Surgery Waits

Varicose vein surgery waiting time at Cairns Hospital

The median wait for varicose vein surgery — published by the source as "Varicose veins treatment" — at this public hospital in the Cairns North area of Queensland was 142 days in 2024–25.

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

These figures describe surgery that already happened, not your own wait.

Median wait
142 days2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
Surgeries completed
42 surgeries2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
Waited more than 365 days
not published2024–25 · released 28 May 2026 — Reported data did not meet the criteria to calculate this indicator.

Half the people who had this surgery here waited less than the median, and half waited longer. Of the 64 public hospitals that published a median wait for this surgery in 2024–25, this one sits at 28 when they are ordered from shortest median to longest. Hospitals with the same median share a rank.

The median wait here has risen from 106 days in 2011–12 to 142 days in 2024–25 — up 34% — while the national median rose from 103 days to 133 days. The nearest public hospital with a shorter published wait is Townsville University Hospital, about 288 km away, at 88 days.

Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick "Varicose veins treatment" 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 Varicose veins treatment, 2024–25.
Where Median wait Waited more than 365 days Surgeries
Cairns Hospital142 daysnot published42 surgeries
Queensland (all public hospitals)189 days4.6%474 surgeries
Australia (all public hospitals)133 days9.5%3346 surgeries

Where the wait is shorter nearby

Bars show the median wait in days. The vertical line at 133 days marks the national median.

Distances are straight-line, measured between hospital locations, and are approximate. The search covered 1000 km — the radius was widened because fewer than four hospitals published a figure within 250 km.

How the wait has changed

Median wait for varicose veins treatment by financial year at Cairns Hospital, compared with Queensland and Australiadays01002003004002011–122014–152017–182020–212023–242024–25Cairns Hospital 142QLD 189Australia 133
  • Cairns Hospital
  • QLD
  • Australia
View these numbers as a table
Median wait in days for Varicose veins treatment, by financial year. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28.
Reference periodCairns Hospital (days)QLD (days)Australia (days)
2011–1210677103
2012–132735696
2013–142446497
2014–153540105
2015–167958104
2016–17507290
2017–187390101
2018–19351109108
2019–20253146129
2020–21128101223
2021–22126119208
2022–23268219216
2023–24232206189
2024–25142189133

Queensland's quarterly figures for vascular surgery

These are not figures for varicose veins treatment. Queensland reports by surgical specialty, not by procedure. A specialty covers many different operations, so a specialty figure is never a figure for any one of them.

Queensland Health publishes its own figures every three months. They count differently from the national figures above and are never combined with them. This quarter ends after the national reporting period, so it is the more recent of the two.

Covers July to September 2025, published by Queensland Health on 28 October 2025. Reported as Cairns.

Patients treated
196 patientsJuly to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025
Treated within the recommended time
98.5%July to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025
Still waiting at the end of the quarter
122 patientsJuly to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025
Waiting longer than recommended
1 patientJuly to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025

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

All surgery at Cairns Hospital · Varicose vein surgery across Australia · Varicose vein surgery in Queensland