Carol Palmer has a family history of breast cancer but her annual mammogram and ultrasound have been postponed three times by a Brisbane hospital trying to prioritise stretched resources.
Early last month, Queensland's Health Minister Yvette D'Ath announced all non-urgent outpatient appointments would be postponed or delivered by telehealth to help the hospital system manage the Omicron peak.
Ms Palmer is among tens of thousands of public outpatients whose appointments have been postponed.
After her mother, Jenny, died from breast cancer at 67 years of age and her sister was diagnosed at the age of 45, Ms Palmer has been having regular scans to monitor her own health.
"Because of my family history, I see [my doctor] once a year, so I have relative peace of mind," she said.
Queensland Health confirmed at least 45,000 public outpatient appointments have been postponed.
Ms Palmer, 73, was notified of this by text message, leaving her desperate to hear from her specialists — knowing all too well the problem with delaying medical help from her mother's experience with cancer.
She said her mother waited three months before getting a lump on her armpit checked by doctors.
"The armpit is the worst place to get breast cancer because that meant she had to have all [her] lymph glands out," Ms Palmer said.
An operation removed her Mum's cancer but, within a few years, she had developed cancer on her other breast.
"A GP saw all this brown rust on her other breast and said, 'I don't know what that is, but don't worry about it'.
"Well, it was another kind of breast cancer."
She died in 1987 before that breast cancer was treated.
Queensland Health said that, while thousands of outpatient appointments have been postponed, many others were still being delivered either in person or virtually.
A spokesperson said all urgent and semi-urgent outpatient appointments were still occurring, but others requiring "significant on-the-ground resources" had been delayed.
"As we responded to the increasing demand on our health services due to the ongoing pandemic, we have had to re-prioritise some of our specialist outpatient clinic services," the spokesperson said.
"Postponements happened for other reasons as well, including staff redeployment to support the COVID response, staff unavailability due to needing to quarantine, or patients being unable to attend due to illness or being required to quarantine themselves."
Telehealth appointment 'a relief'
Bec Waterhouse was one of the thousands of people whose appointment was changed to a telehealth online hook-up.
The Brisbane resident said she was relieved she was not required at the hospital for her appointment, especially after her recent rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis.
That condition causes the immune system to attack the body's tissue lining, resulting in swollen and painful joints.
"I'm at a higher risk of catching COVID and also not being able to fight it off as well," she said.
"I take essentially a chemotherapy drug but in low dose, which … reduces the effectiveness of my immune system."
Ms Waterhouse said she preferred the telehealth appointment because the doctor could provide her blood test results over the phone.
"Getting in [the hospital] with COVID and everything just makes it so much more difficult," she said.
But, Ms Palmer said, she feared being lost in the system and hoped her rescheduled appointment in late February was not postponed a fourth time.
"It's been quite a miserable and vulnerable time. I'm very concerned about what a lot of people are suffering from, and it's going under the radar," she said.
Queensland Health is hoping it can soon increase the number of outpatient appointments once Queensland is clearly past the peak of the Omicron wave and demand on hospital services is reduced.
