Cataract surgery waiting time at Launceston General 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 South Launceston area of Tasmania, 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: 140 days2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
Surgeries completed: 1050 surgeries2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
Waited more than 365 days: 7.0%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 75 when they are ordered from shortest median to longest. Hospitals with the same median share a rank.

The median wait here has fallen from 372 days in 2011–12 to 140 days in 2024–25 — down 62% — while the national median rose from 89 days to 106 days. The nearest public hospital with a shorter published wait is Royal Hobart Hospital, about 160 km away, at 46 days. Here, 7.0% 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

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
Launceston General Hospital	140 days	7.0%	1050 surgeries
Tasmania (all public hospitals)	99 days	4.9%	2623 surgeries
Victoria (all public hospitals)	68 days	4.7%	21008 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.

Mersey Community HospitalTAS · about 65 km away176 days
Royal Hobart HospitalTAS · about 160 km away46 days
Bass Coast HealthVIC · about 342 km away27 days
Latrobe Regional Hospital [Traralgon]VIC · about 363 km away1 day
West Gippsland Healthcare Group [Warragul]VIC · about 379 km away64 days
Cranbourne Integrated Care CentreVIC · about 403 km away100 days
Monash Medical Centre [Clayton]VIC · about 426 km away338 days
University Hospital GeelongVIC · about 436 km away29 days

Distances are straight-line, measured between hospital locations, and are approximate. The search covered 500 km — the radius was widened because fewer than four hospitals published a figure within 250 km.

Some of these hospitals are in another state — a public hospital referral can cross the border, so ask your GP what that would mean for you.

How the wait has changed

Launceston General Hospital
TAS
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	Launceston General Hospital (days)	TAS (days)	Australia (days)
2011–12	372	244	89
2012–13	728	276	89
2013–14	604	167	79
2014–15	551	273	83
2015–16	453	301	93
2016–17	216	185	85
2017–18	93	146	87
2018–19	188	173	84
2019–20	175	105	98
2020–21	522	214	172
2021–22	196	123	158
2022–23	167	77	133
2023–24	164	98	119
2024–25	140	99	106

Public hospitals only — what these figures include and leave out.

All surgery at Launceston General Hospital · Cataract surgery across Australia · Cataract surgery in Tasmania