How long will I wait for planned surgery?
This site shows how long patients waited for planned surgery at public hospitals in Australia. The latest figures cover 2024–25. Each figure comes from published government data, and each figure shows the period it covers.
The surgery, state, urgency and hospital counts on this page are for 2024–25. The data was released on 19 August 2026.
Find your waiting time
Choose how you want to look. Each page shows the published figures and the period they cover.
- Surgery163 procedures and specialties
- Surgery specialtiesThe same figures grouped by medical specialty.
- Public hospitals293 public hospitals on the register
- States and territories8 states and territories
- Urgency categories3 urgency categories
Surgeries that the most hospitals report
The table lists the 20 surgery types that the most public hospitals reported. The surgery type with the most hospitals comes first, and surgery types with the same number of hospitals follow in name order. Select a surgery type to see the hospitals that report it.
| Surgery | National median wait | Surgeries, Australia | Hospitals reporting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skin lesion removal | 26 days | 59,852 surgeries | 235 |
| Hernia repair | 86 days | 12,195 surgeries | 221 |
| Inguinal hernia repair | 73 days | 16,694 surgeries | 217 |
| Carpal tunnel surgery | 71 days | 9,994 surgeries | 204 |
| Haemorrhoid surgery | 63 days | 4,759 surgeries | 204 |
| Gallbladder removal | 48 days | 18,067 surgeries | 199 |
| Keyhole belly surgery (laparoscopy) | 69 days | 9,403 surgeries | 196 |
| Toenail surgery | 48 days | 1,323 surgeries | 192 |
| Circumcision | 80 days | 3,291 surgeries | 181 |
| Keyhole joint surgery | 78 days | 8,779 surgeries | 177 |
| Dilatation and curettage | 28 days | 36,667 surgeries | 175 |
| Ganglion cyst removal | 105 days | 1,191 surgeries | 170 |
| Hydrocele surgery | 95 days | 1,477 surgeries | 168 |
| LLETZ procedure | 33 days | 4,937 surgeries | 168 |
| Hysterectomy | 74 days | 9,163 surgeries | 164 |
| Trigger finger release | 90 days | 1,696 surgeries | 161 |
| Ovary and fallopian tube surgery | 56 days | 4,989 surgeries | 160 |
| Bladder scope (cystoscopy) | 26 days | 57,307 surgeries | 156 |
| Dupuytren's contracture surgery | 150 days | 1,777 surgeries | 154 |
| ACL reconstruction | 81 days | 4,122 surgeries | 150 |
Waiting times by state and territory
Each state and territory page shows its waiting times beside the national figures and ranks its public hospitals by median wait. The table gives the number of public hospitals with a current figure in each state or territory, the number of surgery types with a published median wait, and the shortest and longest state median wait.
| State or territory | Hospitals reporting | Surgery types | Shortest state median wait | Longest state median wait |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 89 | 107 | 2 days for unhealed fracture repair | 348 days for droopy eyelid repair |
| Victoria | 47 | 107 | 2 days for curettage and evacuation of uterus | 606 days for rhinoplasty |
| Queensland | 48 | 89 | 4 days for curettage and evacuation of uterus | 363 days for rhinoplasty |
| Western Australia | 33 | 72 | 6 days for curettage and evacuation of uterus | 216 days for turbinate surgery (inside the nose) |
| South Australia | 31 | 55 | 5 days for curettage and evacuation of uterus | 497 days for breast reduction |
| Tasmania | 4 | 24 | 22 days for breast lump removal | 271 days for deviated septum surgery |
| Australian Capital Territory | 2 | 5 | 133 days for inguinal hernia repair | 388 days for knee replacement |
| Northern Territory | 5 | 13 | 1 day for curettage and evacuation of uterus | 377 days for eardrum repair |
Waiting times by urgency category
Your treating specialist gives you an urgency category. Each category page ranks public hospitals by the share of surgeries done within the recommended time.
What this site does
Public hospitals across Australia report how long people waited for planned surgery. The figures are published once a year, hospital by hospital and surgery by surgery. This site lays them out so that you can compare the hospitals near you.
Every number on this site is a published government figure. Each figure shows the period it covers and the date it was released. The site does not estimate a figure, and it does not accept payment to change one. A table orders hospitals by a measured number, and the site does not call any hospital the best.
A median wait is the number of days within which half of the surgeries took place. A median wait describes past surgeries and does not predict your own wait.
What this site leaves out
Private hospitals are excluded. This site covers public hospitals only, so it shows no private hospital.
Before you use these figures
Surgery Waits is not medical advice. Your general practitioner and your treating specialist can help you decide what is right for you.
In an emergency, call 000.
Where this data comes from
- Dataset on publicdata.au
- Elective surgery waiting times by hospital and urgency category, Australia
- Publisher
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
- Version
- 3 October 2026
- Data released
- 19 August 2026
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- How to cite this data
- Based on Australian Institute of Health and Welfare material. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Government, MyHospitals Data API, elective surgery waiting times data extract, sourced 3 October 2026, https://myhospitalsapi.aihw.gov.au/, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/au-elective-surgery-waiting-times/v/2026-10-03/
- Dataset on publicdata.au
- Elective surgery waiting times by hospital and intended procedure, Australia
- Publisher
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
- Version
- 20 October 2026
- Data released
- 19 August 2026
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- How to cite this data
- Based on Australian Institute of Health and Welfare material. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Government, MyHospitals Data API, elective surgery waiting times data extract, sourced 19 October 2026, https://myhospitalsapi.aihw.gov.au/, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/au-elective-surgery-waiting-times-by-procedure/v/2026-10-20/
- Dataset on publicdata.au
- Elective surgery waiting times by hospital and surgical specialty, Australia
- Publisher
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
- Version
- 20 October 2026
- Data released
- 19 August 2026
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- How to cite this data
- Based on Australian Institute of Health and Welfare material. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Government, MyHospitals Data API, elective surgery waiting times data extract, sourced 19 October 2026, https://myhospitalsapi.aihw.gov.au/, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/au-elective-surgery-waiting-times-by-specialty/v/2026-10-20/
- Dataset on publicdata.au
- Hospitals, Local Hospital Networks and Primary Health Networks in MyHospitals, Australia
- Publisher
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
- Version
- 3 October 2026
- Data released
- 19 August 2026
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- How to cite this data
- Based on Australian Institute of Health and Welfare material. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Government, MyHospitals Data API, mapping details extract, sourced 3 October 2026, https://myhospitalsapi.aihw.gov.au/, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/au-hospitals-myhospitals/v/2026-10-03/
- Dataset on publicdata.au
- Reported measures and their codes in MyHospitals, Australia
- Publisher
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
- Version
- 27 October 2026
- Data released
- The publisher gives no release date for this dataset.
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- How to cite this data
- Based on Australian Institute of Health and Welfare material. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Government, MyHospitals Data API, reported measures, sourced 26 October 2026, https://myhospitalsapi.aihw.gov.au/, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/au-myhospitals-reported-measures/v/2026-10-27/
- Dataset on publicdata.au
- Reporting unit mappings to health networks and states in MyHospitals, Australia
- Publisher
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
- Version
- 27 October 2026
- Data released
- The publisher gives no release date for this dataset.
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- How to cite this data
- Based on Australian Institute of Health and Welfare material. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Government, MyHospitals Data API, reporting units, sourced 26 October 2026, https://myhospitalsapi.aihw.gov.au/, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/au-myhospitals-reporting-unit-mappings/v/2026-10-27/
- Dataset on publicdata.au
- Reporting unit codes and alternative names in MyHospitals, Australia
- Publisher
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
- Version
- 27 October 2026
- Data released
- The publisher gives no release date for this dataset.
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- How to cite this data
- Based on Australian Institute of Health and Welfare material. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Government, MyHospitals Data API, reporting units, sourced 26 October 2026, https://myhospitalsapi.aihw.gov.au/, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/au-myhospitals-reporting-units/v/2026-10-27/