Surgery Waits

Septoplasty waiting time at Cairns Hospital

The median wait for septoplasty at this public hospital in the Cairns North area of Queensland was 186 days in 2024–25.

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

These figures describe surgery that already happened, not your own wait.

Median wait
186 days2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
Surgeries completed
52 surgeries2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
Waited more than 365 days
1.9%2024–25 · released 28 May 2026

Half the people who had this surgery here waited less than the median, and half waited longer. Of the 103 public hospitals that published a median wait for this surgery in 2024–25, this one sits at 23 when they are ordered from shortest median to longest. Hospitals with the same median share a rank.

The median wait here has risen from 89 days in 2011–12 to 186 days in 2024–25 — up 109% — while the national median rose from 160 days to 320 days. No public hospital nearby published a shorter median for this surgery in this period. Here, 1.9% of people waited more than 365 days for this surgery; nationally it was 30.8%.

Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick "Septoplasty" and type your suburb to see the public hospitals within reach, ordered by their published wait. Nothing you type there is kept.

How this compares

Median wait, long waits and volume for Septoplasty, 2024–25.
Where Median wait Waited more than 365 days Surgeries
Cairns Hospital186 days1.9%52 surgeries
Queensland (all public hospitals)317 days18.9%801 surgeries
Australia (all public hospitals)320 days30.8%5687 surgeries

Where the wait is shorter nearby

Bars show the median wait in days. The vertical line at 320 days marks the national median.

Distances are straight-line, measured between hospital locations, and are approximate. The search covered 1000 km — the radius was widened because fewer than four hospitals published a figure within 250 km.

How the wait has changed

Median wait for septoplasty by financial year at Cairns Hospital, compared with Queensland and Australiadays01252503755002011–122014–152017–182020–212023–242024–25Cairns Hospital 186QLD 317Australia 320
  • Cairns Hospital
  • QLD
  • Australia
View these numbers as a table
Median wait in days for Septoplasty, by financial year. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28.
Reference periodCairns Hospital (days)QLD (days)Australia (days)
2011–128960160
2012–1326076197
2013–1442087221
2014–153284214
2015–164297209
2016–17287173209
2017–18254302248
2018–19169319241
2019–20316314277
2020–21189318330
2021–2284309315
2022–23332342365
2023–24253282332
2024–25186317320

Queensland's quarterly figures for ENT surgery

These are not figures for septoplasty. Queensland reports by surgical specialty, not by procedure. A specialty covers many different operations, so a specialty figure is never a figure for any one of them.

Queensland Health publishes its own figures every three months. They count differently from the national figures above and are never combined with them. This quarter ends after the national reporting period, so it is the more recent of the two.

Covers July to September 2025, published by Queensland Health on 28 October 2025. Reported as Cairns.

Patients treated
108 patientsJuly to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025
Treated within the recommended time
92.6%July to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025
Still waiting at the end of the quarter
157 patientsJuly to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025
Waiting longer than recommended
8 patientsJuly to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025

Public hospitals only — what these figures include and leave out.

All surgery at Cairns Hospital · Septoplasty across Australia · Septoplasty in Queensland