John Hunter Hospital wait times for outpatient services hide long elective surgery waits, Denman's Peter Marheine says

The Denman man said he had ditched his private health insurance when his children had left home, so his GP had referred him to John Hunter Hospital for hip surgery in the public system in 2017.

"He warned me that without private health I'd probably be looking down the barrel of 12 months," Mr Marheine, now 71, said.

"I said, 'I can live with 12 months'.

"But from the time my GP filed the paperwork, until the time I had it done, it was more than 1000 days, more than three years.

"I ended up going to Tamworth Hospital to get the surgery there instead."

Mr Marheine received a letter confirming he was on a waiting list for an outpatient appointment with a doctor at the John Hunter Hospital. But after a year went by, he tried calling the hospital for an update.

"I just wanted to know how far down the list I was, and how much longer it might be, but I couldn't get past the switch," he said.

He was told he must wait to be contacted.

After another year passed, Mr Marheine said he "started to get anxious".

"I was in pain like you wouldn't believe," he said. "I went to get out of the car one day and my left knee hit the steering column. I thought I was going to need the Westpac Helicopter I was in that much pain.

"So I started crying about all this to anyone who'd listen, and a few people suggested I contact the local member at the time.

"I may as well have gone and seen the publican and cried on his shoulder for all the good that did me."

But Mr Marheine said he "saw red" when he read a story in the Newcastle Herald - written by Donna Page in 2019 - that revealed the "secret" and extensive waiting lists for the John Hunter Hospital's outpatient services; the lists patients are on before they are added to the elective surgery waiting lists.

"As far as they are concerned at the John, your wait time doesn't start when the paperwork from your GP hits the office," he said.

"The wait time starts after they call you up for an assessment.

"So they just keep sending you bullshit letters for two or three or four years while you wait for that appointment, before you even get put on the waiting list for the surgery you need.

"There's no way this will ever pass the pub test.

"If you ask anyone in the community when they think the clock should start ticking, most will say, 'When they get the paperwork'."

People must be assessed in hospital outpatient clinics before they can be put on a waiting list for surgery - meaning those who are yet to be assessed do not show up on the official elective surgery waiting lists.

The full extent of the problem is unknown because not every patient waiting for an outpatient appointment will need surgery.

But in 2017 and 2018, data obtained by the Herald via freedom-of-information documents showed some orthopaedic patients were waiting more than 985 days - or two years and eight months - to get an appointment at John Hunter Hospital to be assessed for surgery.

A physio recommended Mr Marheine find a private specialist who also treats patients in the public system.

He found a surgeon who said he could do the surgery at Tamworth Hospital, but Mr Marheime would have to go to the end of the current wait list there - which was another 12 months.

"I went to an appointment with him and he had a look at my hip and he said, 'Oh, this should have been done a long time ago'," Mr Marheine said.

"He put the paperwork in for me straight away, but said he couldn't do mine before others on his waiting list.

"But what happened is that when he put in my paperwork at Tamworth, my name and medical records number flagged at John Hunter Hospital.

"They called me to tell me my name had flagged and they were taking me off the John Hunter list. I could've ripped the door off my car, I was that cranky. They couldn't wait to get rid of me off their list.

"They said, 'You can't be on two lists'. I said, 'Well I can't wait around forever and ever either'."

Once Mr Marheine received his surgery on his left hip - at Tamworth Hospital about 12 months later - he realised that in the meantime, his right hip had deteriorated.

"I always thought that was my good one," he said.

But he didn't want to go through the same circus in the public system again.

He got private health insurance, and waited 12 months to get surgery on his other hip, because it was a pre-existing condition.

"People get the choice to go public with Medicare and have the wait, or go private," he said.

"But there is a much longer wait in the public system at John Hunter than they've led us to believe.

"They keep telling us they are doing so well to get all their elective surgeries done within certain times, but it's just smokescreen after smokescreen after smokescreen.

"My case isn't isolated. I'm one of many.

"Because they just don't count anything before they get to see you, and in the meantime they keep sending out these triage letters to say that your condition doesn't warrant coming in to see them for an appointment yet."

A Hunter New England Local Health District spokesperson said John Hunter Hospital was the primary provider of outpatient services for the Hunter region, and delivers care to patients as far north as the Queensland border.

"Our outpatient service is busy and we acknowledge there are wait times for certain appointments," she said.

"We're continually reviewing the way we work to improve outpatient services for our community, with a particular focus on reducing wait times.

"Once a patient is referred by their GP to the orthopaedic outpatient service, their referral is triaged and added to the waitlist for an outpatient appointment with an orthopaedic specialist.

"However, not all patients reviewed by an orthopaedic specialist will require surgery."

The spokesperson said patients, their GP and the treating surgeon consider all options to determine what's best for the patient's health.

"Some orthopaedic matters, such as a knee or hip replacement, might include non-surgical options," she said.

"A patient is added to the elective surgery waitlist once it is determined by the treating team that surgery is required and the clinical urgency of the surgery is assessed.

"If a patient's condition worsens, they are encouraged to visit their GP to be reassessed, and if appropriate, their GP can send an updated referral to the service who will review the referral and determine if they need to be seen sooner."