National elective surgery waiting times

National elective surgery waiting times at a glance

Presented below are national elective surgery waiting list statistics for for the years 2001-02 to 2005-06, and a state and territory overview of elective surgery waiting times for 2005-06. Information is also included by the specialty of the surgeon who was to perform the elective surgery and by indicator procedure.

This information is also available through interactive data tables. They contain information for:

• Reason for removal, 2002-03 to 2006-07
• Surgical specialty, 2001-02 to 2006-07
• Indicator procedure, 2001-02 to 2006-07

For information on the Elective Surgery Waiting Times Data Collection and Data request service visit the Hospital data.

The waiting times data presented here for patients who complete their wait and are admitted for their surgery on an elective basis are generally used as the main summary measure of elective surgery waiting times. Most patients are admitted after waiting, however, some patients patients are removed from waiting lists for other reasons. Other reasons for removal are: that the patient was admitted as an emergency patient for the awaited procedure; was transferred to another hospital's waiting list; had been treated elsewhere; was not contactable; had died or had declined surgery.

      Admissions from waiting lists for elective surgery, 2001-02 to 2005-06

• Nationally, Removal for admission from elective surgery waiting lists has increased over time, from 26.0 Removals per 1,000 population in 2001-02 to 27.2 Removals for 1,000 population in 2005-06.
• Similarly, the median waiting time for patients who were admitted from waiting lists increased from 27 days in 2001-02 to 32 days in 2005-06.

      Additions to and Removals from waiting lists 2005-06

• In 2005-06 a total of 639,995 patients were added to elective surgery waiting lists and 657,400 patients were removed from elective surgery waiting lists, whether they were admitted for the procedure they were waiting for or were removed for other reasons.
• Elective admissions accounted for the most removals from waiting lists in 2005-06 (84.7%), ranging from 80.9% in Northern Territory to 86.8% in South Australia.

• The length of time by which 50% of patients were removed from waiting lists varied substantially between states and territories, ranging from 26 days in Queensland to 70 days in the Australian Capital Territory.

      Surgical specialty 2005-06

• Nationally, admission from waiting lists were highest for the Surgical specialty General surgery (141,357) and lowest for Neurosurgery (10,786) in 2005-06.
• The Surgical specialty with the shortest median waiting time in 2005-06 was Cardio-thoracic surgery (12 days) and the one with the longest median waiting time was Ophthalmology (69 days).

      Indicator procedure 2005-06

• Nationally, admissions from waiting lists were highest for the Indicator procedure Cataract extraction (46,060) and lowest for Myringoplasty (1,775) in 2005-06.
• The Indicator procedure with the shortest median waiting time in 2005-06 was Coronary artery bypass graft (15 days) and the one with the longest median waiting time was Cataract extraction (93 days).

A focus on Ophthalmology, 2005-06 data, including Admitted patient care data

• Australia-wide there were 62,956 admissions from elective surgery waiting lists for surgery performed by a doctor whose area of clinical expertise is Ophthalmology.
• The median waiting time for these patients was 69 days and 6.5% of these patients waited more than 365 days for admission.
• For New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory combined, there were 42,471 admissions from elective surgery waiting lists for Ophthalmology. These accounted for 45,451 patient days. The average length of stay was 1.1 days.
• For these states and territories the most common procedure (other than Cerebral anaesthesia) reported to the National Hospital Morbidity Database was Extracapsular crystalline lens extraction by phacoemulsification, and the most common principal diagnosis reported was Other cataract, followed by Type 2 diabetes mellitus. The most common AR-DRG reported was Lens procedures, sameday.
• The age-group with the highest proportion of separations was 75-84 years and there were more separations for females than males.
• A large proportion (99.1%) of these episodes had a separation mode of Other, suggesting that these patients went home after separation from hospital.

Select box above for more information on Ophthalmology related Elective surgery.

Please refer to the Waiting times for elective surgery chapter of Australian hospital statistics 2006-07 for more information on scope, coverage and notes.

Last reviewed on 18 February 2008