Long waits to see specialists in the Hunter's public hospital system have pushed families into private health insurance to prevent their children from suffering.
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Mayfield boy Cassius Button, 11, has had multiple ENT [ear, nose and throat] surgeries since the age of five.
His first few surgeries were in the public system, after long wait times.
This prompted his family to eventually opt for private health insurance, so surgeries and specialist appointments that he needed could occur more quickly.
"The waits in the public system were too long, so we decided to go private," Cass's mum Vino Button said.
"Cass has been having speech therapy since he was three, because he has a severe developmental speech delay. Access to specialist ENT care is a really important part of his treatment.
"It's a big expense to have private health cover, but the public waiting times blew out. We began to really worry about the effect the delays were having on Cass's learning and social development."
Dr Fiona Van Leeuwen said "the public waiting list for ENT specialists in Newcastle has been extraordinarily long for a long time".
"Despite significant and varied efforts to improve that, it's still an issue," said Dr Van Leeuwen, chair of the Hunter General Practitioners Association.
"We have plenty of cases of children who are having speech delay due to their hearing problems. They are still on a long waiting list."
Such children often need surgery to insert grommets into their middle ear, to drain fluid and prevent infection so they can hear.
"They're having trouble hearing because they need grommets. And they are having speech trouble because they can't hear properly," she said.
"They can get a speech pathologist. And they can get early learning assistance at school, but they can't get the thing to fix their hearing - the ear surgery."
She said public patients are having to leave the Hunter "to seek an ENT opinion or care".
The Bureau of Health Information showed 297 people were on the waiting list for ENT surgery at John Hunter Hospital from October to December last year.
This was a 61 per cent rise from the same period the previous year, a time when the pandemic affected elective surgery.
A further 94 patients were on the ENT surgery waiting list at Maitland Hospital in late 2022, 40 at Kurri Kurri Hospital and 26 at Belmont Hospital.
In addition to this, there are long waits - up to two years - to see an ENT specialist in the Hunter.
That's before the patients make the waiting list for surgery, if that's needed.
Long waits for ENT surgery can impede a child's speech development and worsen allergies and asthma.
Cass, 11, has had surgery to remove adenoids, tonsils and overgrown nose turbinates, as well as the insertion of grommets in his ears.
He also had lip tie surgery, in which skin under his top lip was cut to help his speech.
He experienced long waits to see an ENT specialist in the public system, after getting a referral from a GP and being triaged.
"It could be two years from seeing the doctor to getting the operation," Cass's mum, Ms Button, said.
"That's a long time to wait for young kids."
Now Cass is in the private system, he can see a specialist in under a month and the operation can be booked within weeks.
Seeing an ENT specialist for kids like Cass is considered essential early on and as they grow.
Dr Van Leeuwen said GPs were "very focused on trying to do early intervention".
She said GPs send patients to a specialist to "get a specialist opinion, advice or a procedure".
But this opinion is "getting much harder to get in the public system".
Not all people who see a specialist need surgery. Nonetheless, one patient had been told the wait to see an ENT specialist in Newcastle was two years.
A Hunter New England Health spokesperson said "there is very high demand for ear, nose and throat (ENT) services".
"However there are workforce challenges that are experienced across Australia that impact on access to this specialist service," the spokesperson said.
"John Hunter Hospital is the primary provider of outpatient services for the district and delivers care to patients as far north as the Queensland border.
"Currently, demand is very high and we acknowledge there are wait times for both appointments and surgery."
The health district said it does "everything possible to manage the waitlists and reduce waiting times".
"However, as patients are seen according to clinical priority, some patients will wait longer than others.
"Recruitment is underway for additional ENT specialists to ensure people can be seen sooner. We've also recruited additional nursing and administrative staff to increase team capacity and improve follow-up care."
An outpatient ENT clinic began in Tamworth in February last year, helping to "improve our capacity and reduce the travel required for patients in the New England region".
The health district said it was "reviewing the ENT waitlist to ensure it is up to date and that anyone that no longer requires care is removed".
"If a patient's condition has changed, general practitioners are encouraged to provide this information to the outpatient service to ensure that patients are reprioritised for an appointment."
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