The number of patients having elective surgery in Australian public hospitals is the highest on record, with more than 85,000 admissions in WA.
Across the country there were 771,600 admissions from public hospital elective surgery waitlists in 2023-24, excluding the Northern Territory, marking a 5% increase on the previous year, according to new data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
WA had the fourth highest number of admissions in the same period, with 85,991, an increase from the 80,793 admissions from public hospital waitlists in 2022-23. Overall, the number of admissions in WA has risen 6.4% since 2019-20.
AIHW spokesperson Clara Jellie said most elective surgeries in Australia are performed in private hospitals, but this data gives an overview of how elective surgeries are provided in public hospitals.
“The increase in the number of admissions from public hospital elective surgery waitlists follows a period of considerable disruption to the health system as a result of the pandemic, where we saw fluctuations in the numbers of elective surgeries being performed as outbreaks of COVID-19 impacted patients, and the availability of hospital staff and resources,” she said.
The largest admissions from elective surgeries waitlists in WA were seen in ophthalmology surgery (18,028), general surgery (15,321) and orthopaedic surgery (11,716).
Nationally cataract extraction was the most common procedure, accounting for 11% of all intended procedures.
Although the most common surgical specialty associated with admissions nationally was general surgery, representing 20% of all surgeries, the areas of surgical speciality that saw the greatest percentage increases in admissions were vascular surgery – 12% increase compared with 2022–23 – and paediatric surgery – 8.2% annual average growth since 2019–20.
Waiting times for elective surgery waitlist admissions have also improved, according to the AIHW data.
Half of all patients in Australia were admitted within 46 days in 2023–24, an improvement from 49 days in 2022–23, while nine in 10 were admitted within 329 days, down from 361 days in 2022–23.
Around 6.4% of patients waited more than a year, down from 9.6% in 2022–23.
WA performed slightly better than the national average on wait times, with nine in 10 patients admitted to hospital within 276 days, a significant reduction from 344 in 2022-23.
The State also saw improvements in the number of patients waiting more than a year dropping from 6.7% in 2022-23 to 5.1% in 2023-24, one percentage point below the national average.