‘Hidden’ elective surgery data shows NSW is going backwards on wait times. Nurses say they have the answer.
Despite performing more elective surgeries between April and June 2025 than in any quarter since 2010, NSW kept non-urgent surgical patients waiting for a median of 343 days, 42 more days than last year.
According to the Australian College of Nursing, the new set of stats also “underscores the need for investment in preventive and primary health care to address increasing rates of chronic illness”.
The NSW Bureau of Health Information’s latest Healthcare Quarterly shows:
- 76.8% of all surgeries were completed on time, down 10 percentage points on a year ago;
- Only 66.1% of non-urgent surgeries were done within the recommended 365 days, down sharply from 82.4% last year;
- The highest quarterly admitted patient episodes since at least 2010, at 515,245.
AMA (NSW) president Dr Kathryn Austin accused the BHI of “burying” the bad news.
“Today’s Bureau of Health Information’s Healthcare Quarterly report indicates NSW is going backwards in regard to elective surgery and – for the first time in recent years – critical data showcasing the decline is being displayed ambiguously,” Dr Austin said.
“Information on this is usually presented as part of key findings but has been buried further down in the latest report. The Bureau of Health Information is supposed to be an independent body providing the community with a clear picture of how our health system is performing.
“Hiding these results does not make the problem go away; it only undermines confidence in the system and makes it harder to drive necessary change.”
Of the 515,245 admitted patient episodes, 242,284 were same-day episodes, up 5.9% and another record high.
“The average length of stay for non-acute overnight episodes rose to 18.4 days, showing the ongoing challenges in patient flow and discharge planning,” Dr Austin said.
“The NSW government must act now to invest in our doctors and hospitals.”
Australian College of Nursing CEO Adjunct Professor Kathryn Zeitz said the 4% increase in admitted patient episodes over last year “illustrate[d] the pressure our nursing staff and their colleagues are under”.
“We urgently need to address the underlying issue of surging rates of chronic illness that are a key factor behind hospital admissions,” she said.
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Professor Zeitz identified preventive medicine and better primary care as critical to addressing these rates.
“It was a point strongly made by Justice Richard Beasley in the Special Commission of Inquiry into Healthcare Funding report, handed to the government in April,” she said.
“We look forward to the NSW Government releasing a formal detailed response to the Special Commission of Inquiry that includes more state investment in prevention and primary health.”
Traditionally, primary care funding has primarily been the responsibility of the federal government, while states look after hospital systems.
In recent years some state governments have started to take a bigger hand in areas like GP training through offering incentives and trialling single-employer models.
The key mechanism which dictates which level of government is responsible for certain health services is the National Health Reform Agreement.
The current iteration of this agreement is set to expire in February 2026, with a new agreement in the works.
