Charles said he had been waiting about 13 months for his surgery, that was meant to go ahead in March and then May this year, before COVID-19 impacted the wait times.

However, a phone call on Tuesday offered both of the men a reduced wait time for the surgery to be done at Batemans Bay.

"That would involve us going into a COVID hotspot and then having to come back and go into quarantine for two weeks," Charles said.

Charles said both he and family member Gary had turned down the option, citing concerns around the pandemic and the impact quarantine could have on their families.

"I don't want to be pushy about getting in and having the procedure done, but it seems a bit counter-productive to direct us to a COVID-hotspot," Charles said.

"There is so much anxiety about COVID-19 going around already so why would you try and send someone to a hotspot for this surgery.

"I think it just highlights the gap between the needs and the services in the area."

The pair said they had now had worries that they might have effectively been "put to the back of the queue" for their procedures.

"We were told it might be by the end of the year [at SERH], but the way they spoke about it felt like turning down the spot at Batemans Bay meant we could be shuffled back down the list."

"The thing about it is it's just frustrating - it's been frustrating to have to wait so long - I understand you have to wait.

"But why are they offering me a spot in a COVID-19 hotspot with the risk that I could catch something and then bring it back?"

Charles said there was already a weight of talk around how health services might cope if there were an outbreak on the Far South Coast and neither he nor Gary wanted to be potentially responsible for bringing it into the Valley.

The Southern NSW Local Health District was contacted for comment by the Bega District News, but have not replied at time of publishing.

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