Waiting list activity
In 2017–18, about 874,000 patients were added to and 871,000 patients removed from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists. This represented 0.9% growth in additions compared to an average of 2.4% growth per year between 2013–14 and 2017–18.
Most patients removed from waiting lists were admitted for their awaited procedure; however, about 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 2013–14 and 2017–18, the total number of removals from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists increased by an average of 1.7% each year.
Between 2016–17 and 2017–18, Emergency admissions decreased 12.0%.
Where to go for more information
Information on reason for removal from waiting lists and time to removal from waiting lists by reason for removal is available in Table 2.1, 2.2 and S2.1 – available to download in the data section.
Information on data limitations and methods is available in Appendix A and Appendix B.