Kidney drainage stent insertion waiting times in Australian public hospitals
The national median wait for kidney drainage stent insertion in Australian public hospitals was 24 days in 2024–25 (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026). Hospital medians ranged from 1 day at Port Macquarie Base Hospital to 193 days at Redcliffe Hospital. The source publishes this surgery as "Ureteric stent - insertion of".
Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released 28 May 2026.
Across Australia, the median wait for kidney drainage stent insertion in public hospitals was 24 days in 2024–25, from 2982 surgeries. 0.6% of people waited more than 365 days. 39 public hospitals published a median wait for it.
Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick "Ureteric stent - insertion of" 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 24 days marks the national median.
Queensland: 18 days
Victoria: 21 days
New South Wales: 28 days
South Australia: 42 days
Northern Territory: not published
Western Australia: not published
| Rank | State or territory | Median wait | Waited more than 365 days | Surgeries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Queensland | 18 days | 0.4% | 814 surgeries |
| 2 | Victoria | 21 days | 0.0% | 207 surgeries |
| 3 | New South Wales | 28 days | 0.5% | 1611 surgeries |
| 4 | South Australia | 42 days | 2.7% | 226 surgeries |
| unranked | Northern Territory | not published | not published | 74 surgeries |
| unranked | Western Australia | not published | not published | 50 surgeries |
Ranked by area: near Elizabeth Vale · near Frankston · near Herston · near Randwick · near Westmead · near Woolloongabba · and 1 more area on the state pages.
How the wait has changed
- Australia
- QLD
- VIC
- NSW
View these numbers as a table
| Reference period | Australia (days) | QLD (days) | VIC (days) | NSW (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | 17 | 14 | not published | 15 |
| 2017–18 | 21 | 15 | 15 | 21 |
| 2018–19 | 22 | 14 | 20 | 27 |
| 2019–20 | 21 | 14 | not published | 24 |
| 2020–21 | 22 | 15 | 14 | 27 |
| 2021–22 | 21 | 14 | 20 | 22 |
| 2022–23 | 24 | 15 | 21 | 27 |
| 2023–24 | 26 | 20 | 16 | 28 |
| 2024–25 | 24 | 18 | 21 | 28 |
Common questions
How long is the wait for kidney drainage stent insertion in a public hospital?
The national median was 24 days in 2024–25 (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026). Half of people waited less than that, half waited longer. State medians ranged from 18 days in Queensland to 42 days in South Australia.
Which public hospital has the shortest wait for kidney drainage stent insertion?
Of the 39 public hospitals that published a median for 2024–25, Port Macquarie Base Hospital reported the shortest median, 1 day, and Redcliffe Hospital the longest, 193 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?
0.6% of people who had kidney drainage stent insertion 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 kidney drainage stent insertion in Australian public hospitals was 24 days in 2024–25 (AIHW MyHospitals, released 28 May 2026).
Copy-ready citation
Surgery Waits, "Kidney drainage stent insertion waiting list", 2024–25 data released 28 May 2026, https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/ureteric-stent-insertion-of/, accessed 28 May 2026.Attribution: Surgery Waits (https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/ureteric-stent-insertion-of/), 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/ureteric-stent-insertion-of.svg" width="720" height="284" alt="Median public hospital waiting time for Kidney drainage stent insertion 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.