Data from the SA Health dashboard shows 1884 patients are currently overdue for elective surgery.

That means 401 more patients are waiting longer for a surgical procedure than clinically recommended, compared to last month – when the Government reportedly committed to bringing on extra doctors and anaesthetists, and commissioning more surgeries, to counter the problem.

Royal Australasian College of Surgeons SA Branch chair David Walters said a recent restructure within SA Health and a surgical ramp-down due to the move from the old Royal Adelaide Hospital to the new hospital were to blame for the backlog.

“These numbers are concerning, particularly given that there is also a hidden waiting list of patients who are yet to have a clinic appointment and be put on the elective surgery waiting list,” said Walters.

“Over time we’d expect things to stabilise and these numbers will come down naturally.

“In the short term, we know that there have been increased staffing levels and theatre lists running, as well as public-private partnerships to reduce those numbers.”

Health Minister Peter Malinauskas told InDaily more nurses and anaesthetists were recruited during the Christmas break.

“Our staff are working very hard to ensure patients receive their elective surgery as soon as possible and to significantly reduce our waiting lists over the coming months,” he added.

According to today’s dashboard, urological surgery has the highest number of overdue patients in total (429) followed by plastic surgery (330) ear, nose and throat surgery (241) and orthopaedic surgery (240).

The total number of overdue patients today is 1347 higher than it was a year ago today, according to a screenshot of the dashboard sent to InDaily by the Liberal Party.

Opposition Health spokesperson Stephen Wade told InDaily: “Either the minister has failed to employ these extra staff or, if he has, then his strategy isn’t working.”

“Moving the Royal Adelaide Hospital at the height of winter during the worst flu season on record, poor planning and mismanagement in ramping things up at the new hospital and closing the Repat Hospital” were to blame for the backlog, Wade said.

But Malinauskas said Labor was committed to investing more money in the hospital system than the Liberals.

“Unlike the Opposition, Labor is investing more than a billion dollars in our public hospital system,” he said.

“While every single offering the Liberals have is negative, Labor has a plan for the future of South Australia.”

Earlier this month, the Liberal Party pledged $5 million to commission extra colonoscopies to deal with a backlog in waiting times for the procedure, which is used to diagnose colon cancer.

“In Government, we will fund similar strategies to get on top of blowouts in particular surgical specialties,” said Wade.

He said the number of patients overdue for the most urgent surgical procedures rose from 69 on 10 December 2017 to 120 today.

Those patients fall into “category one”, meaning they should have undergone surgery within 30 days.

Malinauskas said that most of the 120 category one patients were booked in for surgery at the RAH, with the most urgent cases given priority.