Highlights
Nationally, between 2014–15 and 2018–19, the number of admissions for elective surgery increased by 2.1% on average each year.
There was a reduction in admissions from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists during 2019–20.
Compared to 2018–19, in 2019-20:
- elective surgery admissions dropped by 9.3%
- additions to public hospital waiting lists declined by 6.2%.
This suggests that there was a large number of elective surgeries that were delayed and/or where alternative treatment means were chosen during the period.
During the peak of the COVID‑19 restrictions in 2019–20, the number of public hospital elective surgeries performed ranged from 15,345 in the week commencing 16 March to 4,771 in the week beginning 13 April 2020.
In 2020–21, following the drop in admissions from elective surgery waiting lists in 2019–20, admissions increased 10.7%. This increase was not consistent across all jurisdictions.
Many jurisdictions saw the volume admissions in 2020–21 exceed that of 2019–20 with most, but not all, jurisdictions’ admissions exceeding pre-COVID volumes.
Comparatively larger increases were observed in the New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.
The greatest increase occurred in Category 3 admissions. This increase may be related to elective surgery COVID-19 recovery projects initiated in a number of jurisdictions in 2020–21 with the aim of reducing the number of overdue patients by providing an additional number of surgeries.
In Victoria, admissions continued to decrease between 2019–20 and 2020–21. This reflects oongoing limits in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic which impacted the volume, type and timing of elective surgery procedures undertaken. Admissions in the Northern Territory remained relatively stable.
Urgency of procedure
Compared to 2019–20, in 2020–21:
- people admitted for Category 1 procedures increased by 8.4%
- people admitted for Category 2 procedures increased by 5.6%
- people admitted for Category 3 procedures increased by 15.9%.
While the number of elective surgeries performed declined from March to June 2020, the proportion of Category 1 and Category 2 procedures undertaken increased as a proportion of the total (reflecting the targeted nature of the restrictions toward lower urgency procedures).
After national restrictions eased on elective surgeries in March 2020, the number of procedures performed began to increase. In the week commencing 9 December 2020, 16,896 procedures were performed, including 5,212 Category 3 procedures. Surpassing number of surgeries performed in the week commencing 9 December 2019 (16,684).
Surgical speciality
Compared to 2018–19, the surgical specialties that showed the greatest decrease in admissions in 2019–20 were Otolaryngology, head and neck surgery (15.3%), Ophthalmology surgery, eye and optic nerve surgery (14.6%), and Orthopaedic surgery (13.9%).
In 2020–21, most surgical specialties saw an increase in admissions with the exception of Cardiothoracic surgery (4.4% decrease). The surgical specialties with the greatest increase in admissions were:
- Opthalmology surgery (17.8%)
- Paediatric surgery (16.8%)
- Orthopaedic surgery (15.4%).
Type of procedure
With the exception of Coronary artery bypass graft surgery (11% decrease) and Myringotomy (15% decrease), the decrease in admissions seen between 2018–19 and 2019–20, for the most part, reversed between 2019–20 and 2020–21. The intended procedures with the greatest increase in admissions were:
- Septoplasty (34%)
- Total knee replacement (27%)
- Myringoplasty (25%).
More information about the data
What other information is available on COVID-19?
To explore the influence of the COVID-19 on other health data, further releases are available on the AIHW website under COVID-19 Resources and The impact of COVID-19 on Australia's health system.
Information on the total confirmed cases and active cases can be found on the Australian Government Department of Health website.
What other information is available?
To explore admissions from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists by hospital or LHN see My local area.
Appendixes and caveat information for this data is available to download in the Info and downloads section.
Definitions of the terms used in this section are available in the Glossary.