Tonsillectomy waiting times in Australian public hospitals
The national median wait for tonsillectomy in Australian public hospitals was 182 days in 2024–25 — from 6 days at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre to 450 days at Port Pirie Regional Health Service. The source publishes this surgery as "Tonsillectomy (with or without adenoidectomy)".
Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released
Across Australia, the median wait for tonsillectomy in public hospitals was 182 days in 2024–25, from 16182 surgeries. 17.0% of people waited more than 365 days. 114 public hospitals published a median wait for it.
Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick "Tonsillectomy (with or without adenoidectomy)" 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 | South Australia | 111 days | 11.4% | 1161 surgeries |
| 2 | Queensland | 115 days | 4.9% | 3023 surgeries |
| 3 | Northern Territory | 116 days | 15.3% | 137 surgeries |
| 3 | Victoria | 116 days | 15.1% | 4811 surgeries |
| 5 | Tasmania | 156 days | 17.3% | 358 surgeries |
| 6 | Western Australia | 183 days | 33.3% | 1581 surgeries |
| 7 | Australian Capital Territory | 302 days | 46.0% | 215 surgeries |
| 8 | New South Wales | 322 days | 21.2% | 4896 surgeries |
How the wait has changed
- Australia
- SA
- QLD
- NT
View these numbers as a table
| Reference period | Australia (days) | SA (days) | QLD (days) | NT (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 | 98 | 64 | 61 | 73 |
| 2012–13 | 98 | 69 | 56 | 75 |
| 2013–14 | 99 | 71 | 56 | 67 |
| 2014–15 | 124 | 76 | 73 | 80 |
| 2015–16 | 120 | 87 | 80 | 58 |
| 2016–17 | 97 | 67 | 88 | 49 |
| 2017–18 | 121 | 86 | 175 | 23 |
| 2018–19 | 125 | 84 | 173 | 73 |
| 2019–20 | 130 | 92 | 90 | 54 |
| 2020–21 | 253 | 98 | 232 | 72 |
| 2021–22 | 168 | 138 | 102 | not published |
| 2022–23 | 174 | 118 | 110 | 55 |
| 2023–24 | 185 | 140 | 104 | 77 |
| 2024–25 | 182 | 111 | 115 | 116 |
Common questions
How long is the wait for tonsillectomy in a public hospital?
The national median was 182 days in 2024–25 — half of people waited less than that, half waited longer. State medians ranged from 111 days in South Australia to 322 days in New South Wales.
Which public hospital has the shortest wait for tonsillectomy?
Of the 114 public hospitals that published a median for 2024–25, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre reported the shortest (6 days) and Port Pirie Regional Health Service the longest (450 days). A shorter median is not a recommendation — how to read these figures.
How many people waited more than a year?
17.0% of people who had tonsillectomy in an Australian public hospital in 2024–25 waited more than 365 days.
Cite this page
The national median wait for tonsillectomy in Australian public hospitals was 182 days in 2024–25, from 6 days at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre to 450 days at Port Pirie Regional Health Service.
Copy-ready citation
Surgery Waits, "Tonsillectomy waiting list by state, 2024–25", 2024–25 data released 28 May 2026, https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/tonsillectomy/, accessed 28 May 2026.Attribution: Surgery Waits (https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/tonsillectomy/), 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/tonsillectomy.svg" width="720" height="420" alt="Median public hospital waiting time for Tonsillectomy 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.