Surgeons say they have watched with horror as the hospital waiting lists have grown and in some cases doubled over the past decade. President of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Russell Stitz said yesterday the latest figures showed patients were waiting a third longer than they did 10 years ago. The study, by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, showed that in some areas, such as neurosurgery, the average waiting list had doubled, while the wait for vascular surgery had increased by 64 per cent.

"It is with some degree of horror that surgeons are watching waiting lists continue to climb nationally, and there are real concerns among the medical profession that governments have no interest in bringing them down," Dr Stitz said. "It is unbelievable that someone with a brain injury is being forced to wait double the time they used to; and just try telling that to your patients -- it's heart-wrenching." Coupled with a shortage of surgeons, "to say there is a crisis in the health system is an understatement", Dr Stitz said.

Surveys by the college earlier this year showed the nation's 7100 surgeons spend at least 60per cent of their time in private hospitals and are ageing, with almost half aged 55 or older. "There are solutions," Dr Stitz said. "Public hospitals need to be adequately resourced, and these resources need to be used efficiently to treat more patients and provide adequate training for future surgeons. We need to employ more nurses, open more beds and start training more doctors to become surgeons." With demand for surgery expected to grow by 50per cent in the next 20 years, he said, at least 30 per cent more surgeons were needed, but "we are nowhere near this number".

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