Elective surgery wait times have increased at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital, with some waiting more than a year for treatment.
Victoria's latest health performance data for the last quarter of 2022 showed the average wait time for non-urgent category three patients was 421 days.
That was up from 268 days, or an increase of 63 per cent, on the same quarter in 2021.
Category two, or semi-urgent patients, also waited an average of 126 days for surgery between October and December last year, compared to 84 days in the last quarter of 2021.
The surgery delays could have dire consequences for the state's children, the Victorian chair of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons said.
"Coming out of the pandemic disaster, we have put resources into achieving timely care for the very urgent and acute cases," Dr Patrick Lo told 3AW Melbourne on Tuesday.
"But unfortunately, the category threes are still waiting.
"When you're talking about kids, they have got a very limited time to get that right otherwise they're suffering long term, well into adulthood."
Premier Daniel Andrews said the government was working to reduce surgery wait times at the Royal Children's as part of its $1.5 billion COVID-19 catch-up plan.
"That's why every health service has more money. That's why every health service is at the table working with us to deal with that really significant surgical backlog," he told reporters in Melbourne.
"It's why we're seeing some positive early signs in terms of the total amount of surgery that we're doing and therefore ... clear signs that that waiting list is coming down."
He denied the waiting list was falling at a glacial pace as Victoria's total annual surgeries built towards 240,000 by 2024.
"That will serve us well not just dealing with the COVID backlog and that COVID catch up but it will mean the system is stronger," he said.
Opposition Leader John Pesutto called on the state government to do more to address workforce shortages at the Royal Children's.
"We're hearing repeatedly across our health system that nurses and other allied health professionals are leaving the system in droves," he told reporters on Tuesday.
"The government needs to treat this system urgently."
AAP has contacted the Royal Children's Hospital for comment.
