Almost 80,000 people in Western Australia are waiting to see a specialist to determine if they need surgery, which the premier concedes is unacceptable, but he says only eight per cent of people referred actually need an operation.
The WA Health Department has released a report into referrals to public outpatient surgical clinics, revealing that at the end of December there were 79,517 patients waiting for their first appointment.
The average waiting time for referrals waiting to be seen for a first appointment was 8.78 months, which is an increase of 1.28 months compared to the end of December 2016.
"Clearly we need to do better and clearly that's not acceptable," Premier Mark McGowan told reporters on Friday.
"It's a long-term problem that we need to roll out measures to fix."
But the premier noted only eight per cent of people referred to a specialist actually needed surgery.
"So we need to actually work with the medical profession and with our hospitals and the entire system to make sure that we target what's required to those people who need it and we don't have over-servicing," he said.
Opposition spokesman Sean L'Estrange said the figures were "disturbing".
"Over the last 12 months of the McGowan government, wait times have blown out a further 1.3 months so it's now 8.8 months on average for people to just get a meeting with a specialist to work out whether or not they need surgery," he told reporters.
"I really feel for the people who are enduring these excessive wait times while they are possibly going through pain, but certainly going through the worry of the condition that they have to get advice on."
Mr L'Estrange said it was a sign the public health system was under pressure and "going backwards" under a Labor government.
"This is a matter of financial priority," he said.
Mr L'Estrange said the government had known for some time that an ageing and increasingly-obese population, plus a decline in the number of people taking out private health insurance, meant more people were accessing the public health system.
