Disability pensioner on waiting list calls for help

Peter Evans, 67, of Turners Beach, in Tasmania, said it took eight months to see a locum doctor at the outpatient clinic.

"Then I was placed back on the waiting list for a colonoscopy at the Mersey Community Hospital in December," Mr Evans said.

"I get pain in my stomach, I feel bloated all the time, and the pain wakes me up several times at night," he said.

"It affects my life."

Classified as category two and a semi-urgent case, he should have received the diagnostic test within 60 days but has already waited four months for a colonoscopy.

A letter from the MCH said, "for best care, treatment should occur within 60 days for category two patients on the endoscopy list."

"We aim to provide endoscopy procedures within these timeframes, but often this is not possible," the MCH letter said.

The letter said, "please complete any National Bowel Cancer Screening Program tests sent to you and discuss the results with your GP."

"We encourage all patients to be regularly reviewed by their GP whilst waiting, even if well.

"If you wait longer than your recommended waiting time, your GP may wish to repeat blood tests or arrange the testing of your bowel motion for blood."

Mr Evans said he'd written to Premier and Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff to raise his concerns about waiting lists and the inadequate provision of health services on the North-West Coast.

"That's a total waste of time; he won't even respond or return emails now," Mr Evans said.

"He responded once 12 months ago and reckoned there was nothing wrong with the health system.

"What about the patients left waiting?

"He won't even speak to (gastroenterologist) Albert Nwaba, so where does that leave us?"

Recently, the Coast's only remaining gastroenterologist said more patients waited longer than clinically recommended to get potentially lifesaving colonoscopies to diagnose bowel cancer.

Mr Nwaba is the North-West's clinical head of gastroenterology and endoscopy.

He said his plan to open the "first digestive day hospital of its kind in Tasmania" in Devonport would help get patients off lists and recruit specialists to a region that struggled to do so but he could not get a meeting with Mr Rockliff to discuss it.

"I am willing to work with the public health system and have written to the Minister," Mr Nwaba said.

Mr Rockliff was contacted for a response.

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However, a government spokesperson said that "Mr Nwaba has not personally requested a meeting with the Premier. His representative has done so."

"The offer of a meeting with key expert health staff to help progress Mr Nwaba's proposal stands.

"We will always be ready to assess any positive ideas or proposals to support better outcomes for Tasmanians.

"It is unacceptable for any patient to wait beyond clinically recommended times, and we are acutely aware of the stress and concern such an occurrence causes.

"Our statewide surgery plan has already significantly reduced the number of people waiting for an endoscopy, and we have just announced additional funding which will deliver another 22,000 extra endoscopies and drive down the waiting list further."

Mr Evans said Mr Rockliff should meet with Mr Nwaba himself, and that the Premier was in denial about health services.

"They've only got one theatre at the MCH, and they're at capacity everywhere else, and he won't speak to the surgeon about his ideas," he said.

Mr Evans said after he wrote a letter to the editor at The Advocate about his situation that Mr Nwaba contacted him to try to help.