Written by Joshua Malin
The time you wait to be treated in a public hospital will depend on whether you’re presenting to the emergency room or booking in for an elective surgery. Here are a few key takeaways on public hospital wait times:
In 2021-22, 33% of emergency room patients weren’t seen within the recommended time.
NSW has the highest percentage of patients being seen on time in public emergency rooms, while the ACT has the least.
On average, being seen in the emergency room with urgent symptoms takes almost double the recommended time in WA.
In 2021, 6.3% of patients waited over a year to receive elective surgery in a public hospital. This was down from 7.6% in 2020.
Tasmania has the longest average wait for public elective surgeries at 62 days.
Nationally, emergency department demand has grown faster than population growth.1 Unfortunately, this has also led to an increase in emergency department waiting times. In the year 2021-22, almost two in five (39%) emergency patients had to wait more than four hours to be treated.
Additionally, 33% weren’t seen in time according to their triage category. For example, if you present to the emergency department with serious chest pain, it’s typically considered a category 2 emergency and recommended that you’re seen within 10 minutes of arrival. However, 35% of people who visit the emergency department with category 2 symptoms weren’t seen within that recommended time in 2021-22.
When you visit a public hospital emergency room, you’ll be unable to use your private health insurance. However, if you’re eligible for Medicare, the full cost of your visit will be covered
| Emergency hospital wait times by state and territory | ||
| State/Territory | Emergency median waiting times | Percentage of patients seen on time |
| NSW | 14 minutes | 77% |
| VIC | 22 minutes | 63% |
| QLD | 18 minutes | 68% |
| WA | 40 minutes | 50% |
| SA | 26 minutes | 55% |
| Tas | 31 minutes | 53% |
| ACT | 47 minutes | 48% |
| NT | 29 minutes | 57% |
| Source: AIWH – Emergency Department care 2021-22 data tables. Table 5.1. | ||
When you visit a hospital emergency department, a specialised nurse will assess your symptoms and assign you a triage category based on the urgency that you need medical attention.4 These categories and their maximum recommended waiting times are:
Below you can see the average waiting time per triage category for each state or territory. Here are a few key takeaways:
| Emergency hospital wait times by triage category | ||||
| State/Territory | Emergency | Urgent | Semi-urgent | Non-urgent |
| NSW | 7 mins | 17 mins | 22 mins | 8 mins |
| VIC | 10 mins | 25 mins | 31 mins | 26 mins |
| QLD | 9 mins | 23 mins | 22 mins | 15 mins |
| WA | 7 mins | 57 mins | 60 mins | 44 mins |
| SA | 10 mins | 39 mins | 35 mins | 25 mins |
| Tas | 11 mins | 38 mins | 43 mins | 35 mins |
| ACT | 7 mins | 54 mins | 69 mins | 62 mins |
| NT | 9 mins | 37 mins | 53 mins | 34 mins |
| Source: AIWH – Emergency Department care 2021-22 data tables. Times for Indigenous Australians are not included as they may vary due to the remoteness of residence. Table 5.6. | ||||
Certain times and days of the week can see more emergency presentations than others. As you can see in the table below, 13.7% of emergency room presentations on a Monday take place between 10am and 11:59am; this is the highest proportion of emergency room presentations across all time slots and days.1 Meanwhile, only 2.4% of Monday presentations take place between 4am and 5:59pm.
| Emergency room presentations | |||||||
| Time of presentation | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| 2am-3:59am | 2.7% | 2.8% | 2.8% | 2.9% | 2.9% | 3.3% | 3.4% |
| 4am-5:59am | 2.4% | 2.5% | 2.5% | 2.5% | 2.5% | 2.8% | 2.8% |
| 6am-7:59am | 4.1% | 4.2% | 4.1% | 4.1% | 4.1% | 4.2% | 4.2% |
| 8am-9:59am | 10.4% | 10.0% | 9.8% | 9.8% | 9.8% | 9.3% | 9.7% |
| 10am-11:59am | 13.7% | 13.1% | 13.0% | 13.0% | 13.0% | 12.7% | 13.1% |
| 12pm-1:59pm | 13.0% | 12.7% | 12.6% | 12.7% | 12.9% | 12.7% | 12.6% |
| 2pm-3:59pm | 12.3% | 12.3% | 12.3% | 12.3% | 12.5% | 12.6% | 12.2% |
| 4pm-5:59pm | 12.0% | 12.1% | 12.1% | 12.1% | 12.1% | 11.6% | 11.4% |
| 6pm-7:59pm | 11.0% | 11.4% | 11.4% | 11.2% | 10.8% | 10.5% | 10.6% |
| 8pm-9:59pm | 8.8% | 9.2% | 9.4% | 9.2% | 9.0% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 10pm-11:59pm | 5.7% | 6.0% | 6.3% | 6.2% | 6.5% | 6.8% | 6.2% |
| 12am-1:59am | 3.8% | 3.8% | 3.8% | 3.9% | 3.9% | 4.4% | 4.6% |
| Source: AIWH – Emergency Department care 2021-22 data tables. Table 4.4. | |||||||
When you book in for elective surgery as a public patient, you’ll be added to a public waiting list to receive treatment. These wait times vary and will depend on the urgency of your treatment; however, the average public elective surgery wait time in Australia was 40 days in 2021-22.2
Elective surgery wait times were on average lower in 2021-22 than in 2020-21. However, this is partially due to COVID-19 restrictions introduced in 2019-2020 that increased wait times in 2020-21. In 2021-22, 6.3% of patients waited more than 365 days for surgery, compared to 7.6% in 2020-21.
Among other factors, public hospital wait times will depend on where you’re treated. As you can see below, the state you live in could have a significant impact on how long you wait.
Living remotely may also affect your elective surgery wait time. For example, as of April 2023, the median wait time for a category 2 elective surgery in regional WA was 41 days. Meanwhile, hospital wait times in Perth for category 2 surgeries were an average of 62 days.3
| Hospital wait times for elective surgery by state and territory | |
| State/Territory | Median elective surgery wait time |
| NSW | 55 days |
| VIC | 25 days |
| QLD | 36 days |
| WA | 43 days |
| SA | 48 days |
| Tas | 62 days |
| ACT | 43 days |
| NT | 30 days |
| Source: AIHW – Elective surgery waiting times 2021-22 data tables. Table 4.2. | |
The wait time for an elective procedure will also depend on the one you need. This is because the demand and availability of doctors vary between treatments. Elective surgeries are also sorted into three different urgency categories based on the recommended maximum wait. These are:2
In the table below, you can see the median waiting times in 2021-22 for 15 of the most common intended elective procedures.
| Hospital wait times for elective surgeries by type of procedure | |
| Elective procedure | Median wait times |
| Cataract extraction | 158 days |
| Cholecystectomy | 53 days |
| Coronary artery bypass graft | 19 days |
| Cystoscopy | 24 days |
| Haemorrhoidectomy | 77 days |
| Hysterectomy | 74 days |
| Inguinal herniorrhaphy | 77 days |
| Myringoplasty/Tympanoplasty | 259 days |
| Myringotomy | 72 days |
| Prostatectomy | 48 days |
| Septoplasty | 315 days |
| Tonsillectomy | 168 days |
| Total hip replacement | 153 days |
| Total knee replacement | 293 days |
| Varicose vein treatment | 208 days |
| Source: AIHW – Elective surgery waiting times 2021-22 data tables. Table 4.6. | |
As you can see in the table above, wait times can vary from a few weeks to almost a year. For example, the average wait for surgery to fix a deviated septum (septoplasty) was 315 days. This is because, while it affects your quality of life, a deviated septum isn’t life-threatening.
The same can be said for a total knee replacement. Because it isn’t life-threatening, you could potentially be immobile for almost a year while you wait for surgery. This is why many people choose to take out private health insurance and undergo these types of surgeries privately.
Because of the large number of patients treated through the public healthcare system, it’s important that public hospitals prioritise surgeries based on the level of urgency. This means that surgeries for conditions that aren’t life-threatening can come with significant waits.
The biggest benefit of being treated publicly is the cost. When you’re treated as a public patient, you’ll typically pay nothing or very little for your hospital stay thanks to the Medicare system.
While private hospitals do still have waiting lists, they are typically much shorter on average. Private treatment also gives you the option to choose your own doctors and recover in a private room if available.
Unlike the public system, private treatment comes with a cost. Between the hospital and doctor’s fees, the cost of a private surgery can add up. However, with private health insurance, you may be able to cover some or all of the costs. When you visit a public hospital emergency room, you’ll be unable to use your private health insurance. However, if you’re eligible for Medicare, the full cost of your visit will be covered.
Before you can claim on your health insurance, you’ll likely need to serve a waiting period imposed by your health fund. These waiting periods are typically 12 months for pre-existing conditions and pregnancy-related services, and two months for everything else.
1 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare – Emergency department care. 2021-22.
2 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare – Elective surgery waiting times. 2021-22.
3 Government of Western Australia, Department of health – Elective surgery monthly report. April 2023.
4 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine – Triage. Accessed June 2023.
