number of elective surgeries performed in the October-December quarter of 2024 fell to 54,966, a 7.5% decrease compared to the same quarter a year ago.
Opposition parties criticize the government
NSW opposition leader Mark Speakman said the waiting list for elective surgery has returned to the level seen during the pandemic.
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Shadow Health Minister Kelly Sloan also condemned the government’s handling of the situation, claiming that patients and frontline staff were paying the price.
“We can’t afford more spin while people wait in pain,” she said.
The government defends progress
In response, NSW Health Minister Ryan Park defended the government’s records, pointing to data that some of Australia’s busiest emergency departments saw “significant cuts” in hospital ramping.
Rise refers to situations where ambulances are delayed when patients are transferred to the emergency department (ED) due to overcrowding.
Minister Park acknowledged the ongoing challenges, but emphasized that the government has invested 500 million people to ease the emergency sector.
“We are pleased to encourage advances in our efforts to reduce ramping, but we don’t want to go ahead of ourselves because there’s still so much to do,” he said.
“I want to repeat that we can expect people who attend hospitals that are non-life threatening to wait a long time with ED.”
Meanwhile, NSW Premier Chris Mins claimed he defeated more than 65% of the waiting time for elective surgery.
Patients leaving EDS without treatment
Despite improvements to the lamp, the report raised concerns about an increasing number of patients leaving the emergency department before no treatment or completion of treatment.
In the December quarter, there were 67,902 patients remaining before receiving full care, an increase of 5.9% from the previous year.
“The number of these patients has increased by 32% since 2019. The growth in volume of this patient group has outweighed the overall growth of attendees across the ED,” the report states.
Data noted that although emergency cases are likely to receive care, many life-threatening patients faced long wait times.
“The median time they leave the ED for patients who left treatment for 2-2.5 hours, or before or before completion, regardless of the time they arrived at the ED.”
