The figures show the wait list has shrunk to a 12th of the size the LNP Government inherited. Source: News Limited
THE number of elective surgery patients languishing on waiting lists longer than clinically recommended has been radically reduced across Queensland.
The Sunday Mail can reveal new figures to be released today by Premier Campbell Newman and Health Minister Lawrence Springborg will confirm the wait list has shrunk to a 12th of the size of what the LNP administration inherited.
However, the number of patients seeking medical specialist appointments – the so-called “waiting list to get on the waiting list” – continues to blow out.
Mr Springborg said the reduction in the surgery long wait list meant Queensland was heading towards eradicating it entirely.
“We are on track towards zero long waits,’’ he said.
“And I don’t think anyone in Queensland would have believed that a few years ago.”
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The new figures show 531 patients across the three surgery categories were on Queensland Health books as “long waits’’ at the end of the September quarter.
This compares with 6485 patients in March 2012 when the Newman Government came to office.
Mr Springborg credited the reduction to improved efficiency in how the health system in Queensland operates.
Health Minister Lawrence Springborg. Picture: Tim Marsden
“It is making sure our primary focus is on the patient and their needs and that every single dollar gets maximum value,’’ he said.
Along with key partnerships with the private sector, Mr Springborg said the introduction of health boards had ensured money in each district was invested in the right areas and any leftover funds retained and reinvested.
The huge increase in patients seeking specialist appointments was the next big issue that had to be tackled.
“It has been a shambles for years and we are now working to fix it,’’ he said.
Figures show 324,755 patients were waiting to see a specialist at the end of 2012-13 and that figure had jumped 27 per cent to 411,283 at the end of 2013-14.
Mr Springborg said there had been a huge increase in patients seeking specialists, some of whom did not need to do so.
“We have got people on the outpatient waiting list who should be seeing general practitioners,’’ he said.
In one recent case, a patient waited four years to see an ear, nose and throat specialist only to be given a nasal spray he could have got from a chemist after a trip to the GP.
Mr Springborg insisted the solution was not about just hiring more specialists.
“It is more about system management and redesign than it is about resources,’’ he said.
“But in order for us to be able to address that we need to clear our long waits.”