Qld govt to abide by wait time report

Queensland Health Minister Cameron Dick has committed to adopting the recommendations of a report that hits out at the state's growing hospital wait times.

The auditor-general's report found the number of patients waiting longer than clinically recommended climbed from 175 to 356 between June and December last year.

It also said the state's public health system was under pressure from an ageing population and hospitals needed to substantiality improve the efficiency of their operating theatres.

The report offered 10 recommendations to improve efficiency and the use of health funding.

Mr Dick said he had already spoken with his department about implementing the recommendations.

"It will be an important project for me to ensure that those recommendations are embedded and over time we get improved use of our theatres," Mr Dick said.

The report said theatres were only used 73.7 per cent of the available time, which is below the target benchmark of 85 per cent.

It also found only 40 per cent of operating theatres were starting surgery on time, putting them behind counterparts in NSW and Western Australia, the only two states with publicly available data.

Opposition health spokesman Mark McArdle used the report to hit out at Labor's health record.

"We can go back of the history of Labor in regards to this matter and I smell the past coming back to haunt Queenslanders in regard to elective surgeries, another Labor minister and more debacle," he said.