Right to Information No.: RTI202324-121

Right to Information No.: RTI202324-121

Date of Decision:          20 October 2023

Information Requested

An application made pursuant to the Right to Information Act 2009 (‘the Act’), received the Department of Health (“the public authority”) on 7 September 2023 and accepted on 19 September 2023

The applicant, pursuant to s15(4)(a) of the Act, agreed to grant an extension on the application for assessed disclosure.

The information requested:

1. The number of persons identified by region (south, north and north west) who have died while on the outpatient waitlist for each month from August 2021-August 2023.
2. The number of persons on the outpatient identified by region (south, north and north west) who have been referred by the Department to a private hospital for treatment for each month from August 2021-August 2023.

Application Fee

The prescribed application fee was waived in accordance with:

…

s16(2)(b) (the applicant is a is a Member of Parliament acting in connection with his or her official duty).

Decision and Statement of Reasons

I have decided to release the information to you in full. 

Please see Annexures 1 and 2.

Annexure 1

The number of persons identified by region (south, north and north west) who have died while on the outpatient waitlist for each month from August 2021-August 2023.

Note 1: The death of a patient on the Outpatient waiting list may be unrelated to the specialist clinic they are waiting for, however, this is not documented when the public authority is notified of the death. 

Note 2: The public authority is not always notified of the death of a patient immediately, particularly if the death occurred outside the hospital or health service.