---
title: "Category 1 (urgent) waiting times in South Australia"
description: "Category 1 (urgent) planned surgery in South Australia: the recommended maximum wait of 30 days, and each public hospital's on-time share for 2024–25."
url: "https://surgerywaits.au/urgency/category-1/sa/"
---

# Category 1 (urgent) waiting times in South Australia

Of the 25 public hospitals that published a figure for 2024–25, the share treated on time ranged from **100%** at [Ceduna District Health Service](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/ceduna-district-health-service/) down to **60%** at [Royal Adelaide Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/royal-adelaide-hospital/).

Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released 28 May 2026.

**Category 1 (urgent)** means surgery is recommended within **30 days** of being placed on the waiting list. Surgery that is clinically urgent: the condition can deteriorate quickly enough to become an emergency. The table ranks South Australia's public hospitals by the share of urgent patients treated within that time in 2024–25.

Urgency figures cover all planned surgery at the hospital, not one procedure. They are never combined with the procedure figures.

Category 1 (urgent) planned surgery at South Australia public hospitals, 2024–25, ranked by the share treated within the recommended time — highest first. Hospitals with the same figure share a rank; a hospital with no published figure is listed unranked. Every figure was released on 2026-05-28.

| Rank | Hospital | Treated on time | Median wait | Surgeries |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [Ceduna District Health Service](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/ceduna-district-health-service/) | 100% | 2 days | 18 surgeries |
| 1 | [Clare Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/clare-hospital/) | 100% | 7 days | 10 surgeries |
| 1 | [Crystal Brook and District Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/crystal-brook-and-district-hospital/) | 100% | 7 days | 11 surgeries |
| 1 | [Kangaroo Island Health Service](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/kangaroo-island-health-service/) | 100% | 6 days | 19 surgeries |
| 1 | [Women's and Children's Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/womens-and-childrens-hospital/) | 100% | 10 days | 1254 surgeries |
| 6 | [Northern Yorke Peninsula Health Service (Wallaroo)](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/northern-yorke-peninsula-health-service-wallaroo/) | 99% | 14 days | 65 surgeries |
| 7 | [Mount Barker District Soldiers' Memorial Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/mount-barker-district-soldiers-memorial-hospital/) | 98% | 5 days | 89 surgeries |
| 8 | [Lyell McEwin Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/lyell-mcewin-hospital/) | 97% | 18 days | 1287 surgeries |
| 9 | [Murray Bridge Soldiers' Memorial Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/murray-bridge-soldiers-memorial-hospital/) | 96% | 15 days | 48 surgeries |
| 9 | [Port Augusta Hospital and Regional Health Services](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/port-augusta-hospital-and-regional-health-services/) | 96% | 9 days | 128 surgeries |
| 11 | [Riverland General Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/riverland-general-hospital/) | 94% | 13 days | 196 surgeries |
| 12 | [Modbury Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/modbury-hospital/) | 93% | 25 days | 1332 surgeries |
| 12 | [Noarlunga Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/noarlunga-hospital/) | 93% | 21 days | 1735 surgeries |
| 14 | [Mount Gambier and Districts Health Service](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/mount-gambier-and-districts-health-service/) | 92% | 9 days | 396 surgeries |
| 14 | [Port Lincoln Health Service](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/port-lincoln-health-service/) | 92% | 13 days | 112 surgeries |
| 16 | [Angaston District Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/angaston-district-hospital/) | 91% | 14 days | 43 surgeries |
| 16 | [Flinders Medical Centre](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/flinders-medical-centre/) | 91% | 15 days | 4412 surgeries |
| 18 | [South Coast District Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/south-coast-district-hospital/) | 89% | 14 days | 102 surgeries |
| 19 | [Naracoorte Health Service](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/naracoorte-health-service/) | 88% | 16 days | 77 surgeries |
| 20 | [Gawler Health Service](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/gawler-health-service/) | 85% | 14 days | 119 surgeries |
| 21 | [Millicent and District Hospital and Health Service](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/millicent-and-district-hospital-and-health-service/) | 82% | 13 days | 34 surgeries |
| 22 | [Port Pirie Regional Health Service](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/port-pirie-regional-health-service/) | 75% | 27 days | 93 surgeries |
| 23 | [Whyalla Hospital and Health Services](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/whyalla-hospital-and-health-services/) | 74% | 19 days | 339 surgeries |
| 24 | [The Queen Elizabeth Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/the-queen-elizabeth-hospital/) | 68% | 22 days | 2672 surgeries |
| 25 | [Royal Adelaide Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/royal-adelaide-hospital/) | 60% | 26 days | 5544 surgeries |
| unranked | [Bordertown Memorial Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/bordertown-memorial-hospital/) | not published | not published | not published |
| unranked | [Jamestown Hospital and Health Service](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/jamestown-hospital-and-health-service/) | not published | not published | 8 surgeries |
| unranked | [Kapunda Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/kapunda-hospital/) | not published | not published | 5 surgeries |
| unranked | [Loxton Hospital Complex](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/loxton-hospital-complex/) | not published | not published | not published |
| unranked | [Renmark Paringa District Hospital](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/renmark-paringa-district-hospital/) | not published | not published | not published |
| unranked | [Waikerie Health Service](https://surgerywaits.au/hospital/waikerie-health-service/) | not published | not published | not published |

## What is not here

Public hospitals only. Private hospitals do not report to this collection, so their waiting times cannot be compared here.

Compare with [every state's hospitals](https://surgerywaits.au/urgency/category-1/), see [South Australia's waiting times by surgery](https://surgerywaits.au/state/sa/), or start from [what the urgency categories mean](https://surgerywaits.au/urgency/).

## 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/).

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This is the Markdown copy of https://surgerywaits.au/urgency/category-1/sa/.