‘This should not be normal’: Non-urgent patients referred to outpatient clinics may never be seen
Some patients are waiting six years for a specialist appointment, according to government data.
Non-urgent patients referred for a specialist outpatient appointment in Tasmania may “never realistically reach” the end of long hospital waiting lists, doctors are warning.
AMA Tasmania said in a statement yesterday that it was hearing from alarmed hospital doctors who feared some category 3 patients were now unlikely to be seen by the health system.
Patients are assigned to category 3 when their condition is unlikely to deteriorate quickly and an appointment within 12 months is therefore deemed “desirable”.
But AMA Tasmania president Dr Meg Creely said the category did not mean “nothing was wrong” or that the patient was well.
