Squint surgery waiting times in Australian public hospitals
The national median wait for squint surgery in Australian public hospitals was 155 days in 2024–25 — from 40 days at Bunbury Hospital to 387 days at Sydney Hospital / Sydney Eye Hospital. The source publishes this surgery as "Procedure for strabismus (squint repair)".
Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released
Across Australia, the median wait for squint surgery in public hospitals was 155 days in 2024–25, from 1087 surgeries. 14.4% of people waited more than 365 days. 25 public hospitals published a median wait for it.
Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick "Procedure for strabismus (squint repair)" 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 | 93 days | 12.3% | 114 surgeries |
| 2 | Queensland | 100 days | 10.3% | 377 surgeries |
| 3 | South Australia | 154 days | 16.2% | 105 surgeries |
| 4 | Western Australia | 183 days | 8.9% | 213 surgeries |
| 5 | New South Wales | 281 days | 25.4% | 264 surgeries |
| unranked | Northern Territory | not published | not published | 14 surgeries |
How the wait has changed
- Australia
- VIC
- QLD
- SA
View these numbers as a table
| Reference period | Australia (days) | VIC (days) | QLD (days) | SA (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | 85 | 58 | 75 | 84 |
| 2017–18 | 101 | 71 | 75 | 202 |
| 2018–19 | 123 | 122 | 83 | 204 |
| 2019–20 | 146 | 149 | 89 | not published |
| 2020–21 | 168 | 131 | 98 | not published |
| 2021–22 | 174 | 137 | 140 | not published |
| 2022–23 | 212 | 123 | 207 | 101 |
| 2023–24 | 141 | not published | 100 | not published |
| 2024–25 | 155 | 93 | 100 | 154 |
Common questions
How long is the wait for squint surgery in a public hospital?
The national median was 155 days in 2024–25 — half of people waited less than that, half waited longer. State medians ranged from 93 days in Victoria to 281 days in New South Wales.
Which public hospital has the shortest wait for squint surgery?
Of the 25 public hospitals that published a median for 2024–25, Bunbury Hospital reported the shortest (40 days) and Sydney Hospital / Sydney Eye Hospital the longest (387 days). A shorter median is not a recommendation — how to read these figures.
How many people waited more than a year?
14.4% of people who had squint surgery in an Australian public hospital in 2024–25 waited more than 365 days.
Cite this page
The national median wait for squint surgery in Australian public hospitals was 155 days in 2024–25, from 40 days at Bunbury Hospital to 387 days at Sydney Hospital / Sydney Eye Hospital.
Copy-ready citation
SurgeryWaits, "Squint surgery waiting list by state, 2024–25", 2024–25 data released 28 May 2026, https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/squint-surgery/, accessed 28 May 2026.Attribution: SurgeryWaits (https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/squint-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/squint-surgery.svg" width="720" height="318" alt="Median public hospital waiting time for Squint 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.