Waiting game: Great Southern children face longest wait for audiology, occupational therapy in regional WA

Great Southern children face the longest wait to see an audiologist in country WA, with children waiting an average of 207 days for their first appointment through the WA Country Health Service. Figures tabled in State Parliament last month revealed average wait times for regional children aged 5-11 from the point of referral to their first appointment with a child development specialist. Great Southern children faced regional WA’s longest average wait of 207 days to see an audiologist, followed by the Midwest (139 days) and South West (77 days). They also faced the longest wait for occupational therapy at 160 days, followed by the Pilbara (99 days). The Great Southern had the second-longest average wait (167 days) for an appointment with a public clinical psychologist. Children in the Pilbara (344 days) had the longest average wait for clinical psychologists. However, the Great Southern region also had some of the shortest wait-times in regional WA for other child development specialists. Figures showed it took an average of 36 days for a child to receive their first appointment with a physiotherapist in the Great Southern, compared to the longest wait of 141.5 days in the Kimberley. Great Southern children also faced the shortest wait to see a speech pathologist through WACHS, with an average of 52.5 days compared to 103.5 days in the Kimberley. WACHS Great Southern acting regional director Ron Wynn said the organisation was responding to the Great Southern’s need for more paediatric services. “Though we continue to increase paediatric full-time equivalent across the Great Southern, some specialty areas like audiology face higher than desired wait times — something we are actively working to reduce,” he said. “I want to assure Great Southern communities that we are actively working to respond to their needs — we established a paediatric service at Albany Health Campus to support local children in 2020. “Here, we have three specialist paediatricians working with us, as well as clinical nurse specialists, child and adolescent mental health services and nursery services so country kids can receive paediatric care closer to home.” Mr Wynn said WACHS had a “thorough, multi-disciplinary triage” process for children. “This helps us determine the urgency for specialist consults and gives consideration to other possible interventions from child health and development specialists in the region,” he said. “Wait times vary, dependent on individual patient circumstances, and are prioritised according to clinical need.”