Surgery Waits

Cleft lip and palate repair waiting time at Sydney Children's Hospital

Half of patients at Sydney Children's Hospital waited 80 days or less for cleft lip and palate repair in 2024–25 (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026). The source publishes this surgery as "Cleft lip and palate - repair of". This public hospital is in the Randwick 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
80 days2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
Surgeries completed
66 surgeries2024–25 · released 28 May 2026
Waited more than 365 days
0.0%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 8 public hospitals that published a median wait for this surgery in 2024–25, this one sits at 2 when they are ordered from shortest median to longest. Hospitals with the same median share a rank.

The median wait here has fallen from 92 days in 2016–17 to 80 days in 2024–25 — down 13% — while the national median rose from 53 days to 80 days. The nearest public hospital with a shorter published wait is Queensland Children's Hospital, about 735 km away, at 53 days. Here, 0.0% of people waited more than 365 days for this surgery; nationally it was 4.5%.

Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick "Cleft lip and palate - repair of" 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 Cleft lip and palate - repair of, 2024–25.
Where Median wait Waited more than 365 days Surgeries
Sydney Children's Hospital80 days0.0%66 surgeries
New South Wales (all public hospitals)87 days1.1%185 surgeries
Queensland (all public hospitals)58 days3.0%133 surgeries
Victoria (all public hospitals)91 days11.1%162 surgeries
Australia (all public hospitals)80 days4.5%597 surgeries

Where the wait is shorter nearby

Bars show the median wait in days. The vertical line at 80 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.

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

Median wait for cleft lip and palate - repair of by financial year at Sydney Children's Hospital, compared with New South Wales and Australiadays03163941252016–172018–192020–212022–232024–25Sydney Children's Hospital 80NSW 87Australia 80
View these numbers as a table
Median wait in days for Cleft lip and palate - repair of, by financial year. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28.
Reference periodSydney Children's Hospital (days)NSW (days)Australia (days)
2016–17928553
2017–18698468
2018–19707478
2019–20929064
2020–21798271
2021–221069482
2022–23889289
2023–24788381
2024–25808780

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

All surgery at Sydney Children's Hospital · Cleft lip and palate repair across Australia · Cleft lip and palate repair in New South Wales · All surgery waits in New South Wales