More than half a million Australians are expected to be waiting for elective surgery by the middle of this year.

New data from the Australian Medical Association shows waiting lists have hit record levels.

The backlog was 306,000 six months ago and is set to hit 508,000 if things don’t change.

Mark Duncan-Smith, President of the Australian Medical Association WA told Perth Live that WA is the second worst state for the increase in wait times.

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