Breast removal waiting times in Australian public hospitals
The national median wait for breast removal in Australian public hospitals was 19 days in 2024–25 (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026). Hospital medians ranged from 5 days at The Alfred to 49 days at Concord Repatriation Hospital. The source publishes this surgery as "Mastectomy".
Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released 28 May 2026.
Across Australia, the median wait for breast removal in public hospitals was 19 days in 2024–25, from 4551 surgeries. 1.9% of people waited more than 365 days. 97 public hospitals published a median wait for it.
Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick "Mastectomy" 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
Bars show the median wait in days. The vertical line at 19 days marks the national median.
Victoria: 13 days
Western Australia: 18 days
South Australia: 19 days
Queensland: 20 days
New South Wales: 21 days
Tasmania: 23 days
Australian Capital Territory: not published
Northern Territory: not published
| Rank | State or territory | Median wait | Waited more than 365 days | Surgeries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victoria | 13 days | 2.2% | 979 surgeries |
| 2 | Western Australia | 18 days | 2.1% | 576 surgeries |
| 3 | South Australia | 19 days | 2.0% | 503 surgeries |
| 4 | Queensland | 20 days | 1.3% | 1057 surgeries |
| 5 | New South Wales | 21 days | 1.8% | 1183 surgeries |
| 6 | Tasmania | 23 days | 2.5% | 121 surgeries |
| unranked | Australian Capital Territory | not published | not published | 88 surgeries |
| unranked | Northern Territory | not published | not published | 44 surgeries |
Ranked by area: near Herston · near Liverpool · near the Perth CBD · near Randwick · near Westmead · near Woolloongabba · and 10 more areas on the state pages.
How the wait has changed
- Australia
- VIC
- WA
- SA
View these numbers as a table
| Reference period | Australia (days) | VIC (days) | WA (days) | SA (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 20 |
| 2017–18 | 16 | 15 | 18 | 18 |
| 2018–19 | 17 | 14 | 18 | 19 |
| 2019–20 | 17 | 14 | 16 | 15 |
| 2020–21 | 18 | 13 | 17 | 17 |
| 2021–22 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 18 |
| 2022–23 | 17 | 13 | 17 | 16 |
| 2023–24 | 19 | 14 | 18 | 19 |
| 2024–25 | 19 | 13 | 18 | 19 |
Common questions
How long is the wait for breast removal in a public hospital?
The national median was 19 days in 2024–25 (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026). Half of people waited less than that, half waited longer. State medians ranged from 13 days in Victoria to 23 days in Tasmania.
Which public hospital has the shortest wait for breast removal?
Of the 97 public hospitals that published a median for 2024–25, The Alfred reported the shortest median, 5 days, and Concord Repatriation Hospital the longest, 49 days (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026). A shorter median is not a recommendation. How to read these figures.
How many people waited more than a year?
1.9% of people who had breast removal in an Australian public hospital in 2024–25 waited more than 365 days (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026).
Cite this page
The national median wait for breast removal in Australian public hospitals was 19 days in 2024–25 (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026).
Copy-ready citation
Surgery Waits, "Breast removal waiting list by state, 2024–25", 2024–25 data released 28 May 2026, https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/mastectomy/, accessed 28 May 2026.Attribution: Surgery Waits (https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/mastectomy/), 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/mastectomy.svg" width="720" height="352" alt="Median public hospital waiting time for Breast removal 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.