ACL reconstruction waiting times in Australian public hospitals
The national median wait for ACL reconstruction in Australian public hospitals was 81 days in 2024–25 — from 14 days at Gawler Health Service to 390 days at Shellharbour Hospital. The source publishes this surgery as "Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction".
Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released
Across Australia, the median wait for ACL reconstruction in public hospitals was 81 days in 2024–25, from 4122 surgeries. 5.7% of people waited more than 365 days. 108 public hospitals published a median wait for it.
Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick "Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction" and type your suburb to see the public hospitals within reach, ordered by their published wait. Nothing you type there is kept.
State by state
| Rank | State or territory | Median wait | Waited more than 365 days | Surgeries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Western Australia | 61 days | 1.2% | 578 surgeries |
| 2 | South Australia | 66 days | 2.2% | 271 surgeries |
| 3 | Victoria | 68 days | 4.7% | 944 surgeries |
| 4 | Queensland | 76 days | 3.9% | 854 surgeries |
| 5 | New South Wales | 134 days | 9.8% | 1429 surgeries |
| unranked | Australian Capital Territory | not published | not published | not published |
| unranked | Northern Territory | not published | not published | 44 surgeries |
How the wait has changed
- Australia
- WA
- SA
- VIC
View these numbers as a table
| Reference period | Australia (days) | WA (days) | SA (days) | VIC (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | 78 | 55 | 62 | 56 |
| 2017–18 | 78 | 68 | 71 | 56 |
| 2018–19 | 82 | 69 | 79 | 69 |
| 2019–20 | 82 | 70 | 78 | 69 |
| 2020–21 | 97 | 77 | 77 | 126 |
| 2021–22 | 89 | 93 | 92 | 84 |
| 2022–23 | 95 | 94 | 101 | 84 |
| 2023–24 | 82 | 74 | 71 | 74 |
| 2024–25 | 81 | 61 | 66 | 68 |
Common questions
How long is the wait for ACL reconstruction in a public hospital?
The national median was 81 days in 2024–25 — half of people waited less than that, half waited longer. State medians ranged from 61 days in Western Australia to 134 days in New South Wales.
Which public hospital has the shortest wait for ACL reconstruction?
Of the 108 public hospitals that published a median for 2024–25, Gawler Health Service reported the shortest (14 days) and Shellharbour Hospital the longest (390 days). A shorter median is not a recommendation — how to read these figures.
How many people waited more than a year?
5.7% of people who had ACL reconstruction in an Australian public hospital in 2024–25 waited more than 365 days.
Cite this page
The national median wait for ACL reconstruction in Australian public hospitals was 81 days in 2024–25, from 14 days at Gawler Health Service to 390 days at Shellharbour Hospital.
Copy-ready citation
Surgery Waits, "ACL reconstruction waiting list by state, 2024–25", 2024–25 data released 28 May 2026, https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/acl-reconstruction/, accessed 28 May 2026.Attribution: Surgery Waits (https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/acl-reconstruction/), from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare MyHospitals data, CC BY 3.0 AU. Reference period 2024–25, released 28 May 2026.
Embed the chart
The state comparison is also published as a standalone image at a stable address — the SVG chart — free to embed or link with the attribution below:
<img src="https://surgerywaits.au/charts/acl-reconstruction.svg" width="720" height="318" alt="Median public hospital waiting time for ACL reconstruction by state and territory, 2024–25">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.