New data has revealed 10 per cent of patients are waiting more than 1247 days to see a surgeon under Ballarat Health Services. The same proportion of patients are waiting more than 744 days for an orthopedic surgeon on a non-urgent referral. Urgent referrals to ophthalmologists and vascular surgeons at BHS Base Hospital are outside the 30-day state target.

BHS acting chief executive officer Andrew Kinnersly said the hospital was working to manage resources but more must be done.

“Clearly some of our current figures are unacceptable...we’ve got initiatives in place to help improve this but there’s always more we can do,” Mr Kinnersly said. “A lot is in reviewing systems and how we can resource particular areas.”

Mr Kinnersly expected strong improvement in wait times with new clinics and nursing and allied health staff rolled out to ease pressure, particularly with an unprecedented demand on emergency and surgical staff. One of the biggest challenges, he said, was workforce availability in specialty areas, like ophthalmology which had an improved average wait for urgent cases, despite not meeting the state target.

Opposition health spokeswoman Mary Wooldridge said blow-outs in surgery waits, in the Victorian Health Services Performance report, revealed a state-wide issue.

“(Premier) Daniel Andrews needs to explain to people in Ballarat how he is going to fix his crisis in waiting times for Victorians needing surgery instead of always looking to blame others,” Ms Wooldridge said.

Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy said the data showed reduced waits in ambulance response and emergency care but surgery waits were concerning.

"After four years of cuts and neglect under the former Liberal government, we are finally starting to see improvements with more patients being treated faster – but we know we have more to do," Ms Hennessy said.