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 to 357 days at Wagga Wagga Hospital. 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 → 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: 50 days
Victoria: 69 days
South Australia: 77 days
Tasmania: 81 days
Western Australia: 90 days
New South Wales: 120 days
Northern Territory: not published
| Rank | State or territory | Median wait | Waited more than 365 days | Surgeries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Queensland | 50 days | 0.3% | 668 surgeries |
| 2 | Victoria | 69 days | 4.7% | 1610 surgeries |
| 3 | South Australia | 77 days | 2.2% | 599 surgeries |
| 4 | Tasmania | 81 days | 5.0% | 140 surgeries |
| 5 | Western Australia | 90 days | 4.7% | 830 surgeries |
| 6 | New South Wales | 120 days | 10.3% | 1537 surgeries |
| unranked | Northern Territory | not published | not published | 95 surgeries |
Ranked by area: near the Adelaide CBD · near Box Hill · near Clayton · near Liverpool · near Randwick · near St Leonards · and 5 more areas on the state pages.
How the wait has changed
- Australia
- QLD
- VIC
- SA
View these numbers as a table
| 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 reported the shortest median, 1 day, and Wagga Wagga Hospital the longest, 357 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?
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/), 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/myringotomy.svg" width="720" height="352" alt="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.