National Healthcare Agreement: PI 20b–Waiting times for elective surgery: proportion seen on time, 2022

Collection and usage attributes

Elective surgery as defined in the Elective Surgery Waiting Times National Minimum Data Set (NMDS).

Waiting time is as defined in Elective surgery waiting list episode—waiting time at removal, total days N[NNN]. Calculated by jurisdictions by subtracting the listing date for care from the removal date, minus any days the patient was waiting with a less urgent clinical urgency category than their clinical urgency category at removal, and excluding days where the patient was not ready for care.

Waiting times are calculated where reason for removal was:

1. Admitted as an elective patient for awaited procedure by or on behalf of this hospital or the state/territory.
2. Admitted as an emergency patient for awaited procedure by or on behalf of this hospital or the state/territory.

The urgency category at the time of admission from the waiting list is reported. If the assigned urgency category changes, the waiting time at removal is calculated as per the Guide for use for Elective surgery waiting list episode—waiting time at removal, total days N[NNN].

Analysis by state and territory based on location of service.

Presented as a percentage.

100 x (Numerator ÷ Denominator)

Number of patients removed from elective surgery waiting lists who received surgery within the clinically recommended time.

Number of patients who received elective surgery.

State and territory, by:

• clinical urgency,
• Indigenous status.

NO DATA FOR 2022 REPORTING.

The scope of the indicator is all hospitals reporting to the National Elective Surgery Waiting Times Data Collection. It includes episode-level data on patients added to or removed from waiting lists for elective surgery which are managed by public hospitals.

Further details about waiting times for Indigenous Australians are available from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework (measure 3.14: Access to services compared with need).

Representational attributes

N[NN].N

Indicator conceptual framework

Data source attributes

Accountability attributes

National Healthcare Agreement

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Specification: Minor work required, the measure needs minor work to meet the intention of the indicator.

Source and reference attributes

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2020. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework. Canberra: AIHW. Viewed 19 February 2021, https://indigenoushpf.gov.au/

Relational attributes