Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion) waiting time at Cairns Hospital

Median wait, long waits and volumes for Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion) at this public hospital, 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: 90 days2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
Surgeries completed: 172 surgeries2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
Waited more than 365 days: 8.1%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 53 when they are ordered from shortest median to longest. Hospitals with the same median share a rank.

How this compares

Median wait, long waits and volume for Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion), 2024–25.
Where	Median wait	Waited more than 365 days	Surgeries
Cairns Hospital	90 days	8.1%	172 surgeries
Queensland (all public hospitals)	82 days	1.9%	8868 surgeries
Australia (all public hospitals)	106 days	11.5%	87841 surgeries

Where the wait is shorter nearby

Bars show the median wait in days. The vertical line at 106 days marks the national median.

Townsville University HospitalQLD · about 288 km away99 days
Weipa HospitalQLD · about 634 km away5 days
Longreach HospitalQLD · about 743 km away182 days
Emerald HospitalQLD · about 775 km away71 days
Mount Isa Base HospitalQLD · about 785 km away193 days
Thursday Island HospitalQLD · about 801 km away4 days
Rockhampton HospitalQLD · about 872 km away123 days

Distances are straight-line, measured between hospital locations, and are approximate. The search covered 1000 km — the radius was widened because fewer than four hospitals published a figure within 250 km.

How the wait has changed

Cairns Hospital
QLD
Australia

View these numbers as a table

Median wait in days for Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion), by financial year. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28.
Reference period	Cairns Hospital (days)	QLD (days)	Australia (days)
2011–12	50	51	89
2012–13	53	44	89
2013–14	37	52	79
2014–15	20	57	83
2015–16	26	64	93
2016–17	21	70	85
2017–18	37	87	87
2018–19	13	72	84
2019–20	14	83	98
2020–21	61	84	172
2021–22	78	84	158
2022–23	79	77	133
2023–24	80	76	119
2024–25	90	82	106

Queensland's quarterly figures for ophthalmology

These are not figures for cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion). Queensland reports by surgical specialty, not by procedure. A specialty covers many different operations, so a specialty figure is never a figure for any one of them.

Queensland Health publishes its own figures every three months. They count differently from the national figures above and are never combined with them. This quarter ends after the national reporting period, so it is the more recent of the two.

Covers July to September 2025, published by Queensland Health on 28 October 2025. Reported as Cairns.

Patients treated: 141 patientsJuly to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025
Treated within the recommended time: 97.9%July to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025
Still waiting at the end of the quarter: 285 patientsJuly to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025
Waiting longer than recommended: 1 patientJuly to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025

What is not here

Public hospitals only. Private hospitals do not report to this collection, so their waiting times cannot be compared here.

All surgery at Cairns Hospital · Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion) across Australia · Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion) in Queensland