# Surgery Waits

> Surgery Waits shows how long patients waited for planned surgery at public hospitals in Australia, by hospital, surgery, state and urgency category. Every figure comes from a dataset that publicdata.au serves, and /data-api/credits.json names each one.
> This file holds the text of the about, methodology and data pages, and the credit for each dataset, in plain text.

## About Surgery Waits

Surgery Waits shows how long patients waited for planned surgery at public hospitals in Australia. National Digital builds and runs the site.

### Who runs the site

National Digital builds and operates Surgery Waits from Burleigh Heads, Queensland. National Digital also publishes publicdata.au, the source of every dataset on this site.

### Why the site exists

Public hospitals report how long patients waited for planned surgery. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare publishes these figures for one hospital and one surgery at a time.

Surgery Waits puts the figures for one surgery side by side. A reader can compare hospitals near them, including hospitals across a state border.

- [Methodology](https://surgerywaits.au/methodology/)

### Funding and advertising

National Digital pays for the site. The site carries no advertising and no sponsorship, and it sells nothing.

### Independence from the publishers

Surgery Waits has no connection with a government body or a data publisher. The publishers of the data have no involvement in the site and do not endorse it.

An error in how the site presents a figure is an error in this site.

### How the data reaches the page

Each publisher releases its data. publicdata.au stores each release as a dated version with a recorded SHA-256 digest. The site build reads those versions and stops when a file does not match its digest.

The build produces every page from the pinned versions. It estimates nothing and edits no figure by hand. The same data produces the same pages.

- [Data and attribution](https://surgerywaits.au/data/)

### Contact

To report a problem with a figure or to ask a question, use the contact link in the footer of any page on this site.

## Methodology

The methodology describes what the build does with the published data, in the order the data moves through it. Each rule it states is one the code applies.

The national figures on this site cover 2024–25 and were released on 19 August 2026.

### Where the figures come from

The site takes all of its data from publicdata.au. The build reads one dated version of each dataset and checks the file against a SHA-256 digest recorded in advance. A file with a different digest stops the build. The build has no second source and no fallback.

The waiting times come from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) through its MyHospitals data. Queensland Health publishes its own quarterly figures. The Australian Bureau of Statistics publishes the suburb and locality boundaries.

The site shows each figure as the publisher gives it. It does not calculate a median or a total from other figures. The data page lists every dataset with its version, release date, licence and citation.

- [Data and attribution](https://surgerywaits.au/data/)

### What each measure means

The site uses four of the measures AIHW publishes. The pipeline accepts a measure only when its name and unit match this list, and the build stops when a name or unit changes.

- Median waiting time for elective surgery, in days. Half of the patients waited this many days or fewer.
- Number of elective surgeries. This is the count of surgeries in the period.
- Percentage of patients who waited longer than 365 days for elective surgery. The procedure and specialty tables publish this share.
- Percentage of patients who received their surgery within clinically recommended times. The urgency table publishes this share.

### What a median shows

A median is the middle waiting time. Half of the patients waited less than the median, and half waited longer. The median does not show how long the longest waits ran, so the share of patients who waited longer than 365 days appears beside it.

A specialty figure covers many operations. Hospitals perform different mixes of them, so two specialty figures can describe different work.

A procedure figure covers one operation and suits a comparison between hospitals.

### What the waiting time counts

AIHW counts the time a patient spends on the waiting list for surgery. The time before a patient joins the list is outside the figure, so the wait to see a specialist is outside it too.

A median that rests on fewer than 50 surgeries moves more when one patient's wait changes. The number of surgeries appears beside each median so that a reader can see how many surgeries it rests on.

- [Urgency categories](https://surgerywaits.au/urgency/)

### The word elective

AIHW names its collection "elective surgery". In the source the term describes surgery that can be booked in advance. This site uses the term planned surgery for the same category.

Planned surgery is still necessary surgery. A doctor places a patient on the waiting list because the patient needs the operation. The hospital can set the date of planned surgery in advance.

The site uses the word elective only where it quotes a source or explains the source's word, as this section does.

### Figures that are not published

A publisher withholds a figure when it gives a code or a withheld mark instead of a number. The site shows such a figure as not published and gives the publisher's reason. The site never shows such a figure as 0 and never leaves it blank. It gives such a figure no rank.

AIHW marks a withheld hospital figure with one of three codes. The site gives each code its own wording.

- "<5" means too few patients. The site says "not published: too few patients".
- "-" means no patients were reported. The site says "not published: no patients reported".
- "NP" means AIHW did not publish the figure. The site says "not published: the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare did not publish a figure". AIHW gives more than one reason for this code, and the site does not say which reason applies.
- The peer group columns can carry the code "Not peered". AIHW does not define this code. The site shows it only in place of the peer group figures, as "not published: no peer group comparison".

### Figures that are not reported

A figure is not reported when the source leaves it empty and gives neither a publisher code nor a withheld mark. The Queensland release can leave the change on the prior year empty in this way, and the site shows it as not reported.

The build stops on any other empty cell that has no code or mark. A code that the pipeline does not know also stops the build.

### Earlier figures

A hospital does not report every surgery every year. A figure is from an earlier period when the hospital's latest period for that surgery is older than the newest period in the table.

The site shows an earlier figure with its own period and a note that it is not the latest figure. The site does not carry the figure forward as a current one, and it never ranks it.

### How ranks work

The site ranks hospitals on one measure at a time. A rank compares public hospitals within one surgery or one urgency category, in the newest period of its table.

A lower median wait ranks first, and so does a lower share of patients who waited longer than 365 days. A higher share of patients treated within the recommended time ranks first. The number of surgeries is a count and is never ranked.

Ties share a rank. If two hospitals tie for 2nd place, both rank 2nd and the next hospital ranks 4th.

A figure is ranked only when it is current and published. The site does not rank a figure that is not published, not reported, from an earlier period or from a closed hospital. It does not rank a state or national figure.

The site orders hospitals by the measured number and uses no other criterion. It does not describe any hospital as the best.

### State and national figures

AIHW publishes a figure for each state and territory and one for Australia. The site shows these beside a hospital's figure for the same measure and period.

The urgency table publishes no state or national figure, so urgency pages carry none.

### Changes over time

Each yearly trend chart on the site shows a figure for each year the source published it. A year with no published figure is a gap in the line, and the data table that comes with the chart gives the reason.

The change from one year to the next is the later value minus the earlier value. The site shows a change only when both years are consecutive and both figures are published.

### Queensland quarterly figures

Queensland Health publishes quarterly figures that count patients by urgency category and by specialty. The site shows them in a separate section on the hospital page and on the Queensland page.

The quarterly figures cover three months. They count different things from the national tables, so the site does not rank them. It does not compare them with a national figure or add them to one.

The site matches each Queensland facility to one hospital in the national register by name. The site matches 4 named facilities by hand, and the build stops if either name in one of those pairs changes. A facility that matches no hospital, or more than one, is left out. A facility whose hospital has closed is also left out. The state-wide total in the release is not a hospital and is left out.

A Queensland column that the release lists as withheld is shown as "not published: Queensland Health gave no figure". An empty change on the prior year, with no withheld mark, is shown as not reported.

### Matching hospitals

The waiting time tables name each hospital and give no hospital code. The pipeline joins each row to one hospital in the AIHW register by name and state, and by other recorded names. A row that matches no hospital, or more than one, stops the build.

AIHW also publishes one catch-all category for every surgery it does not name. The pipeline leaves it out, because no one waits for it as a single procedure.

### Nearby hospitals

Each hospital with a recorded location has a list of its 8 nearest open public hospitals. The distance is the great-circle distance between the two recorded locations, rounded to the nearest whole kilometre. Road distance and travel time are not measured.

The search starts at 250 km and doubles the radius until 8 open hospitals fall inside it. The search ignores state borders, so a hospital near a border can list hospitals in the next state.

A closed hospital also has a list, and the list holds open hospitals only. A hospital with no recorded location has no list. The build stops when a location falls outside Australia.

The hospital and surgery page lists the hospitals from this list that published a shorter median wait for the surgery.

### Nearby places

A nearby places page groups the hospitals of one health network around the network's main hospital. The build considers each place for each surgery. Hospitals that treat children only, and networks of such hospitals, are left out of every list.

The list holds the network's open hospitals that lie within 25 km of the main hospital and have a current published median. It adds up to 2 hospitals from other networks that lie within 25 km of a listed hospital. Hospitals of the network within 25 km that have no current published median are shown after these and are not ranked.

The build drops a place for a surgery in any of these cases.

- The network has fewer than 2 open hospitals, or fewer than half of its open hospitals lie within 25 km of the main hospital.
- Fewer than 2 of its hospitals have a current published median.
- Two listed hospitals lie more than 120 km apart. The build then drops the whole place for that surgery and does not remove hospitals from its list.
- The page would repeat the state page. This happens when the list already holds every hospital of the state that reported the surgery. It also happens when the state has 5 or fewer of them, the list is missing at most one and the list holds no hospital from another state.

### Which places keep pages

A place keeps its pages only when at least 3 surgeries give it one.

### Nearest suburb

Some pages name the nearest suburb or locality to a hospital. The site uses the centre of each suburb, which is the centre of its area from the ABS boundary. When that point falls outside the suburb, the site uses the point farthest from the edge of its largest part.

### Pages that search engines skip

A hospital and surgery page is marked so that search engines do not list it when it carries little beyond one figure. The page is still built and linked.

A page is marked when its median is not published. A page is also marked when it has none of these four things: an earlier published year of the same median, an open hospital on its nearby list that also has a current published median for the surgery, a share of patients who waited longer than 365 days beside a national share, or a nearest suburb in its state.

### The longest waits pages

The longest waits pages rank the published median waits of procedures. A specialty groups many procedures under one figure, so these pages leave specialties out. A figure enters a list only when it is published, current and from an open hospital.

The list of the longest waits holds the 50 longest medians across every procedure and hospital. The list of waits by surgery names the shortest and the longest median for each procedure that at least 2 hospitals published. A hospital that ties at either end is named by its place in alphabetical order, and the page states how many other hospitals published the same median.

The border page compares hospitals in different states. A pair needs two open hospitals with recorded locations that lie within 100 km of each other. The distance is the great-circle distance between the recorded locations. The page ranks the 25 largest differences between the two medians for one procedure. Each hospital appears once for each procedure, against the hospital across the border with the largest difference. A pair appears only when the first hospital has the longer median.

The changes page compares the latest period with the year before it. A change is the later median minus the earlier median, and it appears only when both years are consecutive and both medians are published. Each table shows the 15 biggest rises or the 15 biggest falls. A hospital change needs a published volume of at least 50 surgeries in the latest period, because a median that rests on fewer surgeries moves more when one patient's wait changes.

A list cut at its size keeps every row that ties the last row shown, so a list can run longer than its size. No tie is split.

These pages leave out closed hospitals, figures from an earlier period and figures that are not published. They rank no private hospital.

- [The longest published waits](https://surgerywaits.au/longest-waits/)

### How current the data is

The data describes periods that ended before the release. AIHW figures cover a financial year, and the release follows later. A hospital's waiting list today can differ from the published figure. Each figure shows its reference period and its release date.

The build checks that each release agrees with its own dates. It stops when the newest period of a national table starts more than 2 years before the release year. It stops when a Queensland quarter was released more than 200 days after it ended.

The site shows the dataset versions listed on the data page. A new release appears after the pinned versions are updated and the site is rebuilt.

### What the site leaves out

Private hospitals are excluded. The pipeline removes every private hospital from the register, so the site has no figure for one.

The site gives no medical advice and does not recommend a hospital or a treatment.

- [Public hospitals](https://surgerywaits.au/hospitals/)
- [States and territories](https://surgerywaits.au/state/)

## Data and attribution

Every figure on this site comes from one of the datasets listed below. The site takes each dataset from publicdata.au.

The national waiting times on this site cover 2024–25 and were released on 19 August 2026.

The register lists 293 public hospitals, and the site covers 163 surgeries and specialties.

### How the build reads the data

publicdata.au serves each dataset as a dated version that does not change. The build pins one version of each dataset and records its SHA-256 digest. The build stops when a downloaded file has a different digest.

The build has no other source and no fallback. It does not fetch from the publishers directly.

- [Methodology](https://surgerywaits.au/methodology/)

### What each dataset supplies

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) supplies three tables of waiting times, one for urgency categories, one for procedures and one for specialties. It also supplies the register of hospitals with their names, states, health networks and locations, and the lists of measures and reporting units that describe them.

Queensland Health supplies quarterly figures by urgency category and by specialty. The Australian Bureau of Statistics supplies the suburb and locality boundaries that give each suburb a centre.

### The data files

The site publishes the data behind its pages as JSON files under /data-api/. The build writes each file from the dataset files that publicdata.au serves.

Each file has its keys in alphabetical order. Any web page on any site may read the files, and a browser may keep a file for an hour. The published files hold the same content as the build's source files. A number such as 5.0 appears as 5.

Every file lists its sources in a sources entry, except /data-api/openapi.json and /data-api/rules.json. The file /data-api/credits.json gives the publisher, licence, version and citation for each source. A person who reuses a file credits the publisher it names, under the licence it names.

The file /data-api/rules.json holds the rules the site applies to the data. It gives the number of neighbouring hospitals in a comparison and the starting search radius in kilometres. It gives the longest age of a reference period and the longest gap in days between a Queensland quarter and its release. It gives the number of facilities matched to the register by hand. It names each measure. For each measure with a better direction, it says whether a lower value is better. It also lists the publisher codes for a withheld figure, with the reason each code stands for.

A figure has the state not_published when the publisher gives a code or a withheld mark instead of a number, and the state not_reported when the source leaves it empty and gives neither a publisher code nor a withheld mark. Each has a reason and no value. Neither is ever a zero. Every published figure states its reference period and its release date.

The file /data-api/index.json gives the counts and the scope of the data. The files /data-api/surgeries.json, /data-api/hospitals.json and /data-api/health-services.json list each surgery category, hospital and health service that has a page, with its slug.

Each of those lists has its own files in a folder of the same name, and the surgeries are in a folder for each kind. The state benchmarks are in /data-api/states/, with one file for each state that has figures.

Each hospital's yearly trend has its own file in /data-api/trends/.

The Queensland quarterly figures are in /data-api/queensland.json and in /data-api/queensland/, with one file for each hospital that has quarterly figures.

The file /data-api/suburbs.json holds the centre point of each suburb.

An OpenAPI 3.1 description of the files is published at /data-api/openapi.json. It lists each kind of file with the schema that the kind follows and the CORS, cache and robots headers that the site sends. The file follows the OpenAPI 3.1 schema, and each other file under /data-api/ follows its schema in /contract/.

A JSON Schema for each kind of file is published at /contract/, named for the kind, as in /contract/hospital.schema.json. The build checks every published file against its schema.

A chart of the median wait in each state for one procedure is published as an SVG file at /charts/, with the name of the procedure's page address and the ending .svg. Every state listed under benchmarks in the procedure's file in /data-api/surgeries/procedure/ appears in the chart. A state with a withheld figure, or with no figure, has a row that says why and has no bar.

### Reusing the data

Each dataset keeps its publisher's licence, which the section "Where this data comes from" names. These licences require a person who reuses the data to credit the publisher. That section gives a citation to use.

The publishers do not endorse this site and have no involvement in it. The site excludes private hospitals.

### Typeface

The site sets its headings and figures in Newsreader, a typeface that is copyright 2020 The Newsreader Project Authors and is licensed under the SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1.

### Where this data comes from

- Suburb and locality boundaries, 2021, Australia
  - Publisher: Australian Bureau of Statistics (https://www.abs.gov.au/)
  - Version: 15 September 2021
  - Data released: The publisher gives no release date for this dataset.
  - Licence: CC BY 4.0
  - How to cite this data: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3, SAL_2021_AUST_GDA2020_SHP.zip, sourced 1 October 2026, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/standards/australian-statistical-geography-standard-asgs/edition-3-july-2021-june-2026/access-and-downloads/digital-boundary-files, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/abs-suburbs-localities-2021/v/2021-09-15/
  - https://publicdata.au/d/abs-suburbs-localities-2021/v/2021-09-15/
- Elective surgery waiting times by hospital and urgency category, Australia
  - Publisher: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (https://www.aihw.gov.au/)
  - 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/
  - https://publicdata.au/d/au-elective-surgery-waiting-times/v/2026-10-03/
- Elective surgery waiting times by hospital and intended procedure, Australia
  - Publisher: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (https://www.aihw.gov.au/)
  - 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/
  - https://publicdata.au/d/au-elective-surgery-waiting-times-by-procedure/v/2026-10-20/
- Elective surgery waiting times by hospital and surgical specialty, Australia
  - Publisher: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (https://www.aihw.gov.au/)
  - 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/
  - https://publicdata.au/d/au-elective-surgery-waiting-times-by-specialty/v/2026-10-20/
- Hospitals, Local Hospital Networks and Primary Health Networks in MyHospitals, Australia
  - Publisher: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (https://www.aihw.gov.au/)
  - 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/
  - https://publicdata.au/d/au-hospitals-myhospitals/v/2026-10-03/
- Reported measures and their codes in MyHospitals, Australia
  - Publisher: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (https://www.aihw.gov.au/)
  - 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/
  - https://publicdata.au/d/au-myhospitals-reported-measures/v/2026-10-27/
- Reporting unit mappings to health networks and states in MyHospitals, Australia
  - Publisher: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (https://www.aihw.gov.au/)
  - 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/
  - https://publicdata.au/d/au-myhospitals-reporting-unit-mappings/v/2026-10-27/
- Reporting unit codes and alternative names in MyHospitals, Australia
  - Publisher: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (https://www.aihw.gov.au/)
  - 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/
  - https://publicdata.au/d/au-myhospitals-reporting-units/v/2026-10-27/
- Elective surgery by urgency category and hospital, Queensland, September quarter 2025
  - Publisher: Queensland Health (https://www.health.qld.gov.au/)
  - Version: 10 December 2025
  - Data released: The publisher gives no release date for this dataset.
  - Licence: CC BY 4.0
  - How to cite this data: Queensland Health, Queensland Government, Elective surgery, sourced 3 October 2026, https://www.data.qld.gov.au/dataset/elective-surgery, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/qld-elective-surgery-by-category/v/2025-12-10/
  - https://publicdata.au/d/qld-elective-surgery-by-category/v/2025-12-10/
- Elective surgery by specialty and hospital, Queensland, September quarter 2025
  - Publisher: Queensland Health (https://www.health.qld.gov.au/)
  - Version: 10 December 2025
  - Data released: The publisher gives no release date for this dataset.
  - Licence: CC BY 4.0
  - How to cite this data: Queensland Health, Queensland Government, Elective surgery, sourced 3 October 2026, https://www.data.qld.gov.au/dataset/elective-surgery, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/qld-elective-surgery-by-specialty/v/2025-12-10/
  - https://publicdata.au/d/qld-elective-surgery-by-specialty/v/2025-12-10/