Brain surgery through the skull (craniotomy) waiting time at Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital
Half of patients at Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital waited 54 days or less for brain surgery through the skull (craniotomy) in 2024–25 (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026). The source publishes this surgery as "Craniotomy". This public hospital is in the Herston area of Queensland.
Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released 28 May 2026.
These figures describe surgery that already happened, not your own wait.
- Median wait
- 54 days2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
- Surgeries completed
- 19 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 25 public hospitals that published a median wait for this surgery in 2024–25, this one sits at 22 when they are ordered from shortest median to longest. Hospitals with the same median share a rank.
The median wait here has risen from 18 days in 2016–17 to 54 days in 2024–25 — up 200% — while the national median rose from 14 days to 20 days. The nearest public hospital with a shorter published wait is Queensland Children's Hospital, about 4 km away, at 8 days.
Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick "Craniotomy" 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
| Where | Median wait | Waited more than 365 days | Surgeries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital | 54 days | not published | 19 surgeries |
| New South Wales (all public hospitals) | 15 days | 1.0% | 485 surgeries |
| Queensland (all public hospitals) | not published | not published | 70 surgeries |
| Australia (all public hospitals) | 20 days | 0.9% | 1392 surgeries |
Where the wait is shorter nearby
Bars show the median wait in days. The vertical line at 20 days marks the national median.
Queensland Children's Hospital, QLD · about 4 km away: 8 days
Princess Alexandra Hospital, QLD · about 6 km away: 57 days
Gold Coast University Hospital, QLD · about 67 km away: 86 days
John Hunter Hospital, NSW · about 622 km away: 36 days
Royal North Shore Hospital, NSW · about 730 km away: 126 days
The Children's Hospital at Westmead, NSW · about 733 km away: 8 days
Westmead Hospital, NSW · about 733 km away: 12 days
Concord Repatriation Hospital, NSW · about 734 km away: 10 days
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.
Some of these hospitals are in another state — a public hospital referral can cross the border, so ask your GP what that would mean for you. See also where crossing a border cuts the wait most.
How the wait has changed
- Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital
- QLD
- Australia
View these numbers as a table
| Reference period | Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital (days) | QLD (days) | Australia (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | 18 | 10 | 14 |
| 2017–18 | 26 | 21 | 17 |
| 2018–19 | 26 | not published | 19 |
| 2019–20 | 23 | 13 | 14 |
| 2020–21 | 17 | 13 | 15 |
| 2021–22 | 30 | 20 | 14 |
| 2022–23 | 30 | 21 | 18 |
| 2023–24 | 62 | not published | 22 |
| 2024–25 | 54 | not published | 20 |
Queensland's quarterly figures for neurosurgery
These are not figures for craniotomy. 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 Royal Brisbane & Women's.
- Patients treated
- 157 patientsJuly to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025
- Treated within the recommended time
- 64.3%July to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025
- Still waiting at the end of the quarter
- 334 patientsJuly to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025
- Waiting longer than recommended
- 102 patientsJuly to September 2025 · released 28 October 2025
Public hospitals only — what these figures include and leave out.
All surgery at Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital · Brain surgery through the skull (craniotomy) across Australia · Brain surgery through the skull (craniotomy) in Queensland · All surgery waits in Queensland