Cataract surgery waiting time at Blue Mountains Hospital
Median wait, long waits and volumes for cataract surgery — published by the source as “Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion)” — at this public hospital in the Leura area of New South Wales, with the nearest alternatives that published a figure.
Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released 28 May 2026
- Median wait
- 281 days2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
- Surgeries completed
- 539 surgeries2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
- Waited more than 365 days
- 3.0%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 112 when they are ordered from shortest median to longest. Hospitals with the same median share a rank.
The median wait here has risen from 266 days in 2022–23 to 281 days in 2024–25 — up 6% — while the national median fell from 133 days to 106 days. The nearest public hospital with a shorter published wait is Lithgow Hospital, about 29 km away, at 231 days. Here, 3.0% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Mountains Hospital | 281 days | 3.0% | 539 surgeries |
| New South Wales (all public hospitals) | 268 days | 22.0% | 32695 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 250 km.
How the wait has changed
- Blue Mountains Hospital
- NSW
- Australia
View these numbers as a table
| Reference period | Blue Mountains Hospital (days) | NSW (days) | Australia (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 | not reported for this period | 233 | 89 |
| 2012–13 | not reported for this period | 238 | 89 |
| 2013–14 | not reported for this period | 218 | 79 |
| 2014–15 | not reported for this period | 221 | 83 |
| 2015–16 | not reported for this period | 240 | 93 |
| 2016–17 | not reported for this period | 224 | 85 |
| 2017–18 | not reported for this period | 223 | 87 |
| 2018–19 | not reported for this period | 245 | 84 |
| 2019–20 | not reported for this period | 286 | 98 |
| 2020–21 | not reported for this period | 290 | 172 |
| 2021–22 | not reported for this period | 278 | 158 |
| 2022–23 | 266 | 282 | 133 |
| 2023–24 | 243 | 262 | 119 |
| 2024–25 | 281 | 268 | 106 |
Public hospitals only — what these figures include and leave out.
All surgery at Blue Mountains Hospital · Cataract surgery across Australia · Cataract surgery in New South Wales