"Waiting list and then PATS"

I was referred by my GP in Albany in February 2025, had Xrays etc and was put on a waiting list for bilateral bunion surgery. Saw a surgeon in Albany in January 2026 who was apparently over from the Eastern States as there was not a surgeon who could perform this particular surgery in town. The surgeon told me they would do both feet within the next six months, great I thought! Was told to expect a letter.

I then happened to hear being a small town that the surgeon had left, this was a couple of months later and I wondered what that meant for me. I called Albany and asked and was told that I had been transferred to the Fremantle waiting list so called them and they said it may be around January/February 2027 that I get seen, no problem whatsoever with that.

We are now in September, I decided to call Fremantle just to check in and see where things are at. I am now told no you are not on our waiting list, you are definitely an Albany patient and we can see you are assigned to a surgeon there so please ring Albany..

Back I go and call Albany, the person who I spoke to was very helpful and friendly, no issues around that at all. She said yes I can see you are on the list and scheduled for January 2027, marvelous I thought. Then she said oh hang on actually no that won't work as this surgeon cannot do bilateral bunion surgery, we need to move you to a different list of a visiting surgeon who can do this. I asked would this impact my space on the waiting list and would my wait time to date be considered, she said definitely I won't be pushed back at all. She agreed to call me back. This did leave me wondering what if I had not called, shouldn't I have been triaged correctly in the first place to the correct surgeon, was this an administration error. Or could I be transferred to a metro list??

Called back and told 30 people in front of me and it will not be January and could be much much later. Right, so now what. I then looked into paying for the operation privately, not using the public system. This is going to cost in the realms of six thousand dollars plus travel and accommodation as need to go to Perth and will be non-weight bearing, two feet chevron traditional open surgery, pins and bone/tendon work. So it is all adding up, but happy to do what I need to do. I then looked into PATs and have been declined by them also because my surgeon does not qualify, so no assistance with the five hour drive there and back or the cost of accommodation, very disappointed but understanding that staff did their best and are only following the guidelines. 

Not sure what to do, just trying to navigate it as best I can. Confusing though and not quite as I imagined, perhaps it’s a communication issue. Not a staff one definitely , they have all been supportive, but I understand their hands are tied, more of a system thing. It has left me concerned about communication and also when trying to save the government money by not using the public system yet being declined by PATS as a regional person paying their taxes and never used the system before it doesnt feel great.