The head of the Ears, Nose and Throat (ENT) Department at Adelaide’s Modbury Hospital says some children in the northern suburbs are waiting up to four years for procedures.
Dr Dean Southwood has told 891 ABC Adelaide that after the paediatric ward was closed at Modbury Hospital in December last year, patients were transferred to the waiting list at Lyell McEwin despite the hospital not having an ENT department.
“That’s how ludicrous it is,” Dr Southwood said.
“It’s not an accredited hospital … it’s considered unsafe to operate on little kids up there.”
Dr Sonya Latzel from the Royal College of Surgeons said the Government closed the paediatric ward at Modbury before it had set up a replacement service.
“Unfortunately what’s happened is that Modbury Hospital was providing paediatric services and that service was stopped before the service at the Lyell McEwin was built up to the level that it could take over,” Dr Latzel said.
Doctors don’t want to work at Elizabeth: Health Minister
However, Health Minister Jack Snelling laid the blame for a lack of ENT services at the Lyell McEwin Hospital with the doctors themselves.
Mr Snelling said he wanted doctors to travel to Elizabeth to provide services at its expanded Lyell McEwin paediatric ward but they would not make the move.
“I want to create a paediatric ENT service at the Lyell McEwin Hospital so families who live in the northern suburbs can access ENT services,” he said.
“Doctors actually don’t want to work out of Elizabeth, they’re quite comfortable with the Modbury Hospital.”
Dr Southwood maintained that it made sense for children to be seen at Modbury.
“Modbury Hospital has a fully-equipped ENT department with six specialists accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons and two younger doctors in training while the Lyell McEwin Hospital has one specialist who attends one half-day a fortnight,” he said.
“We can do the work and we’d like to do the work.
“What’s inexplicable to me is how anyone can think that you can send a whole department’s worth of work up to a hospital which has no ENT department at all.”