Surgery Waits

Cataract surgery waiting times in New South Wales

The median wait for cataract surgery in New South Wales public hospitals was 268 days in 2024–25 (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026). The national median was 106 days. The source publishes this surgery as "Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion)".

Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released 28 May 2026.

50 public hospitals in New South Wales reported cataract surgery in 2024–25. They are ranked by their published median wait alone, shortest first.

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.

3 hospitals have no published median wait for this surgery in this period. They are listed last, marked "not published", and are never ranked.

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

Cataract extraction (with or without intra-ocular lens insertion) in New South Wales public hospitals, 2024–25. Hospitals with the same median share a rank and the next rank is skipped. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28.
Rank Hospital Median wait Waited more than 365 days Surgeries
1 Concord Repatriation Hospital 36 days 0.0% 705 surgeries
2 Royal Prince Alfred Hospital 44 days 0.0% 641 surgeries
2 The Children's Hospital at Westmead 44 days not published 13 surgeries
4 Muswellbrook Hospital 62 days 0.0% 261 surgeries
5 Gloucester Soldiers' Memorial Hospital 67 days 0.0% 864 surgeries
6 Hawkesbury Hospital 77 days not published 21 surgeries
7 Port Macquarie Base Hospital 82 days 4.6% 175 surgeries
8 Griffith Base Hospital 90 days 0.0% 59 surgeries
9 Wyong Hospital 93 days 1.3% 1888 surgeries
10 Lismore Base Hospital 106 days 28.4% 1174 surgeries
11 Belmont Hospital 111 days 10.8% 213 surgeries
12 Prince of Wales Hospital 134 days 26.2% 84 surgeries
13 Mudgee Health Service 138 days 0.0% 212 surgeries
13 Murwillumbah District Hospital 138 days 11.8% 642 surgeries
15 Goulburn Base Hospital 169 days 0.0% 344 surgeries
15 Manning Hospital 169 days 18.2% 66 surgeries
17 Lachlan Health Service - Forbes 182 days 2.7% 262 surgeries
18 Gosford Hospital 183 days not published 10 surgeries
19 Sutherland Hospital 200 days 6.1% 247 surgeries
20 Dubbo Hospital 201 days 6.6% 572 surgeries
21 Bowral Hospital 204 days 3.9% 489 surgeries
21 Liverpool Hospital 204 days 35.4% 616 surgeries
23 Kempsey District Hospital 208 days 0.6% 781 surgeries
24 Moree Hospital 217 days 10.6% 132 surgeries
25 Broken Hill Hospital 222 days 14.2% 232 surgeries
26 Lithgow Hospital 231 days 0.0% 300 surgeries
27 Batemans Bay Hospital 233 days 15.4% 344 surgeries
28 Bourke Multi Purpose Service 238 days 3.9% 155 surgeries
29 Armidale Hospital 269 days 9.8% 326 surgeries
30 Auburn Hospital 280 days 26.2% 466 surgeries
31 Blue Mountains Hospital 281 days 3.0% 539 surgeries
32 Bankstown Lidcombe Hospital 307 days 17.4% 737 surgeries
33 Inverell Hospital 313 days 13.1% 252 surgeries
34 Campbelltown Hospital 317 days 17.1% 1019 surgeries
35 Shellharbour Hospital 319 days 22.5% 2596 surgeries
36 Kurri Kurri Hospital 327 days 25.5% 2294 surgeries
37 Bathurst Base Hospital 330 days 0.2% 425 surgeries
37 South East Regional Hospital 330 days 1.2% 343 surgeries
39 Tamworth Hospital 331 days 14.8% 1051 surgeries
40 Orange Health Service 335 days 13.0% 586 surgeries
41 Wagga Wagga Hospital 338 days 27.8% 687 surgeries
42 Cowra Health Service 339 days 23.0% 187 surgeries
43 Westmead Hospital 351 days 44.6% 1774 surgeries
44 Sydney Hospital / Sydney Eye Hospital 353 days 41.1% 4574 surgeries
45 Grafton Base Hospital 354 days 40.8% 764 surgeries
45 Royal North Shore Hospital 354 days 39.8% 1118 surgeries
47 Macksville District Hospital 366 days 50.1% 1443 surgeries
unranked John Hunter Hospital not published not published 8 surgeries
unranked Nepean Hospital not published not published not published
unranked Sydney Children's Hospital not published not published not published

Ranked by area in New South Wales: near Camperdown · near Gosford · near Liverpool · near Randwick · near Westmead.

Cite this page

The median wait for cataract surgery in New South Wales public hospitals was 268 days in 2024–25 (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026).

Copy-ready citation

Surgery Waits, "Cataract surgery waiting times in New South Wales", 2024–25 data released 28 May 2026, https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/cataract-surgery/nsw/, accessed 28 May 2026.

Attribution: Surgery Waits (https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/cataract-surgery/nsw/), from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare MyHospitals data, CC BY 3.0 AU. Reference period 2024–25, released 28 May 2026.

What is not here

Public hospitals only. Private hospitals do not report to this collection, so their waiting times cannot be compared here.

Waiting times differ across state borders, and a referral can cross one — read what that means. Compare with every other state, or see every surgery reported in New South Wales.