Sick Canberrans are becoming gravely ill while waiting years for specialist medical care, doctors say.

Key points: The average waiting time for "urgent" outpatient clinics in the ACT public health system exceeds the target in every specialist area

The average waiting time for "urgent" outpatient clinics in the ACT public health system exceeds the target in every specialist area "Urgent" rheumatology patients wait, on average, more than 16 months for an appointment — the clinical standard is 30 days

"Urgent" rheumatology patients wait, on average, more than 16 months for an appointment — the clinical standard is 30 days Doctors say the lengthy delays are creating serious health complications

Patients in the city's hospitals already face the nation's longest waits for emergency department treatment.

New data shows the ACT's specialist doctors are also failing dramatically to meet their targets for seeing patients on time.

Some people wait more than four years for an outpatient clinic, according to figures tabled in the Legislative Assembly.

The average waiting time for patients who need urgent care was longer than the clinical standard in almost every medical area.

For most specialties, patients in this top category waited more than twice as long as recommended.

Charlotte Hodgkin, a mother of four from Belconnen, has struggled through Canberra's public health system for years.

At times, she needed to join the queues in the emergency department because she could not afford private care.

"It's gotten to a point now where I really dread going to the emergency room," she said.

"I don't want to be putting any more pressure on resources that I know are there for emergencies."

Ms Hodgkin has partial deafness after rupturing her ear drum in 2017.

She is still waiting to see a specialist two-and-a-half years later.

"I'm scared … I'm worried that, in six months' time, if they haven't picked something up and I can't potentially be here for my children again — that's really terrifying," she said.

Hospital 'is a closed door', doctors say

Ms Hodgkin is far from alone.

Canberra Health Services, which runs the ACT's public hospitals, is far off meeting its targets for specialist waiting times, across most categories of urgency and for most needs.

The long wait

The most urgent gastrointestinal patients wait more than 200 days for an appointment, while rheumatology patients wait about 16 months — the target in both cases is 30 days.

The Australian Medical Association's ACT president-elect, Suzanne Davey, said the public system was under critical strain.

"GPs are constantly fighting to get these people seen, but it seems that the hospital is a closed door," Dr Davey said.

She said patients' health worsened considerably while they were forced to endure long waits.

"People develop cancers on the waiting lists — they get too ill to be treated before their name comes up to be seen in the public system."

The ACT Opposition's health spokeswoman, Vicki Dunne, shared her concern.

"The real problem that we have here is a system which is completely under stress at every point," she said.

The Government, too, concedes the situation for patients must improve.

Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the waiting times for some patients were worrying, and advised their GPs to contact hospital staff if necessary.

"It is always concerning when we hear those reports from GPs and from patients themselves, and so we encourage GPs to really connect with the hospital and have a conversation with their patients if they're seeing their condition worsening," she said.