Lithotripsy waiting times in Australian public hospitals
The national median wait for lithotripsy in Australian public hospitals was 28 days in 2024–25 — from 8 days at Griffith Base Hospital to 176 days at The Bendigo Hospital.
Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released
Across Australia, the median wait for lithotripsy in public hospitals was 28 days in 2024–25, from 2881 surgeries. 0.8% of people waited more than 365 days. 49 public hospitals published a median wait for it.
Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick "Lithotripsy" 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 | 21 days | 1.1% | 565 surgeries |
| 2 | Victoria | 26 days | 0.4% | 675 surgeries |
| 3 | New South Wales | 28 days | 0.7% | 1134 surgeries |
| 3 | South Australia | 28 days | 0.0% | 150 surgeries |
| 5 | Queensland | 57 days | 1.7% | 289 surgeries |
| unranked | Northern Territory | not published | not published | 6 surgeries |
| unranked | Tasmania | not published | not published | 62 surgeries |
How the wait has changed
- Australia
- WA
- VIC
- NSW
View these numbers as a table
| Reference period | Australia (days) | WA (days) | VIC (days) | NSW (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | 34 | not published | 25 | not published |
| 2017–18 | 29 | not published | 22 | not published |
| 2018–19 | 36 | not published | 28 | 36 |
| 2019–20 | 28 | not published | 21 | 27 |
| 2020–21 | 34 | not published | 29 | 31 |
| 2021–22 | 33 | not published | 45 | 27 |
| 2022–23 | 30 | 20 | 33 | 28 |
| 2023–24 | 28 | 16 | 31 | 28 |
| 2024–25 | 28 | 21 | 26 | 28 |
Common questions
How long is the wait for lithotripsy in a public hospital?
The national median was 28 days in 2024–25 — half of people waited less than that, half waited longer. State medians ranged from 21 days in Western Australia to 57 days in Queensland.
Which public hospital has the shortest wait for lithotripsy?
Of the 49 public hospitals that published a median for 2024–25, Griffith Base Hospital reported the shortest (8 days) and The Bendigo Hospital the longest (176 days). A shorter median is not a recommendation — how to read these figures.
How many people waited more than a year?
0.8% of people who had lithotripsy in an Australian public hospital in 2024–25 waited more than 365 days.
Cite this page
The national median wait for lithotripsy in Australian public hospitals was 28 days in 2024–25, from 8 days at Griffith Base Hospital to 176 days at The Bendigo Hospital.
Copy-ready citation
Surgery Waits, "Lithotripsy waiting list: wait times by state, 2024–25", 2024–25 data released 28 May 2026, https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/lithotripsy/, accessed 28 May 2026.Attribution: Surgery Waits (https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/lithotripsy/), 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/lithotripsy.svg" width="720" height="318" alt="Median public hospital waiting time for Lithotripsy 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.