A South Australian great-grandfather has been put on a four-year waiting list for an elective surgery he considers to be urgent.
Bob Bishop from Sellicks Beach is spending his golden years confined to his home and suffering debilitating pain from a hernia.
The 76-year-old said surgery to remove his hernia is urgent but he has been told to expect a 48-month wait.
“It’s very hard to walk,” he told 9News.
“My wife’s got to wash me and dress me so it’s pretty depressing when you normally do everything yourself.
“I don’t know if I could take four years sitting around doing nothing.”
Bishop is one of many South Australians facing an agonising delay as elective surgeries were put on hold at all metropolitan hospitals since Thursday last week.
Health authorities are trying to ease the pressure the system.
“What we’ve got to do at the moment is make sure emergencies are tended to as quickly as possible,” Premier Peter Malinauskas said.
But that means lower-priority patients like Bishop are left to simply put up with the pain.
“The only time I get any ease of the pain is at night time when I go to bed and go to sleep you know. Then you’ve got to get up the next morning and start all over again,” Bishop said.