The Burrow
Sep 17, 2026
Waiting for emergency care or planned surgery can make an already stressful situation harder. Despite this, hospital wait times vary widely and can be influenced by demand, staffing, capacity and treatment backlogs.
Health insurance comparison experts Compare the Market analysed 12 OECD countries, including breakdowns of eight Australian states and territories and all 50 US states to see where has the best access to timely hospital care. Separate methodologies were used because comparable healthcare data differs between regions. This allowed us to shed some light on hospital waiting times in Australia as well as healthcare wait times by country.
Denmark ranks first with only 18.9% of hip replacement patients waiting longer than three months, while 86% are satisfied with the availability of quality healthcare.
Italy is second due to relatively short surgery waiting periods, despite having the lowest healthcare satisfaction rate at 44%.
Sweden places third, supported by 4.47 doctors and 10.97 nurses per 1,000 people, while just 2% report unmet healthcare needs because of waiting times.
Australia ranks seventh internationally with a score of 45.8 out of 100. It records 13.04 nurses, 4.20 doctors, and 3.84 hospital beds per 1,000 people, despite 78.3% of knee replacement patients waiting more than three months for surgery.
Canada ranks 10th and records the highest unmet need caused by waiting times at 9.1%.
Finland comes in last in our dataset, with 78.5% of knee replacement patients and 71.2% of cataract patients waiting more than three months.
The Australian index combines emergency department performance, elective surgery and public hospital capacity.
The Australian Capital Territory has the shortest median emergency department stay at 208 minutes and the highest share of visits completed within four hours at 61%.
New South Wales sits second overall behind the ACT, recording the highest share of emergency-category patients seen on time at 76% and the shortest average overdue elective surgery wait at 60 days.
The Northern Territory ranks third and has 4.2 public hospital beds per 1,000 people, but its average overdue elective surgery wait is 469 days, the longest nationally.
Victoria has the highest elective surgery on-time rate at 84% and the highest urgent-category on-time rate at 69%.
Meanwhile, Western Australia records the lowest urgent on-time rate at 29%.
Tasmania finishes eighth with the longest median emergency department stay at 253 minutes, despite having the highest public hospital nurse and midwife rate at 8.13 full-time equivalent staff per 1,000 people.
South Dakota leads, with a 115-minute median emergency department time and the highest hospital bed rate at 4.38 per 1,000 people.
Wyoming comes in next and has the lowest average bed occupancy at 37.92%.
Nebraska records the second-shortest median emergency department time at 113 minutes.
Delaware ranks last with 4.48% of patients leaving without being seen.
Rhode Island has the highest state-level bed occupancy at 83.72%.
Maryland has the longest median emergency department time of any state at 246 minutes.
Washington DC records the longest overall emergency department time at 303 minutes. Its left-without-being-seen rate of 6.42% is also the highest in the wider US comparison.
Steven Spicer, Compare the Market’s Executive General Manager of Health says, “Hospital waiting times are shaped by a range of factors, including patient demand, workforce pressures and available hospital resources, so they don’t always tell the full story about a person’s healthcare experience.
“While private health insurance won’t allow you to bypass emergency department queues, it can play an important role when it comes to eligible planned treatments. Depending on your level of cover, private health insurance may provide greater choice over where you’re treated and when.
“That’s why it’s important to regularly review and compare your health insurance. Healthcare needs can change over time, and making sure your policy still applies to your circumstances can help you get better value from your cover and avoid unexpected costs when you need treatment.”
This dataset ranks Australian states/territories, based on how quick and effective emergency & hospital care is, by using 9 key factors. The data for each factor was collected and normalised to a score between 0-1. These scores were combined to give each state/territory a total score out of 100, and states/territories were ranked from highest to lowest.
The factors used are as follows:
The factors were weighted as follows:
The factors were indexed as follows:
All data is correct as of 18/08/26. The ranking data shown is a compilation of multiple data sources and may not be representative of real life. All data is accurate with regards to the sources provided.
This dataset ranks US states, based on how quick and effective emergency & hospital care is, by using 7 key factors. The data for each factor was collected and normalised to a score between 0-1. These scores were combined to give each state a total score out of 100, and states were ranked from highest to lowest.
The factors used are as follows:
The factors were weighted as follows:
The factors were indexed as follows:
All data is correct as of 18/08/26. The ranking data shown is a compilation of multiple data sources and may not be representative of real life. All data is accurate with regards to the sources provided.
This dataset ranks 12 countries in the OECD, based on how quick and effective emergency & hospital care is, by using 8 key factors. The data for each factor was collected and normalised to a score between 0-1. These scores were combined to give each country a total score out of 100, and countries were ranked from highest to lowest.
The factors used are as follows:
The factors were combined into four component scores:
The component scores were weighted as follows:
The individual factors were indexed as follows:
All data is correct as of 18/08/26. The ranking data shown is a compilation of multiple data sources and may not be representative of real life. All data is accurate with regards to the sources provided.
OECD Data Explorer and associated OECD datasets; Australian Bureau of Statistics; Australian Institute of Health and Welfare MyHospitals API; Productivity Commission; US Census Bureau; Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; KFF; Association of American Medical Colleges; National Council of State Boards of Nursing; and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.