Surgery Waits

Cataract surgery waiting time at Shellharbour Hospital

Half of patients at Shellharbour Hospital waited 319 days or less for cataract surgery in 2024–25 (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026). The source publishes this surgery as "Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion)". This public hospital is in the Shellharbour City Centre area of New South Wales.

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
319 days2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
Surgeries completed
2596 surgeries2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
Waited more than 365 days
22.5%2024–25 · released 28 May 2026

Half the people who had this surgery here waited less than the median, and half waited longer. Of the 132 public hospitals that published a median wait for this surgery in 2024–25, this one sits at 116 when they are ordered from shortest median to longest. Hospitals with the same median share a rank.

The median wait here has risen from 218 days in 2011–12 to 319 days in 2024–25 — up 46% — while the national median rose from 89 days to 106 days. The nearest public hospital with a shorter published wait is Bowral Hospital, about 39 km away, at 204 days. Here, 22.5% of people waited more than 365 days for this surgery; nationally it was 11.5%.

Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick "Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion)" 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 Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion), 2024–25.
Where Median wait Waited more than 365 days Surgeries
Shellharbour Hospital319 days22.5%2596 surgeries
New South Wales (all public hospitals)268 days22.0%32695 surgeries
Australia (all public hospitals)106 days11.5%87841 surgeries

Where the wait is shorter nearby

Bars show the median wait in days. The vertical line at 106 days marks the national median.

Distances are straight-line, measured between hospital locations, and are approximate. The search covered 250 km.

How the wait has changed

Median wait for cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion) by financial year at Shellharbour Hospital, compared with New South Wales and Australiadays01002003004002011–122014–152017–182020–212023–242024–25Shellharbour Hospital 319NSW 268Australia 106
View these numbers as a table
Median wait in days for Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion), by financial year. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28.
Reference periodShellharbour Hospital (days)NSW (days)Australia (days)
2011–1221823389
2012–1323823889
2013–1422421879
2014–1527122183
2015–1629324093
2016–1730622485
2017–1831022387
2018–1931424584
2019–2034928698
2020–21306290172
2021–22304278158
2022–23301282133
2023–24307262119
2024–25319268106

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

All surgery at Shellharbour Hospital · Cataract surgery across Australia · Cataract surgery in New South Wales · All surgery waits in New South Wales