The NSW Health Department may be ignoring Bowral Hospital's growing waiting list problems because of plans to move all orthopaedic surgery to Fairfield Hospital, according to Southern Highlands MP Peta Seaton.
Ms Seaton made the comments following the release of current hospital waiting list figures, which revealed 476 patients were on Bowral Hospital's waiting list in July this year.
The figures also revealed 60 of the 476 people currently on the waiting list have been waiting for more than a year for surgery.
Although extra funding was allocated earlier this year to help local surgeons move through the waiting list, Ms Seaton said the extra funding only allowed for seven extra operations, which she described as a "drop in the bucket".
Ms Seaton said she was concerned the NSW Health Department was not tackling the waiting list length as effectively as it could because it was planning to move orthopaedic surgery to Fairfield to alleviate the list length.
"When it was first proposed our local doctors resisted the move, but I fear (a Fairfield move) still may be the long-term Carr Government plan," she said.
Full story in Wednesday's Southern Highland News.
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