Elective surgery activity

After a specialist clinical assessment, the treating doctor places the patient on an elective surgery waiting list. Elective surgery activity is measured by the number of additions to and removals from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists, and the number of patients admitted for their awaited procedure.

Explore the data

This data visualisation below presents information on additions, removals and admissions in 2018–19 and changes between 2014–15 and 2018–19.

Information is also presented by:

• Indigenous status
• Type of hospital (peer group)

National trends

Additions

• In 2018–19, 893,000 patients were added to elective surgery waiting lists in Australia, this represented 2.5% growth, on average, per year between 2014–15 and 2018–19.

Removals

• 886,400 patients were removed from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists in 2018–19.
• Most patients (86%) were removed from waiting lists were admitted for their awaited procedure.
• 14% were removed from waiting lists for other reasons (for example, the surgery was no longer required, they were treated elsewhere, transferred to another hospital’s waiting list, were unable to be contacted, or died).

Between 2014–15 and 2018–19, the total number of removals from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists increased by an average of 2.3% each year.

Admissions

• In 2018–19, there were 758,100 admissions from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists, 99% of which were elective admissions.
• Between 2014–15 and 2018–19, admissions increased by 2.1% per year on average.
• Principal referral and women’s and children’s hospitals and Public acute group A hospitals accounted for three‑quarters of these admissions (41% and 34%, respectively).
• In 2018–19, 3.8% of admissions from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists (28,600) were reported for people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin who represent about 3.3% of the Australian population. 

The surgical speciality describes the area of clinical expertise held by the doctor performing the elective surgery. This section presents information on the type of elective surgery provided, by surgical speciality in 2018–19 and changes between 2014–15 and 2018–19.

Information on 11 categories of surgical speciality is presented. The ‘other’ category contains data for surgeons whose speciality was not one of the 11 specified categories. From 1 July 2016, surgical speciality was revised to include Paediatric surgery.

Explore the data

The data visualisation below presents elective surgery waiting list additions, removals and admissions by state and territory between 2014–15 and 2018–19.

National trends

In 2018–19:

• Around 21% of patients were admitted for General surgery (on abdominal organs, including endocrine surgery and breast surgery).
• About 14% were admitted for Orthopaedic surgery (on bones, joints, ligaments and tendons, including knee and hip replacements) and Urological surgery (on organs of the urinary system such as bladder, urethra and kidneys).

Changes over time

Between 2014–15 and 2018–19:

• Admissions from elective surgery waiting lists increased for 9 of the 11 surgical specialities.
• The procedures with the greatest average annual increase were Plastic and reconstructive surgery, Urological surgery (increasing by 5.4% per year on average) and Urological surgery (4.6%).
• There was an average annual decrease in admissions for Cardiothoracic surgery (1.2%) and General surgery (0.2%).

The intended surgical procedure describes the type of elective surgery provided by public hospitals.

Explore the data

In the data visualisations below, you can explore admissions from elective surgery waiting lists by:

• The list of 15 indicator procedures between 2014–15 and 2018–19.
• Intended surgical procedure, by type of hospital (peer group) and over time between 2014–15 and 2018–19. Waiting times are presented at national, state and territory, LHN, and hospital level.

National trends

In 2018–19:

• 35% of admissions were for one of the 15 indicator procedures.
• Cataract extraction was the most commonly reported intended surgical procedure with about 72,300 patients admitted, followed by Cystoscopy (63,000).

Changes over time

Between 2014–15 and 2018–19:

• Admissions from elective surgery waiting lists increased for 11 of the 15 indicator procedures.
• The indicator procedures with the greatest average annual increases were Myringotomy (7.2%) and Cystoscopy (6.9%).
• Admissions decreased for Cholecystectomy (gall bladder surgery) by 0.2% per year on average, Coronary artery bypass graft surgery (5.9%), Myringoplasty (2.8%) and Varicose veins treatment (0.8%).

Between 2017–18 and 2018–19:

• There were relatively large increases in admissions for Cataract extraction (2.9%) and Prostatectomy (2.1%).