How long are public hospital waiting times?

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How long are public hospital waiting times? | Finder

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What you need to know:

Public waiting lists for elective surgery are longer than private waiting lists.
The average public hospital waiting time was 39 days during 2019-2020.
Median times are the longest in NSW, and the shortest in the Northern Territory.

If you’re seeking non-urgent treatment at a hospital, you’ll usually have the option to go through either a public or private hospital. Australia’s public health care system is generally world-class, but many people opt for private hospital care to enjoy more flexibility with regards to their treatment. Also, there’s a key role that’s played by health insurance in helping you make the right call for your needs.

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Public hospitals are often very busy, so they need to prioritise treatment in order of urgency. Surgery waiting lists are designed to manage in a way that’s fair.

You only need to go on to a waiting list for elective surgery. By elective surgery, we’re talking about a procedure that isn’t an emergency but which has been recommended as medically required by your doctor. Examples of such treatments can be anything from cataract surgery to hip replacements.

If you choose to go through Medicare, you can access free or low-cost hospital care. Your elective surgery can be booked once you’ve received a specialist medical assessment. After the doctor has confirmed that you need surgery, you’ll be placed on a waiting list.

The average wait time for elective surgery in a public hospital in Australia was 39 days in 2019-20, according to stats from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). This was a small decrease from 41 days the previous year. This followed a five year period between 2014-15 and 2018-19 when the average wait time increased by 2.1% on average per year.

However, this was predominantly due to the cancellation of some non-urgent surgery in March 2020. This was done to ensure the country’s health system would have enough capacity to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Understandably, less urgent surgeries come with longer waiting periods.

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The type of surgical procedure you need and the availability of services in your area will also impact wait times. Despite these mitigating factors, public waiting times are still painfully high for many across Australia.

The short answer is a lot. There can be a big difference between, say, Canberra hospital wait times and the average wait time in Darwin. In fact, it could take almost twice as long to get elective surgery in the ACT (48 days) compared to the Northern Territory (26 days), on average.

As the most recent research from the AIHW shows, public hospital waiting lists in New South Wales were more than a fifth longer (53 days) than public hospital waiting lists in Queensland (40).

The figures also showed that public hospital waiting lists in Victoria (27 days) were less than half that of those for Tasmanians (55).

Here’s a breakdown of the waiting times for each state in Australia:

Public hospital waiting lists in ACT	48 days
Public hospital waiting lists in NSW	53 days
Public hospital waiting lists in NT	26 days
Public hospital waiting lists in QLD	40 days
Public hospital waiting lists in SA	43 days
Public hospital waiting lists in TAS	55 days
Public hospital waiting lists in VIC	27 days
Public hospital waiting lists in WA	36 days

Of the 25 most common surgeries in Australia during 2019-20, the longest waiting times in public hospitals were for:

How long are public hospital waiting times? | Finder

Septoplasty

Surgery to correct a damaged nose bone: 277 days

Total Knee replacement

Replacement of weight-bearing surfaces of the knee: 223 days

Myringoplasty

Repairing a hole in the eardrum: 214 days

Here’s a breakdown of the longest median waiting times for specific treatments in Australia over the past five years:

Cataract extraction	92 days	85 days	87 days	84 days	98 days
Cholecystectomy	42 days	41 days	45 days	45 days	48 days
Coronary artery bypass graft	13 days	13 days	17 days	17 days	18 days
Cystoscopy	24 days	24 days	24 days	24 days	23 days
Haemorrhoidectomy	54 days	49 days	48 days	49 days	57 days
Hysterectomy	52 days	55 days	57 days	61 days	63 days
Inguinal herniorrhaphy	52 days	52 days	56 days	59 days	67 days
Myringoplasty	172 days	170 days	195 days	200 days	214 days
Myringotomy	57 days	56 days	66 days	62 days	65 days
Prostatectomy	41 days	41 days	46 days	44 days	44 days
Septoplasty	215 days	209 days	248 days	241 days	277 days
Tonsillectomy	123 days	97 days	121 days	125 days	130 days
Total hip replacement	114 days	110 days	119 days	119 days	120 days
Total knee replacement	188 days	195 days	198 days	209 days	223 days
Varicose vein treatment	106 days	89.5 days	101 days	108 days	129 days

Private hospitals do have waiting lists for elective surgeries, but they are shorter than public waiting lists, on average. Private hospitals also tend to give you more choice about the type of care you receive. This can include choosing the doctor you want and electing a certain type of treatment.

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Because waiting times are shorter at private hospitals, you often have more flexibility with when you can go in for surgery as well. You may also be able to get a private room and access to a number of optional extras to make your stay more comfortable.

Wait times can sometimes be waived if you’re a public patient, but only if your condition worsens and is considered an emergency. In most cases, the specialist will decide how urgently your procedure is needed and assign you to a specific urgency category. These are:

Category 1: Surgery recommended within 30 days
Category 2: Surgery recommended within 90 days
Category 3: Surgery recommended within 365 days.

You can use My Hospitals to find out how long you will likely have to wait for the surgery you need. If you feel your condition has worsened and you require treatment sooner, contact your specialist as soon as possible and you may be reassigned to a more urgent category.

Once you’ve served the waiting periods on your private health policy, your hospital cover should help meet some of the costs of your private hospital stay, such as your surgery and accomodation. It may not cover everything, so be sure to read your policy’s Product Disclosure Statement with care.

It can feel tricky to choose which option is best for you, but comparing a range of health funds is a sure-fire way to help ensure you’re getting what you need, along with minimising any out-of-pocket costs. With the right private health cover, you could soon be on your way to shorter waiting times for important surgery.

*Quotes are based on single individual with less than $90,000 income paying $500 excess and living in Sydney.

Yes, you will still need to serve a waiting period as a private patient in a public hospital. That said, if you are being treated as a private patient in a public hospital, it’s your private health insurance covering you, not Medicare. As a result, you may not have to wait as long as a public patient would have to.You may also be able to access benefits such as free parking and a private room. It’s a good idea to check your insurance policy for any out-of-pocket expense or excess you may need to pay.

Of course, private health insurance generally lets you get treated at a private hospital. , Because public hospitals are generally much busier than private hospitals, this might be a better option if you want to get treated sooner.

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