Waiting times by patient characteristics

The accessibility of public hospital elective surgery procedures can vary depending on the demographics and other characteristics of the patient. This section presents information on the variation of access to these services by patient characteristics, including:

• Indigenous status
• remoteness area of usual residence
• socioeconomic area of usual residence
• source of funding for the procedure.

Explore the data

Explore the impact of Indigenous status, remoteness and socioeconomic area of usual residence on waiting times to admission from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists in the data visualisation below.

First Nations people

Waiting times

In 2024–25:

• there were 36,100 admissions (4.8% of all admissions) from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists for patients who were First Nations people
• the time within which 50% of First Nations people were admitted for their awaited procedure (median wait time) was greater than that for Other Australians (61 days and 45 days, respectively)
• the greatest difference in the time within which 50% of patients were admitted was for Total knee replacement surgeries at 52 days (294 days for First Nations people, and 242 days for Other Australians)
• First Nations people and Other Australians undergoing Prostate biopsy had the same waiting times (33 days).

Separation rates

A separation rate ratio (SRR) greater than 1.0 indicates that the separation rate (hospitalisations per unit of population) for an intended procedure for First Nations people was higher than for Other Australians admitted for the same procedure.

In 2024–25:

• for 14 of the 25 intended procedures, the SRR indicate that the separation rates for First Nations people were at least 50% higher than the rates for Other Australians
• the highest SRRs were for Dialysis access surgery (4.6, or 460% as high) and Large loop excision of the transformation zone cervix (LLETZ) (2.4, or 240% as high)
• the rates for First Nations people were not notably different to the rates for Other Australians for Prostatectomy (transurethral or open) (1.2), Prostate biopsy (1.1), Septoplasty (1.1) and Skin lesion–excision of (1.0).

Changes over time

From 2020–21 to 2024–25:

• the rate of First Nations people admitted from private hospital elective surgery waiting lists increased by 29% from 25.5 to 32.9 admissions per 1,000 population
• the difference in time within which 50% of First Nations people were admitted for their awaited procedure compared to that of Other Australians was relatively stable at 11 days (58 and 47 days, respectively, to 61 and 45 days, respectively).

Remoteness area of usual residence

In 2024–25, 63% of admissions from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists were for patients living in Major cities, 23% for patients in Inner regional areas, and 10% for patients in Outer regional areas.

Waiting times

In 2024–25:

• the time within which 50% of patients were admitted for their awaited procedure varied by remoteness area of the patient’s usual residence – ranging from 37 days in Very remote areas to 49 days in Outer regional areas. This is lower compared with 2020–21 – 42 days in Very remote areas and 56 days in Outer regional areas 
• for Cataract extraction, people from Outer regional areas had the longest waiting time (50% admitted within 155 days), and people from Remote areas had the shortest (50% admitted within 78 days).

Population rates

In 2024–25:

• people living in Remote areas had the highest rate of admissions from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists (35.7 per 1,000 population), followed by Very remote (31.9 per 1,000), Inner regional (30.6 per 1,000) and Outer regional (30.5 per 1,000). 
• people living in Major cities had the lowest rate of admissions (22.8 per 1,000 population).

Changes over time

Compared with 2020–21, in 2024–25 the rates of admission from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists decreased across Remote areas by 3.6, Outer regional areas by 1.8, Very remote areas by 1.4, and Inner regional areas by 0.8 and Major cities by 0.5.

Socioeconomic area of usual residence

In 2024–25, the rate of admissions from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists was highest for people living in the lowest (most disadvantaged) socioeconomic area (34.1 per 1,000 population) and lowest for people living in the highest (least disadvantaged) socioeconomic area (14.8 per 1,000 population).

Waiting times

In 2024–25:

• the time within which 50% of patients were admitted ranged from 38 days for residents living in the least disadvantaged socioeconomic area to 51 days for people living in the most disadvantaged socioeconomic area. This is similar to 2020–21, when it was 37 days for least disadvantaged area and 54 days for most disadvantaged area
• the difference in time within which 50% of patients were admitted between the most and least disadvantaged areas was 13 days, four less days than five years ago
• the intended procedure with the greatest variation in public hospital waiting times for residents by socioeconomic area was Tonsillectomy (with or without adenoidectomy), ranging from 176 days for the least disadvantaged socioeconomic area to 210 days for the most disadvantaged socioeconomic area.

Population rates

In 2024–25, people living in the most disadvantaged socioeconomic areas had an admission rate more than 2 times greater than people living in the least disadvantaged socioeconomic areas for all the top 25 most common procedures except Breast lump–excision and/or biopsy, Large loop excision of the transformation zone cervix (LLETZ) and Other procedures.

Funding source

Waiting times varies by the funding source of the patient. In 2024–25, for admissions from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists, 93% of hospitalisations in public hospitals were for Public patients and 5.8% of hospitalisations were for patients who used Private health insurance to fund all or part of their admission.

Waiting times

In 2024–25, for the 25 most common intended procedures, the time in which 50% of patients were admitted for their awaited procedure was: 

• 53 days for Public patients, compared to 28 days for Private health insurance funded patients and 24 days for Other patients
• longer for Public patients than Private health insurance patients for all the 25 most common intended procedures (except for Hysteroscopy, dilatation and curettage, which was equal, Septoplasty and Salpingo-oophorectomy/oophorectomy/ovarian cystectomy which was one day less) and for all surgical specialities.

Changes over time

From 2020–21 to 2024–25, the time within which 50% of patients were admitted from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists increased for Public patients (51 to 53 days) and Private health insurance funded patients (23 to 28 days) and Other patients (20 to 24 days).

In 2020–21 and in 2024–25, the time within which 50% of patients were admitted from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists was longer for Public patients than Private health insurance patients for all surgical specialities. Public patients had a median waiting time up to 23 days longer in 2024–25 than 2020–21 for Otolaryngology, head and neck surgery.