Elective surgery

Media release

Explore the data

Elective surgery is planned surgery that can be booked in advance as a result of a specialist clinical assessment. Elective surgery is considered medically necessary, and may be required urgently, but is not conducted as a result of an emergency presentation.

Most elective surgeries performed in Australia are undertaken in private hospitals. However, the information presented in these pages provides an overview of elective surgery provided by public hospitals following the patient’s placement on a public hospital waiting list. The data on elective surgery waiting times is captured after the procedure is performed, so does not reflect the status of people currently waiting for surgery.

More data on public hospital elective surgery waiting lists can be found via the links at the bottom of the page.

Overview of elective surgery activity

The number of admissions from elective surgery waiting lists, and the number of additions to elective surgery waiting lists, have both increased since the last reporting year, and decreased compared to five years ago.

In 2022–23:

735,500 patients were admitted for surgery from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists – an 18% increase compared with 2021–22, and a 3.0% decrease compared with 2018–19
855,500 patients were added to elective surgery waiting lists – a 9.2% increase compared with 2021–22, and a 4.2% decrease compared with 2018–19
84,300 patients were removed from elective surgery waiting lists as they no longer required or declined surgery – a 24% increase when compared to 2021–22
25,400 patients were removed from waiting lists because they were transferred to another hospital’s waiting list – an 18% decrease when compared to 2021–22
General surgery was the most common surgical specialty (20%), followed by Urological surgery (15%)
Cataract extraction was the most common selected intended (indicator) procedure (10%), followed by Cystoscopy (7.5%).

Elective surgery waiting times

For almost all intended procedures waiting times increased compared to both 2021–22 and 2018–19.

In 2022–23:

50% of patients were admitted for elective surgery within 49 days, an increase from 40 days in 2021–22 and 41 days in 2018–19
the greatest increases in median waiting times occurred for:
- Septoplasty (50 days increase) – from 315 days in 2021–22 to 365 days in 2022–23. This is 124 days more compared with 5 years ago in 2018–19
- Myringoplasty/Tympanoplasty (24 days increase) – from 259 days in 2021–22 to 283 days in 2022–23. This is 83 days more compared with 5 years ago in 2018–19
- Total hip replacement (23 days increase) – from 153 days in 2021–22 to 175 days in 2022–23. This is 56 days more compared with 5 years ago in 2018–19
9.6% of patients waited longer than 365 days to be admitted for elective surgery, an increase from 6.3% in 2021–22 and 2.1% in 2018–19. This difference was most notable for Septoplasty (which increased by 15.2 percentage point, from 34.4% in 2021–22 to 49.6% in 2022–23)
of the 25 most common surgeries, Curettage and evacuation of uterus had the shortest median waiting time (4 days) followed by Breast lump–excision and/or biopsy (17 days). Septoplasty had the longest median waiting time (365 days)
the median waiting time for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people (56 days) was higher than for Other Australians (49 days).

Admissions from waiting lists

In 2022–23, three-quarters of all admissions for elective surgery from waiting lists were to Principal referral and Women’s and children’s hospitals and Public acute group A hospitals (40% and 34%, respectively).
Between 2021–22 and 2022–23, admissions increased by 18% overall, ranging from 16% in Public acute group A to 21% in Other hospitals.
In 2022–23, 4.4% of admissions from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists were reported for First Nations people, who represent 3.8% of the Australian population.