Ms ROSOL question to MINISTER for HEALTH, MENTAL HEALTH and WELLBEING, Mrs ARCHER
The Greens were contacted by a constituent who had a positive bowel cancer screen result in June. He was told by his doctor that he would be put into the most urgent category for a colonoscopy to check if he had cancer. He should have been seen within 30 days. So far, he’s waited 80 days. He’s been told, with 1000 people on the wait list, he’s looking at a wait of 6 to 12 months. This is causing him and his family a lot of stress and it’s delaying any treatment he might need. Can you confirm what the health services told Tony about the endoscopy wait times and what will you do to ensure patients like Tony get the procedures they need within clinically recommended timeframes?
ANSWER
Thank you, honourable Speaker, and I thank the member for her question. Obviously, I’m unable to comment on the personal circumstances of individual patients and their treatment, but of course I empathise with anyone who experiences a longer wait for an endoscopy or indeed for any treatment.
We know that demand for endoscopy is increasing, which is why we have delivered the Statewide Endoscopy Services Four–Year Plan 2023–2027. The target for the number of endoscopies performed is more than 13,000. Since the commencement of the Statewide Endoscopy Services Four–Year Plan 2023–2027, record levels of publicly funded endoscopy activity have been delivered. During 2024–25 nearly 14,000 publicly funded endoscopy procedures were performed exceeding the target in the plan and representing the highest volume of endoscopy activity delivered in a single financial year. This was followed by nearly 13,500 procedures delivered in 2025–26.
Having said that, there has been several initiatives that have been implemented to improve access to endoscopy services, including additional service capacity, partnerships with the private sector, statewide referral and access policies, a nurse-led triage model and improvements to surveillance patient management, as well as the development of rural generalist endoscopist services to support capacity in the north‑west.
While these initiatives have supported record service delivery, demand for endoscopy services has continued to grow. Routine statewide monitoring and reporting processes have been established by the department to monitor endoscopy performance.
All patients importantly referred for a colonoscopy following a positive bowel screening test are triaged as priority 1, and while the recommended timeframe is 30 days, wait times may exceed this due to high demand and the need to prioritise cases assessed as emergency.
Supplementary Question
Ms ROSOL – The minister shared a lot of figures there and some actions that the department have taken, but the reality is that triaging a patient for 30 days but then telling them that they need to wait 6 to 12 months is not okay and will potentially result in people developing cancer because it’s not picked up early enough. Do you think this is acceptable and what will you do about it?
Mrs ARCHER – I thank the member for the supplementary question. I’ve just outlined to you, Ms Rosol, what in fact the government is doing and that we have exceeded those targets and reiterate the point that all patients are triaged according to their clinical presentation. If their condition deteriorates, they’re asked to follow up with their GPs and also to continue to engage with their doctors.
