A Barossa Valley woman who’s had her elective surgery cancelled three times this year has made an emotional plea for help.
The 66-year-old is among tens of thousands of South Australians on a waitlist, as the state’s health system struggles to cope with demand.
Monica Wohlstadt, who requires complex spinal surgery, has been in pain for over a year.
“Even though I’m 66, I feel like a 90-year-old,” she said.
Wohlstadt’s initial surgery was scheduled for July but was cancelled due to capacity issues. A subsequent booking in August met the same fate.
“Receiving that news when you’re home on your own has been emotional and destroying,” she said.
She then declined surgery with a specialist she had not previously met, before a further cancellation in November.
Opposition health spokeswoman Ashton Hurn criticised the government’s handling of the situation.
“Enough is enough… this is a government who went to the election saying health would be a priority,” she said.
“There are now 25,000 South Australians languishing on the waitlist under (Premier) Peter Malinauskas and (Health Minister) Chris Picton.”
SA Health has apologised for the situation, explaining that Wohlstadt’s case is particularly complex, requiring the involvement of two surgeons.
“As much as we try and do these complex operations on the day we are going to do them, we just don’t know what’s going to come in the night before,” Emma McCahon from the Central Adelaide Health Network said.
While the elective surgery waitlist has increased under the current Labor government, it maintains that the number of elective surgeries performed annually has risen by 9000 since it took power in 2022.
The government has released a plan aimed at increasing the number of patients treated through elective surgery.
“There is a huge number of operations we can do on a same-day basis,” Picton said.
“The more we can do that, the less pressure there is going to be for hospital beds.”
Wohlstadt’s surgery is currently scheduled for December.
