Canterbury Hospital missed 16 surgery referrals in unmonitored inbox

Sydney Local Health District has apologised after an unmonitored email inbox at Canterbury Hospital in southwest Sydney was found to contain more than 3,000 unread messages, including elective surgery referrals that were never acted upon.

The district discovered the inbox held about 3,400 emails, including 16 patient referrals, with some dating back to late 2025. An urgent review found 20 surgery admission referrals in total, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

SLHD chief executive Deborah Willcox said the district launched a review as soon as the problem was identified and that all affected patients were being contacted to have their surgeries rescheduled. “The review is being undertaken and we'll look to each patient's situation separately and work through the issues carefully,” she said.

A district spokesperson said treating surgeons had been contacted to ensure each patient received an appropriate clinical review and prioritisation, and admission dates had been urgently allocated. “Patient safety and wellbeing remain our highest priorities, and we have worked urgently to minimise any impact on those affected,” the spokesperson said, adding: “We sincerely apologise to these patients and families.”

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, one urgent patient and two semi-urgent patients underwent their procedures late the previous week, while one urgent patient decided not to be admitted. The hospital did not respond to questions about the patients’ medical conditions, whether any had been adversely affected by the delays, or the surgeries they needed.

What went wrong

The unmonitored inbox at Canterbury Hospital was found to contain 3,400 emails, including the referrals. Immediate measures have been implemented including clearer staff accountabilities, strengthened governance arrangements, enhanced monitoring processes and increased executive oversight of admissions workflows, according to the district.

Betros added that failing to give a patient investigations or treatment within a certain timeframe can have devastating repercussions for them and their families. NSW opposition health spokesperson Sarah Mitchell called the lapse a basic failure with potentially serious consequences, and said patients and their families needed confidence the failure was not happening elsewhere.

Broader context

Despite the error, SLHD performs well on elective surgery timeliness. According to Bureau of Health Information data cited by the Sydney Morning Herald, SLHD records 99.8 per cent of elective surgeries performed on time, outperforming all other local health districts. Statewide, 85.6 per cent of elective surgeries were performed on time in the June quarter, up 8.8 percentage points on the same period in 2025.

However, senior specialist surgeons have repeatedly raised concerns that public hospitals in Sydney and other local health districts manipulate their surgery waitlist data to meet NSW Health benchmarks, concealing the extent of elective surgery delays. The state Labor government has pledged $400 million to redevelop Canterbury Hospital. Health Minister Ryan Park’s office referred queries to NSW Health.