Patients in the ACT's health system face long delays with newly released documents revealing some people had to wait years for certain treatment and appointments.
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The details were revealed in freedom of information documents provided to the ACT's opposition, with health spokeswoman Leanne Castley saying they painted a "bleak picture".
The list showed 92.4 per cent, or 1332, of category two outpatients on the general surgery waiting list were overdue with an average waiting time of 575 days.
The recommended timeframe for procedures for category two patients is within 90 days.
Nearly 90 per cent of category one outpatients on the general surgery waiting list had been overdue with an average waiting time of 164 days. The recommended timeframe for category one patients is 30 days.
There were 1414 category two outpatients waiting for ear, nose and throat surgery and 94.6 per cent, or 669, were overdue.
Of the 555 category two outpatients for neurosurgery, 85.8 per cent were overdue and waited 535 days.
For medical appointments in certain specialities, some outpatients had to wait for more than three years.
The average wait time was nearly 1000 days for category two patients on the dermatology list and 97.1 per cent were overdue for treatment.
For category two outpatients on the gastroenterology list, 97.9 per cent were overdue.
Outpatients are those who receive treatment at a hospital without staying there overnight.
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Ms Castley said the list revealed thousands of Canberrans had waited longer than what was clinically recommended for treatment.
"Some of these patients have contacted my office and feel forced to pay for private surgeries or move states because they do not want to live in pain, sometimes for hundreds of days before they receive their surgery," she said.
"It is tragic that Canberrans are forced to take this drastic action because the Barr-Rattenbury government have failed to address major issues in our public hospitals."
The waiting list figures for outpatients were provided to Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith in a ministerial briefing. The list was for outpatients as of March 28, 2022.
In the brief, Canberra Health Services told Ms Stephen-Smith the reasons for the long waitlist included staff availability and recruitment, a "mismatch" between demand and capacity, outdated systems and processes and siloed work patterns.
The brief said the service decided in 2021-22 outpatients was not a priority area, given "other priorities". However, it said a corporate plan included an objective to reduce waitlist times for specialist appointments.
"Divisions are working on proactive recruitment across specialities to help increase the number of initial appointments scheduled," the brief said.
"Wait list audits are being conducted to review the status of patients on the wait list with removal of those who no longer require treatment."
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