- In short: A shortage of ear, nose and throat specialists means Tasmanians who need urgent surgery are waiting over a year for procedures they're supposed to get within 30 days.
- What's next? Tasmania's health department has a working group trying to find ways to recruit more ear, nose and throat specialists and cut appointment waiting times.
When her daughter Stacey* was five, Hobart mother Shakoda Turner noticed she kept getting tonsillitis and ear infections.
Her family GP diagnosed Stacey with enlarged tonsils and referred her to an ear, nose and throat specialist in the public health system who could surgically remove her tonsils.
Stacey's case was categorised as urgent, meaning she should be seen within 30 days.
But two years later, Stacey still hasn't had an appointment with a specialist, and Ms Turner has been told the now seven-year-old girl may have to wait up to another four years to get surgery.
"It's made me very angry as a mum to see my daughter in so much pain," Ms Turner said.
"She can't sleep properly, she can't eat properly, it's affecting the way that she talks."
"You know you only want the best for your kids and there's nothing worse than having your child cry to you that she's in pain and there's nothing you can do."
Stacey's repeated bouts of illness have meant she frequently can't go to school, preventing her from making friends.
She's also missed out on school-based support to help overcome her speech disorder and developmental language delay.
"So that's three lots of sessions a week during school hours that she could be getting that extra help that she needs to get her up to where the rest of the class is," Ms Turner said.
Waiting years instead of days
Stacey is not the only Tasmanian child waiting longer than the clinically recommended time frame for an appointment with an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist.
The average outpatient appointment wait time for an urgent outpatient appointment to see a paediatric (ENT) specialist in southern Tasmania is 487 days.
For semi-urgent patients the average wait is 1665 days, or more than four-and-a-half-years.
The wait time is only slightly better for adults who need to see an ENT specialist.
In Tasmania's south urgent patients wait an average of 474 days for an appointment, while it's an average 1291 day wait for semi-urgent patients.
Hobart GP and president of the Australian Medical Association's Tasmanian division, Dr John Saul, said while the wait times for ENTs are bad in southern Tasmania, they're worse in other parts of the state.
"People are suffering and suffering for longer unfortunately as a result of these services not being available," Dr Saul said.
"We're seeing people repetitively with ear infections that we know could be treated with grommets, or tonsillitis we know could be treated with removal of tonsils."
'Detrimental impact', opposition says
Tasmania's Labor opposition said it was unacceptable that children and adults were waiting too long to see specialists.
"It's having a detrimental impact on families right across Tasmania because they can't get access to the surgery," said Labor health spokeswoman Anita Dow.
"They want their children to thrive, they want them to grow and develop and access to these vital health services is paramount and making that happen."
"There are many Tasmanians that are living with pain and discomfort, often waiting for years for necessary surgery."
Health department working group created
Tasmania's health department secretary Kathrine Morgan-Wicks said Tasmania doesn't have enough ENTs to meet demand.
"There is a shortage of ENT specialists across Australia, and Tasmania is not unique in this. In addition, ENT locums are also in extremely short supply," Ms Morgan-Wicks said.
She said the department is trying to reduce waiting times for patients waiting for specialist appointments and elective surgery.
"A specialist working group has been working to identify and develop alternative models of care and are currently exploring outsourcing options with Victoria."
That working group is part of the Tasmanian government's outpatient transformation program which was launched last year.
It aims to improve access to specialist appointments at outpatient clinics over four years by changing referral and administration processes, using telehealth, and making more appointments available.
Tasmanian Premier and Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff was asked about Stacey's case in state parliament on Wednesday.
"I will take a direct interest into Ms Turner's and her family's and daughter's lived experience, and get a true understanding around the wait and some of the barriers that have prevented the surgery to date," Mr Rockliff said.
He said his government has invested more than $400 million to reduce elective surgery wait lists over four years, which had resulted the wait list shrinking by 12 per cent over the past 12 months.
*Stacey's name changed at her mother's request.
