Bunion surgery waiting times in Australian public hospitals
The national median wait for bunion surgery in Australian public hospitals was 183 days in 2024–25 — from 32 days at St Vincent's Hospital [Melbourne] to 402 days at Wollongong Hospital. The source publishes this surgery as "Bunion (hallux valgus) - removal of".
Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released
Across Australia, the median wait for bunion surgery in public hospitals was 183 days in 2024–25, from 616 surgeries. 16.2% of people waited more than 365 days. 19 public hospitals published a median wait for it.
Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick "Bunion (hallux valgus) - removal of" and type your suburb to see the public hospitals within reach, ordered by their published wait. Nothing you type there is kept.
State by state
| Rank | State or territory | Median wait | Waited more than 365 days | Surgeries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victoria | 95 days | 14.3% | 189 surgeries |
| 2 | Queensland | 168 days | 12.1% | 116 surgeries |
| 3 | New South Wales | 285 days | 20.8% | 212 surgeries |
| unranked | Northern Territory | not published | not published | 9 surgeries |
| unranked | South Australia | not published | not published | 15 surgeries |
| unranked | Western Australia | not published | not published | 75 surgeries |
How the wait has changed
- Australia
- VIC
- QLD
- NSW
View these numbers as a table
| Reference period | Australia (days) | VIC (days) | QLD (days) | NSW (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | 137 | 67 | 126 | 281 |
| 2017–18 | 121 | 69 | 118 | 252 |
| 2018–19 | 142 | 71 | 197 | 267 |
| 2019–20 | 137 | 94 | 155 | 277 |
| 2020–21 | 262 | 203 | 221 | 323 |
| 2021–22 | 231 | 162 | not published | 318 |
| 2022–23 | 222 | 181 | not published | 300 |
| 2023–24 | 206 | 159 | 301 | 267 |
| 2024–25 | 183 | 95 | 168 | 285 |
Common questions
How long is the wait for bunion surgery in a public hospital?
The national median was 183 days in 2024–25 — half of people waited less than that, half waited longer. State medians ranged from 95 days in Victoria to 285 days in New South Wales.
Which public hospital has the shortest wait for bunion surgery?
Of the 19 public hospitals that published a median for 2024–25, St Vincent's Hospital [Melbourne] reported the shortest (32 days) and Wollongong Hospital the longest (402 days). A shorter median is not a recommendation — how to read these figures.
How many people waited more than a year?
16.2% of people who had bunion surgery in an Australian public hospital in 2024–25 waited more than 365 days.
Cite this page
The national median wait for bunion surgery in Australian public hospitals was 183 days in 2024–25, from 32 days at St Vincent's Hospital [Melbourne] to 402 days at Wollongong Hospital.
Copy-ready citation
SurgeryWaits, "Bunion surgery waiting list by state, 2024–25", 2024–25 data released 28 May 2026, https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/bunion-surgery/, accessed 28 May 2026.Attribution: SurgeryWaits (https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/bunion-surgery/), from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare MyHospitals data, CC BY 3.0 AU. Reference period 2024–25, released 28 May 2026.
Embed the chart
The state comparison is also published as a standalone image at a stable address — the SVG chart — free to embed or link with the attribution below:
<img src="https://surgerywaits.au/charts/bunion-surgery.svg" width="720" height="250" alt="Median public hospital waiting time for Bunion surgery by state and territory, 2024–25">What is not here
Public hospitals only. Private hospitals do not report to this collection, so their waiting times cannot be compared here.
The source calls this collection "elective surgery". This site calls it planned surgery, because the surgery is planned in advance rather than optional — the methodology explains the wording.