Noosa woman Jane Granger says she is paying the price for spending three years on Queensland's public waiting list for hip surgery.
After waiting more than three times the clinically recommended period, the 62-year-old finally had surgery in April.
Four months on, she is still recovering and coming to terms with the damage her body endured on the long wait list.
"I had lost three centimetres in bone length on my left leg, hence the huge limp that I had. I was walking completely lopsided," she said.
"I was told that the surgery had now become very complex.
"Had it been done when it should have been done, none of that would have occurred."
Ms Granger is one of a growing number of patients suffering due to the COVID-19 pandemic lengthening elective surgery waiting lists.
During Queensland's first COVID-19 Omicron wave, she said her operation was cancelled three times between December and April.
As a single woman on minimum wage working at a local grocery store, Ms Granger said she had no choice but to "soldier on", despite feeling her bone wearing away.
"I got to a very, very low point where ... sometimes I just thought, 'I can't go on anymore,'" Ms Granger said.
Worst in Queensland
Across Queensland, the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service (SCHHS) has the highest rate of elective surgery patients seen outside of clinically recommended times.
Between April and June this year, 40.1 per cent of elective surgery patients on the Sunshine Coast were not treated within clinically recommended times.
Townsville and Central Queensland were only marginally better on 39.8 per cent and 35 per cent respectively.
A Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service spokesperson apologised to patients who had to wait longer than expected for their elective surgery.
"We have made some improvements over the past six months and we continue to work hard to decrease our wait times," the spokesperson said.
"We are conducting elective surgery on Saturdays and continue to work with our private hospital partners. We are also recruiting new staff so we can increase the number of surgeries being performed."
Sunshine Coast Local Medical Association president Dr Roger Faint, however, said GPs were forced to watch the condition of their patients deteriorate and become more complex.
"I've got a tradie whose shoulder is literally falling apart, but he can't get the surgery done," Dr Faint said.
"You try and help them out and say, 'Let's give you some narcotics to get you through this tough time' and then they become addicted.
"Then you want to introduce pain services and other health professionals to their care, but that gets expensive, or those services have a long waiting list as well."
Ms Granger admitted she ramped up her reliance on medication, including high doses of opiates and anti-inflammatory medicine, as she waited for surgery.
"I just took anything to try and alleviate the pain [because] just putting my shoes and socks on, I was in absolute agony," she said.
"I had to be put on medication for the anxiety and major depression, I just thought it was never going to end."
She said post-surgery, she struggled to kick her reliance on the drugs.
Multi-pronged support
More than 4,500 people remain on the elective surgery wait list on the Sunshine Coast, with 1,121 of those waiting longer than the clinically recommended time.
"You're supporting them in terms of counselling, anxiety, depression," Dr Faint said.
"These experiences are becoming more common and it's at the expense of the patient and taxpayer."
Dr Faint said at a recent medical advisory committee meeting, it was estimated the health system would not recover from the pandemic for three years.
Queensland Health advised Hospital and Health Services to suspend specialist category three outpatient referral appointments if demand was too high, but none have actioned the advice in full.
"This means that in some non-urgent cases, a patient may remain in the care of their GP, rather than being referred as an outpatient to the public system right now," a spokesperson said.
"Examples include hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery, and tonsillectomies."
Category three outpatient referral appointments in Cairns, Gold Coast and Townsville have been modified, but surgeries are ongoing.
Minister defends 'outstanding effort'
Health minister Yvette D'Ath said the system was treating as many patients as possible.
"Queensland recorded an almost 40 per cent increase in elective surgery activity in the June quarter 2022, compared to the previous quarter," Ms D'Ath said.
"To complete 32,362 surgeries in a quarter so heavily impacted by COVID and flu is an outstanding effort."
Australian Medical Association Queensland (AMAQ) president Dr Maria Boulton said the system was under compounding pressure because patients were not being seen soon enough.
"If the hospital system isn't hitting those timeframes, then there is something wrong with the system," Dr Boulton said.
"We need all the resources we can get to ensure that we get through those waitlists because diseases don't wait.
"We are hoping that now that we're over the other side of the wave with this current wave of COVID cases that things will get back to normal quickly."
While wait times remained high, Dr Faint said some people were doing everything they could to avoid the system at all costs.
"Out of pocket costs for spinal surgery are $10,000 to $15,000 minimum," Dr Faint said.
"They're using their superannuation, which you can obviously access your life savings.
"Who knows what they'll be doing in five years' time. They're probably going to be living on the pension because they've used all their money they've saved for their whole working life for the back surgery."
