Gallbladder removal waiting times in Australian public hospitals
The national median wait for gallbladder removal in Australian public hospitals was 48 days in 2024–25 — from 1 day at Thursday Island Hospital to 219 days at Campbelltown Hospital. The source publishes this surgery as "Cholecystectomy (open/laparoscopic)".
Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released
Across Australia, the median wait for gallbladder removal in public hospitals was 48 days in 2024–25, from 18067 surgeries. 2.3% of people waited more than 365 days. 176 public hospitals published a median wait for it.
Compare this near you → On the compare page, pick "Cholecystectomy (open/laparoscopic)" 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 | 28 days | 1.2% | 4488 surgeries |
| 2 | Northern Territory | 42 days | 0.0% | 118 surgeries |
| 3 | Tasmania | 46 days | 4.2% | 430 surgeries |
| 4 | Queensland | 53 days | 1.3% | 3498 surgeries |
| 5 | New South Wales | 58 days | 3.2% | 6357 surgeries |
| 5 | South Australia | 58 days | 2.9% | 1396 surgeries |
| 5 | Western Australia | 58 days | 3.1% | 1780 surgeries |
How the wait has changed
- Australia
- VIC
- NT
- TAS
View these numbers as a table
| Reference period | Australia (days) | VIC (days) | NT (days) | TAS (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 | 51 | 54 | 63 | 89 |
| 2012–13 | 50 | 60 | 58 | 71 |
| 2013–14 | 46 | 47 | 49 | 71 |
| 2014–15 | 43 | 36 | 50 | 59 |
| 2015–16 | 42 | 31 | 43 | 83 |
| 2016–17 | 41 | 31 | 43 | 33 |
| 2017–18 | 45 | 35 | 36 | 39 |
| 2018–19 | 45 | 30 | 45 | 89 |
| 2019–20 | 48 | 29 | 42 | 70 |
| 2020–21 | 56 | 45 | 39 | 82 |
| 2021–22 | 53 | 37 | 33 | 58 |
| 2022–23 | 59 | 48 | 35 | 64 |
| 2023–24 | 46 | 27 | 29 | 44 |
| 2024–25 | 48 | 28 | 42 | 46 |
Common questions
How long is the wait for gallbladder removal in a public hospital?
The national median was 48 days in 2024–25 — half of people waited less than that, half waited longer. State medians ranged from 28 days in Victoria to 58 days in Western Australia.
Which public hospital has the shortest wait for gallbladder removal?
Of the 176 public hospitals that published a median for 2024–25, Thursday Island Hospital reported the shortest (1 day) and Campbelltown Hospital the longest (219 days). A shorter median is not a recommendation — how to read these figures.
How many people waited more than a year?
2.3% of people who had gallbladder removal in an Australian public hospital in 2024–25 waited more than 365 days.
Cite this page
The national median wait for gallbladder removal in Australian public hospitals was 48 days in 2024–25, from 1 day at Thursday Island Hospital to 219 days at Campbelltown Hospital.
Copy-ready citation
SurgeryWaits, "Gallbladder removal waiting list by state, 2024–25", 2024–25 data released 28 May 2026, https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/gallbladder-removal/, accessed 28 May 2026.Attribution: SurgeryWaits (https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/gallbladder-removal/), 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/gallbladder-removal.svg" width="720" height="386" alt="Median public hospital waiting time for Gallbladder removal 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.