For patients like Harcourt, the ‘hidden wait list’ can be a surprise hurdle on the path to getting healthy again.
‘Wait-to-wait’ data limitations
Historical reporting of wait times and wait-to-wait data has been fraught with problems. The WA Department of Health has suspended reporting on referrals to public outpatient surgical clinics while work is undertaken to improve the quality, consistency and accuracy of outpatient data, including how it is categorised, collected and reported2. The result of this is that there is currently no accurately reported measure to be able to give you an indication of your likely wait-to-wait time in the public system.
Does wait-to-wait exist in the private system?
The short answer is: yes. But the wait-to-wait in the private system is generally much shorter.
In 2018, Ramsay Health Care and St John of God estimated the average ‘wait-to-wait’ in the private system is two to three weeks, compared to 8.78 months in the public system3.
Read more about public & private waiting times in our full report
Please note: This blog was originally published on 9 November 2018 and has been updated to include the latest information.
1 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare - Elective surgery (2020)
2 Department of Health, Western Australia - Referrals to public outpatient surgical clinics reporting (2018)
3 HBF - Wait Times Report (2018)