Hospital wait times hold steady despite more surgeries

Australia’s public hospitals recorded stable wait times for emergency care and elective surgeries in 2024–25, even as the number of procedures continued to climb, according to new data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

The annual update released this week shows 791,000 elective surgery admissions were performed during the year, up from 712,000 in 2015–16. Despite the long-term growth, median waiting times remained steady, with half of patients admitted within 45 days, almost unchanged from the 46-day median the previous year. About 6% of patients waited more than a year for their operation.

Cataract surgery was once again the most commonly performed procedure, with 88,000 admissions, an increase on the previous year. The median wait for cataract operations fell notably however, with half of patients admitted within 106 days, down from 189 days the year prior.

Emergency departments also experienced higher demand, with 9.1 million presentations nationwide in 2024–25, or 328 presentations per 1,000 people. While this represented an increase compared with a decade earlier, key timeliness measures were largely unchanged.

The AIHW reported that half of all emergency patients were seen within 18 minutes, matching the previous year. About 67% of patients were seen on time for their triage category, including all of those requiring immediate treatment. One in 10 patients waited two hours or more to be initially assessed.

Overall, 53% of emergency presentations were completed within four hours, slightly down from 55% a year earlier. Among patients who were eventually admitted to hospital, just under one-third had their emergency care completed within that timeframe.

AIHW spokesperson Clara Jellie said the platform’s latest release provides a detailed snapshot of how emergency departments and surgery systems are performing at national, state and hospital levels.

“Overall, 67% of patients were seen on time for their triage category including all patients requiring immediate care,” Jellie said.

The data suggests that while demand for public hospital care continues to grow, key waiting time benchmarks have remained relatively stable across the past year.

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