Colectomy/anterior resection/large bowel resection waiting times

Public hospital waiting times for Colectomy/anterior resection/large bowel resection, nationally and by state.

Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released 28 May 2026

Across Australia, the median wait for Colectomy/anterior resection/large bowel resection in public hospitals was 18 days in 2024–25, from 5575 surgeries. 1.0% of people waited more than 365 days. 87 public hospitals published a median wait for it.

State by state

Bars show the median wait in days. The vertical line at 18 days marks the national median.

Victoria15 days
South Australia17 days
Western Australia18 days
New South Wales20 days
Queensland22 days
Australian Capital Territorynot published
Northern Territorynot published

Colectomy/anterior resection/large bowel resection in public hospitals by state and territory, 2024–25. States with the same median share a rank. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28.
Rank	State or territory	Median wait	Waited more than 365 days	Surgeries
1	Victoria	15 days	1.4%	1728 surgeries
2	South Australia	17 days	0.9%	470 surgeries
3	Western Australia	18 days	0.6%	616 surgeries
4	New South Wales	20 days	1.0%	1797 surgeries
5	Queensland	22 days	0.4%	925 surgeries
unranked	Australian Capital Territory	not published	not published	10 surgeries
unranked	Northern Territory	not published	not published	29 surgeries

How the wait has changed

Australia
VIC
SA
WA

View these numbers as a table

Median wait in days for Colectomy/anterior resection/large bowel resection, by financial year. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28.
Reference period	Australia (days)	VIC (days)	SA (days)	WA (days)
2016–17	17	17	18	15
2017–18	17	18	17	17
2018–19	18	16	17	21
2019–20	17	16	19	17
2020–21	18	16	19	18
2021–22	17	15	17	17
2022–23	18	15	19	20
2023–24	19	15	20	20
2024–25	18	15	17	18

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.