Canberra Liberals leader Mark Parton is calling on the ACT government to stop retrospectively removing patients from specialist outpatient waiting lists under revised referral criteria.

Parton will move a motion in the Legislative Assembly today (October 27), demanding that Canberra Health Services stop applying the new criteria to referrals accepted before the changes.

The Liberals say more than 65,000 people are waiting for specialist appointments across Canberra Health Services, with some patients who have already waited years being told their referrals no longer meet the updated criteria and have been closed.

Parton says patients should not lose access to specialist assessments because referral requirements have changed.

“Patients and families who have waited years should not lose access because the criteria were changed after their referral was accepted,” he says.

The motion calls for existing referrals to remain active under the criteria in place when they were accepted, with any decision to close a referral based on an individual clinical assessment.

It also seeks a report from the Health Minister by the last sitting day of 2026 detailing how the changes have been implemented and how many existing referrals have been closed.

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