VA Spokesman Says Poor Sacramento Hospital Service Is Supply-Demand Issue

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Veterans continue to wait a very long time to get care at Sacramento Veterans Hospital, as a new report shows the wait times are the worst in the state.

The veterans hospital system in Northern California cares for 100,000 patients on average each year, and most of its patients served in Vietnam.

It's tough enough dealing with the memories of war, and now Jim Begley is battling his own medical care.

"What they do is they see you and then another doctor sees you and they just keep putting you on the list," he said. "I'm blind in one eye and they keep putting my appointment off."

He says he's been waiting three months for an appointment for cataract surgery.

Wait times at Sacramento Veterans Hospital are the sixth-longest in the nation, and in some cases, patients had to wait more than a month to get an appointment.

Associate director for the health care system Davis Mastalski says it's not acceptable for veterans to wait. He says the problem comes down to basic economics: supply isn't meeting demand.

"We've experienced growth at 10 times the national average of other VA's at this health care system. We're very popular," he said.

But not as popular with recruiting. Officials say they've struggled bringing on doctors in the past. But now they say they're on track to hire about 270 new medical staff with funding recently approved by Congress.

For the time being, patient advocates like Jonn Melrose are staying busy.

"We simply get a hold of the patient advocate they work us through the process and we get them in as quickly as we can," he said.

As Begley waits for his eye appointment, he stopped by the grand opening of the new mental health wing just outside the hospital. It's no fix he says, but like war, it takes effort to win.

"I don't think my problems are that big," he said. "I mean if they were in line, I'd let them go first."