Christine Mulhall among dozens of elective surgery patients caught up in WA hospital crisis

A patient who waited nearly a year for complex elective surgery, only to have it cancelled the day before it was scheduled, says the ordeal has put her under significant emotional and financial stress and eroded her trust in the health system.

Christine Mulhall was one of dozens of West Australians who had their planned surgeries cancelled overnight, amid “exceptional” demand on the state’s hospitals.

Ms Mulhall told the ABC her initial referral to Fiona Stanley Hospital from September last year had been lost, which meant her surgery was rescheduled for February this year.

But in the lead up to that appointment, she said she was informed her surgery would likely not happen before the end of 2025.

As a category two patient, the procedure is supposed to be undertaken within 90 days of the referral.

Contradiction and confusion

On Monday, Ms Mulhall said she was offered a last-minute slot to have her operation done today.

“It was a bit of a logistical nightmare for me, as it was my first day back at work from annual leave, and I don’t have any other leave left,” Ms Mulhall told the ABC.

“I managed to rearrange everything to do the surgery on Wednesday.”

Ms Mulhall said she was contacted by a nurse on Tuesday afternoon at around 2pm to confirm her appointment, and to talk through her preparation for the surgery.

“Then I actually missed a phone call at about 4.30pm yesterday afternoon and was left with a voice message which said unfortunately my surgery had been cancelled.”

Adding to the confusion she felt, Ms Mulhall said she received a call from the hospital this morning, asking why she hadn’t come in for her surgery.

“You can imagine that caused quite a bit of distress for me, and second-guessing,” she said.

Ms Mulhall said the staff member seemed surprised to learn the procedure had been cancelled.

“I said ‘I could be there, I hadn’t eaten’. She [the staff member] said ‘leave it with me’. She called back about 20 minutes later and said, ‘I’m so sorry, it’s been cancelled,'” she said.

She said receiving the voice message had been a devastating blow.

“I’d mentally and physically prepared myself to have this surgery. [My tumour] is in the deep lobe of my parotid gland, and the surgeons have said this is as complex as it gets,” Ms Mulhall said.

“It’s [the tumour] is very close to facial nerve so there is potential lifelong complications which could arise from the surgery. It’s been a horrible journey, so I was inconsolable yesterday.

“I don’t think I’ve fully taken it in. I felt really upset, heartbroken, then I felt a little bit angry and little bit confused as to why.

“It puts a financial strain too. I’ve taken last-minute leave from work, which is unpaid leave.”

Ms Mulhall said her tumour, which is currently benign, had caused her facial pain and taken a toll on her mental health.

“I’m exhausted mentally, emotionally and financially. The stress over the past 350-odd days, however long it’s been, it’s been a real rollercoaster.

Ms Mulhall said she no longer had confidence in the public health system.

“I used to have private health insurance for a long time, until I became single, and then I couldn’t afford it,” she said.

“I then had to put that reliance on the public health system, which has not really been good to me unfortunately.”

WA Health director general Dr Shirley Bowen said she was grateful to Ms Muhall for making way for more urgent surgeries.

“Tumours in the parotid gland are complex procedures … they are something that can be deferred a few days,” Dr Bowen said.

“I can only say I thank her, because she’s making way for people who are coming through emergency who urgently need care and urgently need a bed, and without it they may die.”

‘Unfortunate but necessary’

It comes after a tumultuous week for the state government defending its funding and management of WA’s health system, amid record ambulance ramping and issues with aging hospital infrastructure.

The Cook government announced a $50 million health infrastructure maintenance fund on Monday, while the 2025-26 budget included $1.4 billion in additional spending in the health and mental health system.

Health Minister Meredith Hammat said the deferrals were unfortunate but necessary.

“We are dealing with some unprecedented demand in our hospital system. We have had over 1,000 triple-zero calls this week and we’ve seen a large number of people presenting at our emergency departments,” she said.

“Rescheduling non-urgent surgery is something we haven’t had to do before this winter, but it is something that the hospital system does to ensure that we’ve got the capacity to see the most urgent patients.”

Ms Hammat said older patients were the primary cause of the influx in demand.

“We’re also seeing large numbers of older people in hospital who are ready to be discharged, but don’t have an appropriate place to go to receive the care they need,” she said.

Dr Bowen said a large number of older people with comorbidities were presenting with winter illnesses.

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