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<\/p>\nA Canberra cardiologist is referring patients interstate due to his concerns about wait times in the ACT’s public health system.<\/p>\n
Siang Yong Soh, who is a private cardiologist and former registrar at Canberra Health Services (CHS), said he and five other cardiologists felt impelled to speak up on behalf of their patients and public hospital counterparts.<\/p>\n
“People need to know what is actually happening,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Being in the community means a lot of us depend on the cardiologists in the hospital to look after our patients.”<\/p>\n
He said the ACT system was not dependable and he had been referring patients interstate.<\/p>\n
“I have been sending my patients to Wollongong Hospital,” Dr Soh said.<\/p>\n
He said when he was a registrar at the hospital in 2018, the wait times for cardiac procedures, such as a coronary angiogram, would take four to six weeks for most patients.<\/p>\n
But the group of private cardiologists alleged that patients waited between two and six months for the procedure in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CHS said it “strongly rejected” the claim that wait times for cardiac procedures had worsened.<\/p>\n
“Our data shows the opposite. The number of procedures and overall wait times for procedures have improved,” a CHS spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n
They said patients were waiting an average of 4.5 weeks for a category one coronary angiogram.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It said those times had improved from an average of nine weeks in early 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But most category one patients were still being seen outside the clinically recommended 30 days.<\/p>\n
CHS said, in April 2024, patients waited an average of six to 12 months for a category two angiogram, compared to six months in October 2025.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Canberra Health Services has “strongly rejected” claims that wait times for cardiac procedures have worsened. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)<\/p>\n
CHS said it had also significantly increased the number of procedures it had performed in its Cardiac Catheter Laboratories.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The labs see patients who are having a heart attack, as well as those needing tests and treatments for issues relating to the heart and circulatory system.<\/p>\n
“In 2023, CHS performed 2,560 procedures in the Cardiac Cath Lab, compared with 3,969 in 2025, this is an increase of 1,409 procedures,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
“We also acknowledge that there have been workplace culture and communication challenges raised within the cardiology service, and we take these concerns seriously.”<\/p>\n
‘There is urgency’<\/p>\n
Dr Soh said those improvements were at odds with feedback he has received from patients about lengthy wait times in Canberra’s public system.<\/p>\n
“Some of these patients just cannot wait. They may have a few weeks to wait, but they don’t have months to wait,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The longer you wait, the risk of an acute event or complication \u2026 goes up.<\/p>\n
“There is urgency even though we consider them elective procedures.”<\/p>\n