Surgery waiting list gets longer

Almost 17,000 people were waiting for elective surgery in WA at the end of last year, an increase of about 500 since June.

The latest Health Department figures, published yesterday, show the elective surgery backlog is at its highest level for five years.

The median waiting time for all elective surgery at public hospitals also increased to 2.14 months from 2.1 months one year ago.

Health Minister Kim Hames said hospitals completed 5617 cases of surgery last month, compared with 5445 in December 2012. "The number of people waiting to have surgery is gradually increasing in line with demand for health services in WA in the past two years," he said.

"This demand is being met by increased rates of surgery so more people are receiving their required surgery within the clinically recommended time frame."

Dr Hames said in June that less urgent category 3 elective surgery patients faced delays of a year for an appointment and another year to be treated.

He said these patients should not have to wait more than six months to be seen and another six months for surgery.

At the end of last year, 405 people had waited more than a year for surgery, 347 had been in the queue between 366 and 500 days and 58 had waited more than 500 days.

Shadow health minister Roger Cook said there had been a steady increase in people getting surgery within clinically recommended times and it was a concern to see waiting numbers and times increase again.

"It suggests that the improvements might have peaked and now we are looking at a situation where the system is as good as it can get and we are not making further improvements," he said.

Of the 16,990 people waiting for elective surgery, 13,314 were in the metropolitan area and 3676 were in the country.

The median waiting time was longer for patients in country areas, who waited 2.4 months in December compared with those in the metropolitan area who waited 2.01 months.

Dr Hames said the December report showed the median wait time was 65 days, up from 63 the previous month but down from 75 earlier last year.

The Productivity Commission report on government services released today shows that 14.5 per cent of WA patients waiting for elective surgery for a condition that could deteriorate quickly into an emergency in 2009-10 had to wait longer than the recommended 30 days.

The report shows that 3.1 per cent of category 3 patients, who need elective surgery for less serious conditions, had to wait longer than the recommended 12 months for their surgery.