Cataract surgery waiting time at Palmerston Regional Hospital
The median wait for cataract surgery — published by the source as "Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion)" — at this public hospital in the Farrar area of Northern Territory was 161 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
- 161 days2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
- Surgeries completed
- 370 surgeries2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
- Waited more than 365 days
- 11.9%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 132 public hospitals that published a median wait for this surgery in 2024–25, this one sits at 77 when they are ordered from shortest median to longest. Hospitals with the same median share a rank.
The median wait here has risen from 144 days in 2019–20 to 161 days in 2024–25 — up 12% — while the national median rose from 98 days to 106 days. The nearest public hospital with a shorter published wait is Royal Darwin Hospital, about 19 km away, at 155 days. Here, 11.9% of people waited more than 365 days for this surgery; nationally it was 11.5%.
Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick "Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion)" 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
| Where | Median wait | Waited more than 365 days | Surgeries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmerston Regional Hospital | 161 days | 11.9% | 370 surgeries |
| Northern Territory (all public hospitals) | 162 days | 20.4% | 921 surgeries |
| Western Australia (all public hospitals) | 82 days | 5.1% | 12672 surgeries |
| Australia (all public hospitals) | 106 days | 11.5% | 87841 surgeries |
Where the wait is shorter nearby
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.
Some of these hospitals are in another state — a public hospital referral can cross the border, so ask your GP what that would mean for you.
How the wait has changed
- Palmerston Regional Hospital
- NT
- Australia
View these numbers as a table
| Reference period | Palmerston Regional Hospital (days) | NT (days) | Australia (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 | not reported for this period | 168 | 89 |
| 2012–13 | not reported for this period | 156 | 89 |
| 2013–14 | not reported for this period | 116 | 79 |
| 2014–15 | not reported for this period | 143 | 83 |
| 2015–16 | not reported for this period | 158 | 93 |
| 2016–17 | not reported for this period | 117 | 85 |
| 2017–18 | not reported for this period | 71 | 87 |
| 2018–19 | not reported for this period | 82 | 84 |
| 2019–20 | 144 | 96 | 98 |
| 2020–21 | 248 | 118 | 172 |
| 2021–22 | 297 | 200 | 158 |
| 2022–23 | 384 | 306 | 133 |
| 2023–24 | 265 | 217 | 119 |
| 2024–25 | 161 | 162 | 106 |
Public hospitals only — what these figures include and leave out.
All surgery at Palmerston Regional Hospital · Cataract surgery across Australia · Cataract surgery in Northern Territory