National Healthcare Agreement: PI 20a–Waiting times for elective surgery: waiting times in days, 2022

Collection and usage attributes

Elective surgery as defined in the National Elective Surgery Waiting Times Data Collection (NESWTDC). The NESWTDC includes data collected for patients on elective surgery waiting lists managed by public acute hospitals and/or state and territory health authorities, who are yet to be admitted to hospital and for patients who have been removed from an elective surgery waiting list (for admission or another reason). The NESWTDC includes the date the patient is listed for care and the date the patient is removed from the elective surgery waiting list (removal date).

Selected intended procedures are as defined in permissible values 001 to 017 in Elective surgery waiting list episode—intended procedure, code NNN.

Waiting time 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 waited 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.

Analysis by state and territory based on location of service.

Analysis by remoteness and Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage (IRSD) is based on usual residence of the person.

Presented as number of days.

Number of days waited at 50th and 90th percentile.

Calculated overall and for each intended procedure.

The 50th and 90th percentiles have been rounded to the nearest whole number of days.

The calculation is where:

n is the number of observations and

p is the percentile value divided by 100,

then n × p = i + f (where i is an integer and f is the fractional part of n × p).

If n × p is an integer, the percentile value will correspond to the average of the values for the i^th and (i+1)^th observations.

If n × p is not an integer, the percentile value will correspond to the value for the (i+1)^th observation.

2019–20 (revised following jurisdiction provision of elective surgery waiting times cluster data to the National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD)), 2020–21—State and territory, by intended procedure (and total), by:

• peer group
• Indigenous status.

2019–20 (revised following jurisdiction provision of elective surgery waiting times cluster data to the NHMD)—State and territory, by:

• remoteness (Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) 2016 Remoteness Structure)
• 2016 SEIFA IRSD quintiles.

2019–20 (revised following jurisdiction provision of elective surgery waiting times cluster data to the NHMD)—Nationally, by (all not reported):

• 2016 SEIFA IRSD deciles
• selected intended procedures (cataract extraction, cholecystectomy, coronary artery bypass graft, cystoscopy) by 2016 SEIFA IRSD quintiles
• intended procedure, by peer group, by Indigenous status, by remoteness (ASGS 2016 Remoteness Structure).

Some disaggregations may result in numbers too small for publication.

Disaggregation by peer group uses the peer group classification as described in the AIHW publication Australian hospital peer groups.

Most recent data available for 2022 National Healthcare Agreement performance reporting: 2020–21.

For this indicator, the selected intended procedures are a subset of all procedures. In 2019–20, approximately 65% of waiting list removals did not fall into one of the selected intended procedures.

For 2019–20 data, the 2016 SEIFA IRSD quintile and decile data will be produced using the Australian Statistical Geography Standard 2016 geographical unit of Statistical Area Level 2.

The scope of the NESWTDC is patients on, or removed from, waiting lists for elective surgery which are managed by public acute hospitals.

Note that for the 2016 and previous reports, disaggregations by public hospital peer group for this indicator were calculated using the peer group classification method as reported in Australian hospital statistics 2010–11.

The quality of the data reported for Indigenous status in the National Elective Surgery Waiting Times Data Collection (NESWTDC) has not been formally assessed, therefore, caution should be exercised when interpreting these data.

Disaggregation by remoteness area is by the patient's usual residence, not the location of hospital. Data are reported by jurisdiction of hospitalisation, regardless of the jurisdiction of usual residence. Hence, the data by remoteness area represent the waiting times for patients living in each remoteness area (regardless of their jurisdiction of residence) in the reporting jurisdiction.

Further details on 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[NNN]

Indicator conceptual framework

Data source attributes

Accountability attributes

National Healthcare Agreement

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Specification: Final, the measure meets the intention of the indicator.

Source and reference attributes

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2012. Australian hospital statistics 2010–11. Health services series no. 43. Cat. no. HSE 117. Canberra: AIHW. Viewed 28 May 2020, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/
hospitals/australian-hospital-statistics-2010-11/contents/table-of-contents

AIHW 2015. Australian hospital peer groups. Health services series no. 66. Cat. no. HSE 170. Canberra: AIHW. Viewed 28 May 2020, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/hospitals/australian
-hospital-peer-groups/contents/table-of-contents

AIHW 2020. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework. Canberra: AIHW. Viewed 19 February 2021, https://indigenoushpf.gov.au/

Relational attributes