Page 2334 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 23 June 2010
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
semi-urgent, should be done within 90 days. Category 3, non-urgent, should be done within 365 days. They are the nationally reported times. ACT Health manages internally, in addition to those, a 2a list, within 60 days, and a 3a list, within 120 days. But there are patients who are meant to have been receiving their semi-urgent surgery, category 2a, within 60 days, who were included in those hundreds of people who have been waiting for over a year. Although there is a lot of talk about the statistics, when you look at the human face of this, you see people like Allan McFarlane whose story was reported in the paper.
This is a man who has intellectual disabilities. He is 75 years old. He has been waiting over a year for surgery that was meant to have been had within 60 days. As his carer, Ms Arrold is reported to have said that she is:
… at a loss to understand why Mr McFarlane, who moved into aged-care accommodation last year, is still waiting for surgery.
Ms Arrold went on to say:
I just thought, you know, we’ve got lots of money to spend on bicycle paths and bits of art and things like that, but we can’t get him in to have an operation.
It is a good question she raises: why is it that Allan and so many like him who are meant to have had surgery many, many months ago are still waiting on a list? But I am glad to say that Allan did receive a phone call literally 10 minutes after his story was raised on Triple 6 and was told a date for surgery.
What we are seeing here is management by media. The only time he gets told, “Okay, we have got a time for you,” after over a year of waiting on the list is literally 10 minutes after his story gets raised on Triple 6. If it was not so absolutely disgraceful it would be laughable. Allan’s case represents simply another breakdown not only in the management of elective surgery lists but also a breakdown in communication.
Allegations have also been made that either mistakes were made or lists have been deliberately manipulated after an elective surgery patient, David Wentworth, was downgraded from urgent category 1, requiring surgery within 30 days, to semi-urgent category 2a, requiring surgery within 60 days.
This case was reported in the media also. Again, David Wentworth was contacted shortly after he went to the media and he was given a date for his surgery. But he has made some very serious allegations. They relate to being downgraded from category 1. He was initially listed as a category 2a patient, which meant he required surgery within 60 days, but tests indicated that his case was more urgent than previously thought. The Canberra Times reports:
After being told his operation would probably take place at the end of May, Mr Wentworth rang ACT Health two weeks ago to inquire if a surgery date had been set.
They said, “Oh you’re being downgraded.” … I asked why I wasn’t informed and the comment was that anyone who isn’t operated on in the 30 days, the hospital downgrades.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video