Mark Speakman
NSW Leader of the Opposition
Kellie Sloane
Shadow Minister for Health
Gurmesh Singh
Shadow Minister for Regional Health
New independent health data shows waiting times for surgery continues to skyrocket under the Minns Labor Government.
At the end of the March quarter –
- 8,587 patients were waiting longer than clinically recommended – up 151.3% compared with the end of March 2024.
- 100,678 patients were on the waiting list – up 7.34% and close to the record peak during the COVID-19 pandemic (101,024) when elective surgeries were paused.
Leader of the Opposition Mark Speakman said Chris Minns and Ryan Park are great at spin, but their quotes don’t clear EDs, cut surgery waitlists or get ambulances to emergencies.
Chris Minns had driven surgery wait times back to their pandemic peak.
Chris Minns has cut the health budget two years in a row after inflation, he’s picked fights with doctors, nurses and midwives and he’s let surgery wait times skyrocket,” Mr Speakman said.
Shadow Health Minister Kellie Sloane said this data confirms what clinicians already know – the system is overstretched, under-resourced, and patients are paying the price.
“The spike in urgent elective surgery wait-times in the last year by more than 5000, is deeply concerning and should be a wakeup call for the Minister.
“This isn’t just a blowout in wait times – it’s a breakdown in patient care. Behind every one of those patients waiting longer than clinically recommend is someone in pain, waiting for a diagnosis or trying to restore some quality of life,” Ms Sloane said.
Shadow Minister for Regional Health Gurmesh Singh said NSW now has the longest median wait in Australia for elective surgery across all urgency categories combined.
“The latest data shows 2,092 patients in rural hospitals waited longer than clinically recommend for surgery in the March quarter – a whopping 1,479 increase compared to June last year.
Patients are waiting too long for important surgery in regional NSW and it was time Chris Minns offered up solutions instead of his usual spin,” Mr Singh said.
Background
- In the 2022-23 Budget, the Coalition invested $408 million over two years to tackle planned surgeries delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the former Government’s total investment to reduce wait time to almost $1 billion.
- That $408 million investment saw the COVID-19 surgery backlog fall from September 2022 to December 2023 when NSW Health officials confirmed the funding ended.
- Prior to COVID-19, the number of patients waiting for overdue surgeries never rose above 1,144.
- 8,587 patients on the waiting list had waited longer than clinically recommended – up 151.3% compared with the end of March 2024.
- There were 100,678 patients on the waiting list – up 7.3% and close to the record peak during the COVID-19 pandemic (101,024).
- The median waiting time for patients who received semi-urgent surgery was 65 days – up 9 days.
- The median waiting time for patients who received non urgent surgery was 322 days – up 32 days from the same quarter a year earlier.
- 2,092 patients waited longer than clinically recommended for surgery in rural hospitals – (613 patients in June 2024)