Australian hospital statistics 2000-01 presents detailed information on the characteristics and hospital care of the six million people admitted to public and private hospitals, including their age, sex, diagnoses and the procedures they underwent. For the first time, waiting times for patients admitted for elective surgery in public hospitals are presented in this report. Detailed information is presented by the specialty of the surgeon who was to perform the elective surgery and for selected procedures for which patients were waiting. Information on Australia's hospitals includes the number of hospitals and hospital beds, and key statistics on the resources, expenditure and revenue of public hospitals and on the services they provide. Data on a range of hospital performance indicators are also reported using the National Health Performance Committee's framework.