National trends
In 2019–20:
- the overall time within which 50% of patients were admitted (median waiting time) was 39 days, and the time within which 90% of patients were admitted was 281 days
- about 2.8% of patients waited more than 365 days for their surgery
- the 50th percentile (median) waiting time waiting time for patients admitted from waiting lists for Principal referral and women’s and children’s hospitals (32 days) was shorter than for smaller hospitals Public acute group A hospitals and Public acute group B hospitals (42 days and 50 days, respectively).
Changes over time
50th percentile (median) waiting time
Between 2015–16 and 2019–20, the waiting time of 50% of patients:
- increased overall from 38 days to 39 days
- increased for all public hospital peer groups.
90th percentile waiting time
Between 2015–16 and 2019–20, the 90th percentile waiting time:
- increased overall from 262 days to 281 days
- decreased in Victoria (174 days to 161 days), Tasmania (452 days to 363 days) and the Australian Capital Territory (374 days to 304 days)
- increased for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
Patients who waited more than 365 days
Between 2015–16 and 2019–20, the proportion of patients who waited more than 365 days to be admitted:
- fluctuated between 1.7% to 2.8%
- decreased in Public group A and increased in Principal referral, Women’s and children’s hospitals and Public group B.
Waiting times by clinical urgency category
When a patient is placed on the public hospital elective surgery waiting list, a clinical assessment is made of the urgency within which they require elective surgery (the clinically recommended time). The proportion of patients seen within the recommended time is the percentage of patients removed from elective surgery waiting lists who were admitted for surgery within the clinically recommended time for each clinical urgency category.
The ‘overdue wait’ is the amount of time spent waiting while overdue—that is, after 30, 90 or 365 days for clinical urgency categories 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The average overdue wait time (in days) is calculated for patients who were still waiting for their elective surgery as at 30 June 2018, who were ready for care, and who had waited beyond the recommended time.
Due to the lack of comparability of clinical urgency categories between states and territories, these data are presented for each state and territory separately.
National trends
In 2019–20:
- for New South Wales, 97% of patients were admitted within the clinically recommended time
- for Victoria, it was 91%
- for Queensland; 94%
- for Western Australia; 88%
- for South Australia; 88%
- for Tasmania; 60%
- for the Australian Capital Territory; 83%
- for the Northern Territory; 92%.