Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion) waiting times

Public hospital waiting times for Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion), nationally and by state.

Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released 28 May 2026

Across Australia, the median wait for Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion) in public hospitals was 106 days in 2024–25, from 87841 surgeries. 11.5% of people waited more than 365 days. 132 public hospitals published a median wait for it.

State by state

Bars show the median wait in days. The vertical line at 106 days marks the national median.

Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion) in public hospitals by state and territory, 2024–25. States with the same median share a rank. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28.
Rank	State or territory	Median wait	Waited more than 365 days	Surgeries
1	Victoria	68 days	4.7%	21008 surgeries
2	Queensland	82 days	1.9%	8868 surgeries
2	Western Australia	82 days	5.1%	12672 surgeries
4	South Australia	84 days	9.0%	9054 surgeries
5	Tasmania	99 days	4.9%	2623 surgeries
6	Northern Territory	162 days	20.4%	921 surgeries
7	New South Wales	268 days	22.0%	32695 surgeries

How the wait has changed

Australia
VIC
QLD
WA

View these numbers as a table

Median wait in days for Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion), by financial year. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28.
Reference period	Australia (days)	VIC (days)	QLD (days)	WA (days)
2011–12	89	61	51	38
2012–13	89	52	44	45
2013–14	79	41	52	43
2014–15	83	35	57	41
2015–16	93	56	64	37
2016–17	85	41	70	51
2017–18	87	40	87	63
2018–19	84	36	72	61
2019–20	98	49	83	59
2020–21	172	79	84	77
2021–22	158	84	84	108
2022–23	133	77	77	117
2023–24	119	89	76	98
2024–25	106	68	82	82

What is not here

Public hospitals only. Private hospitals do not report to this collection, so their waiting times cannot be compared here.

The source calls this collection “elective surgery”. This site calls it planned surgery, because the surgery is planned in advance rather than optional — the methodology explains the wording.