Elective surgery – rationing by delay
All quotes can be attributed to Dr Meg Creely, President AMA Tasmania
The Government has walked away from the expectation that Tasmanians should receive planned surgery within clinically recommended timeframes.
The Tasmanian Health Service (THS) Annual Service Plan 2026-27 confirms what Tasmanians already know: our hospital system is not keeping up.
The THS now appears to be planning for up to 30 per cent of elective surgery patients to miss the clinical timeframe in which they should be treated; an extraordinary admission from a government that insists it has health under control.
Put simply, the Government used to aim for almost everyone to get surgery on time. Now its own plan seems to accept that almost one in three patients could wait too long. That is not fixing the system. It is lowering the bar.
Those patients are not numbers on a spreadsheet. They are Tasmanians waiting in pain for hip surgery, knee surgery, cataracts and other procedures that determine whether they can work, drive, care for family or live independently.
In previous health plans, the target was no more than one percent or 270 patients waiting longer than clinically recommended. Compared with 22,519 elective surgery admissions in 2024-25, that was roughly one in every 80 patients waiting too long.
The way health figures are reported makes it even harder for the public to see what is happening across the system. One document uses patient numbers. Another uses percentages. Budget papers use different measures again. Tasmanians should not need a calculator and several government documents to understand whether access to care is improving or slipping backwards.
AMA Tasmania has been calling for a clinical services plan because Tasmanians need a clear statewide plan for beds, theatres, workforce, specialist services and where care will be delivered; not annual targets that accept failure.
If the Government expects people to wait longer, pay out of pocket, or fly to the mainland for surgery, then it should say so. None of those options is fair. This is how a two-tier health system takes hold: people who can pay or travel get care, and everyone else is left waiting.
Available figures suggest Tasmania is already sitting at close to 40 per cent over time, so a 30 per cent target is not turning the system around. It is writing failure into the plan.
Tasmania is growing and ageing, and demand for health care is going up, not down. A growing state needs greater hospital capacity, enough staff, more theatres, stronger regional planning and confidence for specialists to build careers here.
Patients need hope that care will improve. These figures do the opposite. They tell Tasmanians in pain that delay is being built into the plan. Tasmanians should be alarmed. AMA Tasmania certainly is.>>>ENDS
