'Suffering like hell': Victoria notches record elective surgery wait times

He is one of thousands hoping for a surgery date as new data from the Australian Medical Association (AMA) reveals Victoria has hit fresh records for elective procedure wait times.

It is only two years since Victoria recorded the best median elective surgery wait times in Australia.

In 2018-19, 2020-21 and 2021-22 Victoria was the top state for average waits, hovering around the 25 to 28 day mark for patients to be treated.

But the AMA report noted a "major jump" in 2022-23, with average wait times surging from 25 days to 36 days, the highest they had ever been. The figure was still below the national average of 49 days, as nationwide waits also spiked.

The figures for category two patients - those considered "urgent" - were worse still, with only one in two (55 per cent of) patients getting treated within the recommended 90-day period.

It put Victoria on the verge of becoming the worst state in the country for urgent elective surgery. Tasmania and the ACT had only marginally worse rates of timely treatment.

AMA Victoria president Dr Jill Tomlinson said it was essential the state government "restore confidence" in Victoria's healthcare system.

"Despite significant increases in funding from the Victorian Government... the extent of the increase must nonetheless be viewed as modest given the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic in Victoria," Dr Tomlinson said.

"The ongoing struggle to maintain healthcare standards amid (now) severe financial strain underscores the uphill battle toward healthcare resilience."

Dr Tomlinson said "targeted, effective interventions" would be needed along with "strategic resource allocation" if there was any chance of addressing the "shortcomings" in the state system.

Alan Rundell has been on the wait list for urgent hip surgery for about 240 days. The national recommended time frame is 90 days.

He was told his surgery would happen in January, but it was cancelled. He was then advised March would be a more likely date. This then became April "at the earliest".

"The most recent phone call I had with them, they said perhaps the second half of May," Mr Rundell said.

"That's all the courtesy I've had from them."

Meanwhile, his hip joint is deteriorating.

"It's bad and getting worse," Mr Rundell said.

He is due for a a "revision of hip replacement", which means replacing a previously replaced hip.

"When I first saw this orthopaedic surgeon in Ballarat he was that worried about it he said it needed urgent looking at," he said.

"The ball on the end of the replaced hip was obviously broken or something was seriously wrong."

In recent weeks the pain had become so bad Mr Rundell was taking four of his opioid pain tablets each day.

That is double the maximum daily dose.

"When my pharmacist found out he told me I would have to ease off immediately because I was putting myself at serious risk of heart attack or stroke," Mr Rundell said.

"He put me on to an ED doctor who confirmed the maximum amount I'm allowed to take, and it's half what I'd been having."

When Mr Rundell spoke to ACM it was the first day he had been on the reduced dose.

"I've only just been getting by. It's excruciating," he said.

But extra government funding may not solve the bulging wait lists in the state.

ACM revealed in March that Victoria could have eliminated its elective surgery wait lists if public hospitals had delivered the healthcare they were contracted to complete.

Dr Stephen Duckett, who designed the state hospital funding framework, said the government had completely mismanaged the system, noting hospitals had been paid $1 billion in 2022-23 for work that was never done.

He said it amounted to tens of thousands of untreated patients.

"Yes, that is true, [the hospitals] have been given funding for no output, but it's also about a lack of accountability," Dr Duckett said.

"The Department of Health appears to no longer be holding the hospitals to account, and every one of those patients who isn't treated is a patient who stays on the waiting list."

Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas told ACM the pandemic had put "unprecedented pressure on operating costs and workforce".

"That is why we've made record investments to support, retain and grow our frontline medical staff," Ms Thomas said.

ACM asked the minister to comment on the alleged lack of accountability from the hospitals, government mismanagement, and whether the hospitals were on track to meet their targets in 2023-24.

The minister did not address the questions.