National elective surgery waiting times

National elective surgery waiting times data collection (NESWTDC)

• The NESWTDC is compiled by the AIHW from data supplied by the state and territory health authorities. It is a collection of electronic confidentialised summary records for patients on elective surgery waiting lists and patients removed from waiting lists (for admission or another reason). Data is held for the years 1995-96 to 2007-08. 
• The collection is based on public acute care hospitals only. However data for some smaller public hospitals are not collected. Private hospitals are generally not included. 
• The total number of admissions from elective surgery waiting lists reported to the NESWTDC for 2007-08 was more than 565,000. 
• The National health data dictionary definitions form the basis of the data collection, ensuring a high standard of data comparability.

For the NESWTDC, elective surgery comprises elective care where the procedures required by patients are listed in the surgical operations section of the Medicare Benefits Schedule, with the exclusion of specific procedures frequently done by non-surgical clinicians (HDSC 2006). 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 2007-08
• Surgical specialty, 2001-02 to 2007-08
• Indicator procedure, 2001-02 to 2007-08

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 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.

Example of data sourced from the ESWTDC was taken from Australian hospital statistics 2007-08, Chapter 6.

Source: National Hospital Morbidity Database and National Elective Surgery Waiting Times Data Collection.

Figure 6.A: Comparison of elective surgical separations and elective surgery admissions, 2007-08

     

Please refer to Access to elective surgery, Chapter 6 of Australian hospital statistics 2007-08 for more information on scope, coverage and notes.