The Central Western Daily has obtained a letter from five doctors at the Orange hospital-based OPC, dated August 9, which revealed they could not take new patients due to the “intolerable situation.”

It said doctors had been left with no alternative than to add “all but the most pressing problems to the 365-day waiting list”.

And it states there was a concern these children would never get to the top of the list as more urgent cases would take precedence.

However, a spokeswoman for the Western NSW Local Health District said the outpatient paediatric clinic service at Orange Health Service (OHS) was adequate for Orange.

“It operates with over 4.5 full time paediatricians, which is consistent for communities the size of Orange and surrounding communities,” she said.

“We are actively working with our paediatrician colleagues to ensure children in our community are seen in a timely fashion and this may include other services in addition to the local hospital.

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“The clinic prioritises patients on the basis of clinical need focusing on issues such as asthma, allergies or congenital conditions, and infants who are failing to thrive.”

She said the clinic was “one of many” services available that can assist children and young people.

“The clinic continues to take referrals and see new patients, however the waiting times may be reduced by encouraging doctors and other services to ensure they are referring their patients to the right service,” she said.

The spokeswoman also said the OHS budget for 2018-19 was up $5 million on the previous year.

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The doctors’ letter, which was addressed to colleagues, said they had sought funding for an extra paediatrician.

“The financial state of the health district [meant] that our application was declined,” the doctors said.

“We are now at the point where the only space to see a new referral appears when we discharge someone and as you know, some of these kids see us from aged five until they leave school.

“We have got around this problem for the past few months, by cramming more patients into already over-booked clinics, but [we] cannot safely do that any longer.”

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In the letter the doctors suggest the children will have to be treated by private therapists and services.

“For most of these children, assistance from other therapists will need to be sought where appropriate and available, school counsellors, child and family health nurses, speech, OT, psychology, early intervention, etc,” they said.

The doctors’ letter said it might mean people would have to travel outside Orange for treatment.

“We are acutely aware that this will be beyond the means, for many, of exactly the group who most need help, but we physically have no way of seeing these children any longer.

“Our apologies for the inevitable inconvenience of this intolerable situation and the hardship it will cause.”