Adelaide Hospital tells woman her appointment will be in 11 years

A woman who has been waiting for over a year for her outpatient appointment has been told by the hospital treating her that it will be 11 years until she is seen by someone. 

Michele Clarke, 49, booked a urology appointment in 2016 after she suffered several problems which included a cyst in her urinary-tract system.

The disability pensioner had been waiting over a year for the appointment at Adelaide’s Lyell McEwin Hospital when she was rushed to hospital as her health had deteriorated, The Advertiser reported. 

‘I had a 9cm kidney stone and the RAH surgeon was wonderful but there were complications from an infection,’ Mrs Clarke said. ‘Then last week I get the call from Lyell McEwin asking if I still want the appointment and they tell me it might be in 11 years — 2029.’

Mrs Clarke, who lives with her husband in Andrews Farms, South Australia, says now she’s not only in agonising pain but also, total limbo.  

‘It’s been a circus and a half — they wanted to know if I still wanted the appointment then they tell me it will be another 11 years before I see anyone.’ 

The maximum wait time at LMHI for a low-priority urology outpatient is currently eight years.

The Director of Allied Health, Corporate and Outpatient Services for the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network said that patients were prioritised according to their medical needs and that they were in the process of employing more staff. 

The Adelaide hospital said she her outpatient appointment would be in 11 years

‘We are currently recruiting an additional urologist and a specialist urology nurse which will help to improve wait times, and we’re also undergoing a review of outpatient lists to look at alternative options to assist patients who have been waiting a long time,’ she said. 

She added that if a patients condition deteriorated there was an option to be bumped up the list after they had bee reassessed by their GP. 

Last year, an investigation by The Advertiser revealed that some patients in South Australia public hospitals were waiting over five years for outpatient appointments.