--- title: "Eardrum drainage waiting times in Australian public hospitals" description: "Median public-hospital waiting time for Eardrum drainage in 2024–25: 80 days nationally, compared state by state and hospital by hospital." url: "https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/" --- # Eardrum drainage waiting times in Australian public hospitals The national median wait for eardrum drainage in Australian public hospitals was **80 days** in 2024–25 (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026). Hospital medians ranged from 1 day at [Karratha Health Campus](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/karratha-health-campus/myringotomy/) to 357 days at [Wagga Wagga Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/wagga-wagga-hospital/myringotomy/). The source publishes this surgery as "Myringotomy". Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released 28 May 2026. Across Australia, the median wait for eardrum drainage in public hospitals was **80 days** in 2024–25, from 5479 surgeries. 5.6% of people waited more than 365 days. 80 public hospitals published a median wait for it. **[Compare this near you →](https://surgerywaits.au/)** On the compare page, pick "Myringotomy" 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 80 days marks the national median. - [Queensland](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/qld/): 50 days - [Victoria](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/vic/): 69 days - [South Australia](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/sa/): 77 days - [Tasmania](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/tas/): 81 days - [Western Australia](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/wa/): 90 days - [New South Wales](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/nsw/): 120 days - [Northern Territory](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/nt/): not published Myringotomy in public hospitals by state and territory, 2024–25. States with the same median share a rank. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28. | Rank | State or territory | Median wait | Waited more than 365 days | Surgeries | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | [Queensland](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/qld/) | 50 days | 0.3% | 668 surgeries | | 2 | [Victoria](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/vic/) | 69 days | 4.7% | 1610 surgeries | | 3 | [South Australia](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/sa/) | 77 days | 2.2% | 599 surgeries | | 4 | [Tasmania](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/tas/) | 81 days | 5.0% | 140 surgeries | | 5 | [Western Australia](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/wa/) | 90 days | 4.7% | 830 surgeries | | 6 | [New South Wales](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/nsw/) | 120 days | 10.3% | 1537 surgeries | | unranked | [Northern Territory](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/nt/) | not published | not published | 95 surgeries | Ranked by area: [near the Adelaide CBD](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/near/adelaide-cbd/) · [near Box Hill](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/near/box-hill/) · [near Clayton](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/near/clayton/) · [near Liverpool](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/near/liverpool/) · [near Randwick](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/near/randwick/) · [near St Leonards](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/near/st-leonards/) · and 5 more areas on the state pages. ## How the wait has changed **View these numbers as a table** Median wait in days for Myringotomy, by financial year. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28. | Reference period | Australia (days) | QLD (days) | VIC (days) | SA (days) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2011–12 | 49 | 31 | 49 | 43 | | 2012–13 | 49 | 36 | 51 | 42 | | 2013–14 | 55 | 47 | 61 | 35 | | 2014–15 | 56 | 51 | 47 | 56 | | 2015–16 | 57 | 50 | 52 | 57 | | 2016–17 | 56 | 50 | 50 | 48 | | 2017–18 | 66 | 60 | 60 | 63 | | 2018–19 | 62 | 59 | 42 | 54 | | 2019–20 | 65 | 51 | 42 | 61 | | 2020–21 | 76 | 33 | 63 | 70 | | 2021–22 | 72 | 49 | 57 | 74 | | 2022–23 | 82 | 85 | 78 | 70 | | 2023–24 | 88 | 70 | 79 | 84 | | 2024–25 | 80 | 50 | 69 | 77 | ## Common questions ### How long is the wait for eardrum drainage in a public hospital? The national median was 80 days in 2024–25 (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026). Half of people waited less than that, half waited longer. State medians ranged from 50 days in Queensland to 120 days in New South Wales. ### Which public hospital has the shortest wait for eardrum drainage? Of the 80 public hospitals that published a median for 2024–25, [Karratha Health Campus](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/karratha-health-campus/myringotomy/) reported the shortest median, 1 day, and [Wagga Wagga Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/wagga-wagga-hospital/myringotomy/) the longest, 357 days (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026). A shorter median is not a recommendation. [How to read these figures](https://surgerywaits.au/methodology/). ### How many people waited more than a year? 5.6% of people who had eardrum drainage 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 eardrum drainage in Australian public hospitals was 80 days in 2024–25 (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026). ### Copy-ready citation ``` Surgery Waits, "Eardrum drainage waiting list by state, 2024–25", 2024–25 data released 28 May 2026, https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/, accessed 28 May 2026. ``` Attribution: Surgery Waits ([https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/](https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/)), 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](https://surgerywaits.au/charts/myringotomy.svg) — free to embed or link with the attribution below: ``` Median public hospital waiting time for Eardrum drainage 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](https://surgerywaits.au/methodology/). ## Before you use these figures Surgery Waits is not medical advice. It republishes official statistics about waiting times that have already happened, and it does not recommend any hospital, doctor or treatment. Your general practitioner (GP) and your treating specialist are the right people to help you decide what is appropriate for you. **In an emergency call 000.** Waiting-time figures: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare MyHospitals, licensed under [CC BY 3.0 AU](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/). Quarterly state figures: Queensland Health. Suburb and locality data: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Both licensed under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Surgery Waits is not connected with any of these organisations. Surgery Waits is published by [National Digital](https://nationaldigital.com.au/). * * * This is the Markdown copy of https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/myringotomy/.