What "elective surgery" actually means
Planned in advance, not optional — and the word misleads enough people that this site avoids it.
Elective surgery is surgery that is planned in advance rather than done as an emergency. It does not mean the surgery is optional. "Elective" is a scheduling word: the operation can be booked for a date, instead of having to happen the moment you arrive at hospital.
Why the word misleads
In everyday English, "elective" sounds like something you chose and could skip — an elective at university. In hospital English it means the opposite of "emergency", and nothing more. Cancer surgery is usually elective. A hip replacement for someone who can no longer walk to the shops is elective. Heart surgery scheduled for next month is elective. None of these is optional; all of them are planned.
Because the word misleads people about their own care, this site says planned surgery everywhere, and quotes "elective" only where the source's own wording has to be quoted — the methodology explains the wording.
Examples of elective surgery
The national collection publishes waiting times for 151 planned surgery types, including:
- Cataract surgery — the most commonly reported planned surgery in public hospitals.
- Hip replacement and knee replacement.
- Gallbladder removal and hernia repair.
- Breast lump removal — surgery that is often part of cancer diagnosis or treatment, and still counted as "elective" because it is scheduled.
The full list of surgery types is here, each with its waiting times by state and by hospital for 2024–25.
Elective does not mean "not urgent"
Within planned surgery, urgency is graded separately: your treating specialist assigns Category 1 (recommended within 30 days), Category 2 (within 90 days) or Category 3 (within 365 days). What the urgency categories mean — and how often each public hospital treats them on time — has its own section.
What is measured, and what is not
The published waiting time counts the days from being placed on the surgery waiting list to having the surgery. It does not count the wait to see the specialist first, and it does not cover emergency surgery — an emergency operation has no waiting list to measure.
Public hospitals only. Private hospitals do not report to this collection, so their waiting times cannot be compared here.