Eardrum repair waiting times in Australian public hospitals

The national median wait for eardrum repair in Australian public hospitals was 264 days in 2024–25 — from 66 days at Joondalup Health Campus (Public) to 787 days at Western Hospital [Footscray]. The source publishes this surgery as “Myringoplasty/tympanoplasty”.

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

Across Australia, the median wait for eardrum repair in public hospitals was 264 days in 2024–25, from 1627 surgeries. 28.3% of people waited more than 365 days. 58 public hospitals published a median wait for it.

Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick “Myringoplasty/tympanoplasty” and type your suburb to see the public hospitals within reach, ordered by their published wait. Nothing you type there is kept.

State by state

Bars show the median wait in days. The vertical line at 264 days marks the national median.

Western Australia162 days
Victoria207 days
Queensland210 days
South Australia316 days
New South Wales330 days
Northern Territory377 days
Tasmanianot published

Myringoplasty/tympanoplasty 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	Western Australia	162 days	27.8%	234 surgeries
2	Victoria	207 days	34.2%	322 surgeries
3	Queensland	210 days	16.1%	415 surgeries
4	South Australia	316 days	34.5%	110 surgeries
5	New South Wales	330 days	27.9%	416 surgeries
6	Northern Territory	377 days	52.8%	108 surgeries
unranked	Tasmania	not published	not published	22 surgeries

How the wait has changed

Australia
WA
VIC
QLD

View these numbers as a table

Median wait in days for Myringoplasty/tympanoplasty, by financial year. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28.
Reference period	Australia (days)	WA (days)	VIC (days)	QLD (days)
2011–12	105	84	108	82
2012–13	123	87	131	84
2013–14	128	81	140	88
2014–15	137	85	121	79
2015–16	173	90	154	109
2016–17	170	99	104	187
2017–18	195	169	149	298
2018–19	200	147	174	147
2019–20	214	128	164	148
2020–21	292	189	276	224
2021–22	259	138	340	196
2022–23	283	176	293	155
2023–24	267	155	314	161
2024–25	264	162	207	210

Common questions

How long is the wait for eardrum repair in a public hospital?

The national median was 264 days in 2024–25 — half of people waited less than that, half waited longer. State medians ranged from 162 days in Western Australia to 377 days in Northern Territory.

Which public hospital has the shortest wait for eardrum repair?

Of the 58 public hospitals that published a median for 2024–25, Joondalup Health Campus (Public) reported the shortest (66 days) and Western Hospital [Footscray] the longest (787 days). A shorter median is not a recommendation — how to read these figures.

How many people waited more than a year?

28.3% of people who had eardrum repair in an Australian public hospital in 2024–25 waited more than 365 days.

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.