Patients are currently waiting up to six weeks for their Patient Assistance Transport Scheme (PATS) applications to be processed, with some of Flinders MP Sam Telfer’s constituents claiming they are waiting up to several months.
PATS provides some reimbursement to regional patients and approved escorts for travel and accommodation costs for medical appointments and procedures.
Mr Telfer said his office had received a significant escalation in community concerns in recent weeks on the extended claim response times, with reports of patients waiting sometimes several months for a response from their PATS applications.
“After our assistance to work through a follow-up process for many patients, they have received correspondence from PATS officers admitting that they are struggling with the current workload leading to processing times ballooning out,” he said.
“The Minister needs to act now to get the PATS system back on track.”
When asked if there was a backlog to the PATS applications, Health Minister Chris Picton said that due to high demand, claims were currently taking up to six weeks to be processed, but he had been advised the processing time would return to the standard four weeks within the next fortnight.
“This government doubled the fuel subsidy in January this year from 16 cents to 32 cents per kilometre, while the Liberals sat on their hands and didn’t increase the fuel subsidy during their four years in office despite rising fuel costs,” he said.
“We have also expanded the scheme to include travel for orthotic and prosthetic clinic appointments.”
A statement from SA Health said PATS had received claims from 15,460 patients during the 2022-23 financial year.
It said claims usually took four weeks to process, but were currently taking up to six weeks due to an increase in people using the scheme.
The wait time for payments was expected to be resolved within two weeks.
A representative for SA Health said it was always looking at ways to provide timely support for rural residents attending medical appointments.
