Innovative ENT service cuts long waits by 90 per cent

Logan Hospital’s ENT outpatient long wait list has been cut by 90 per cent since the commencement of an innovative new service just eight months ago.

Visiting Logan Hospital today, Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Cameron Dick said the Hospital’s Integrated Specialist ENT Service, the first of its kind in Australia, had cut the number of patients waiting longer than clinically recommended by 90 per cent.

“When this Service commenced in January 2016, there were 5085 patients waiting longer than clinically recommended for a specialist appointment. At the end of August, that number had reduced to 451,” the Minister said.

The Service, delivered as part of the Government’s $30 million commitment to tackle the State’s ENT long wait outpatient waiting lists, is a one-stop-shop. Specialists, training registrars and general practitioners, audiologists, speech therapists and vestibular physiotherapy staff work side-by-side at the Service to ensure patients receive appropriate treatment much sooner than was traditionally the case with ENT services.

“When the Premier and I announced the funding for this Service last year, the demand for ENT services was substantially exceeding supply, with Logan Hospital receiving three times the number of Category 2 and 3 referrals than it could see each year,” the Minister said.

“More than 80 per cent of patients could not access appointments within the clinically recommended time and one patient had been waiting for more than seven years for an ENT outpatient appointment.

“That was an unacceptable situation. Every long wait number represents a real person and I’m very pleased that we have been able to reduce those patients waiting longer than clinically recommended so significantly.

“Today there are no children currently waiting outside the clinically recommended time for an appointment and Logan Hospital expects there to be no long wait adult patients by June 2017.

“This innovative new model, led by ENT Director, Dr Bernard Whitfield, is clearly achieving great outcomes for local patients and is a model that could be expanded into other health services with similar success.

“Fostering innovation is a key direction of My Health, Queensland’s future: Advancing health 2026, our 10 Year vision and strategy for health in Queensland. This integrated clinic is exactly the sort of innovative thinking we need for Queensland.”

The Minister said the new Service was just one example of what could be achieved under the Government’s $361.2M Specialist Outpatient Strategy which has been developed to tackle specialist outpatient waiting lists and improve access to specialist services by 2020.

“I want patients to spend less time waiting for a specialist appointment, to have more control over their own healthcare and experience a contemporary and connected healthcare system — not to be languishing on a ‘wait list’,” he said.

“Logan’s new ENT service is a good example of what our front line clinicians can achieve if they are given the opportunity to innovate and look at new ways to deliver better healthcare to their patients.

ENT specialist, Director ENT and Head and Neck Surgery at Logan Hospital Dr Bernard Whitfield said the results in waiting time reductions were proof the multidisciplinary model worked and was achieving positive outcomes for patients.

“It’s really pleasing to see the new multidisciplinary model delivering what we thought it would – increasing our capacity to see patients and reducing our waitlists,” Dr Whitfield said.

“While the demand for our services remains high with almost 400 referrals each month, the new model means we have greater capacity than ever before.

“The purpose designed clinic’s new capacity equips us well to meet future demand of up to 9000 patients a year ensuring Metro South Health patients are no longer subjected to long waits for ENT services.

“In the longer term, having sustainable ENT services across Metro South Health could see us in a position to assist other Health Services through mentoring, transfers and Telemedicine.” 

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT:   Laura Gowdie 0413 492 117