There are less outpatients awaiting appointments but outpatient wait times have increased across the board at the Launceston General Hospital, new data has shown.
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The state government's quarterly Health System Dashboard showed a steep rise in outpatients for the first two months of the last quarter, before a reduction in June.
While the number of outpatients dropped for the first time over the past month since COVID-19 hit Tasmanian shores, wait times for those needing an appointment still increased.
You will need to wait an average of 505 days to get into the Launceston General Hospital for an outpatient visit, according to the data.
Patients at the LGH have a considerably longer wait time than other hospitals around the state with the next longest wait of 335 days at the Royal Hobart Hospital.
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If you are classified as non-urgent, that time burgeons to 618 days despite the Department of Health claiming treatment should occur within a year.
Should you be classified as urgent, meaning you should be seen within 30 days, you will still be waiting an average of 153 days to get into the LGH.
Patients waiting on colorectal, gastroenterology and respiratory specialists are among the hardest hit with wait times of 622, 890 and 1000 days on average respectively for each profession.
Health Minister Sarah Courtney said the dashboard highlighted the impact COVID-19 has had on the Tasmanian health system.
This is illustrated in the data with 42,328 Tasmanians currently on the outpatient waiting list, an increase of 2215 since last quarter.
However, over the final month of the quarter, the LGH saw their number of outpatients reduce by 108 yet the wait time increase by a further 22 days.
Labor health spokeswoman Sarah Lovell said the data was an indication the health system had been sitting on a precipice before COVID-19 hit.
"The pandemic has demonstrated the catastrophic consequences of underinvestment in the health system and the need to upgrade health facilities across the state," Ms Lovell said.
Ms Courtney said the state government is working hard to ensure Tasmanians have appropriate access to health services around the state.
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