The Labor Health Minister in the ACT blamed a shortage of specialist staff as one of the factors behind the long waiting times for children to receive treatment.
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"We know for example that ear-nose-and-throat is an issue across paediatric and adult services and there are other areas where it's quite hard to attract specialists to the ACT," Rachel Stephen-Smith said.
She was responding to figures showing that thousands of Canberra children are waiting for specialist healthcare, with some facing years of delay.
The new figures showed that even children placed in the highest risk category can wait almost a year to see a doctor in some specialties at Canberra Health Services.
The data, released in response to questions in the assembly from opposition health spokeswoman Vicki Dunne, showed that on June 30, there were about 3700 children under 16 waiting for an initial appointment with a specialist.
Wait times for a child to get a dermatology appointment could be as long as four years, while for some urology patients it was more than three years.
At a press conference to open a new clinic, the minister said in response: "It's really disappointing when we have areas in our health service where people are experiencing long waits.
"I know that that is quite distressing for children and their families when there are paediatric long waits. Canberra health service is working really hard to address this issue, both in terms of recruitment and with better planning of our out-patient services."
Ms Stephen-Smith said part of the problem was that Canberra wasn't big enough to support the full range of medical specialisms.
She was speaking at the opening of the Inner North Walk-in Centre where people can go for minor injuries 365 days a year.
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There is now a network of five Walk-in Centres in Tuggeranong, Weston Creek, West Belconnen, Gungahlin plus the latest which opens to walk-in patients from Wednesday.
The centres are staffed by more than 70 nurses and are meant as one part of the range of services from GPs at a local level up to hospitals for the most serious ailments, injuries and illnesses.
The ACT government said that the centres have treated more than 282,000 patients since 2014. More that 67,000 cases were dealt with in 2019.
The Inner North Walk-in Centre at 111 Dickson Place has 16 nurses and four administrative staff. It cost $2.3 million.
Opening hours are 7.30am - 10pm every day of the year.
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
