Heart valve replacement waiting times in Australian public hospitals
The national median wait for heart valve replacement in Australian public hospitals was 33 days in 2024–25 — from 1 day at Wollongong Hospital to 227 days at Royal Children's Hospital [Parkville].
Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released
Across Australia, the median wait for heart valve replacement in public hospitals was 33 days in 2024–25, from 2205 surgeries. 0.9% 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 "Heart valve replacement" 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 | New South Wales | 22 days | 0.0% | 574 surgeries |
| 2 | Victoria | 26 days | 1.2% | 676 surgeries |
| 3 | Queensland | 34 days | 1.6% | 434 surgeries |
| 4 | South Australia | 39 days | 0.8% | 236 surgeries |
| 5 | Western Australia | 63 days | 0.7% | 267 surgeries |
| unranked | Australian Capital Territory | not published | not published | 18 surgeries |
How the wait has changed
- Australia
- NSW
- VIC
- QLD
View these numbers as a table
| Reference period | Australia (days) | NSW (days) | VIC (days) | QLD (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | 25 | 35 | 26 | 18 |
| 2017–18 | 29 | 37 | 36 | 20 |
| 2018–19 | 28 | 37 | 27 | 23 |
| 2019–20 | 26 | 35 | 25 | 26 |
| 2020–21 | 27 | 28 | 25 | 30 |
| 2021–22 | 28 | 34 | 25 | 31 |
| 2022–23 | 29 | 21 | 27 | 36 |
| 2023–24 | 30 | 21 | 29 | 39 |
| 2024–25 | 33 | 22 | 26 | 34 |
Common questions
How long is the wait for heart valve replacement in a public hospital?
The national median was 33 days in 2024–25 — half of people waited less than that, half waited longer. State medians ranged from 22 days in New South Wales to 63 days in Western Australia.
Which public hospital has the shortest wait for heart valve replacement?
Of the 25 public hospitals that published a median for 2024–25, Wollongong Hospital reported the shortest (1 day) and Royal Children's Hospital [Parkville] the longest (227 days). A shorter median is not a recommendation — how to read these figures.
How many people waited more than a year?
0.9% of people who had heart valve replacement in an Australian public hospital in 2024–25 waited more than 365 days.
Cite this page
The national median wait for heart valve replacement in Australian public hospitals was 33 days in 2024–25, from 1 day at Wollongong Hospital to 227 days at Royal Children's Hospital [Parkville].
Copy-ready citation
Surgery Waits, "Heart valve replacement waiting list by state, 2024–25", 2024–25 data released 28 May 2026, https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/heart-valve-replacement/, accessed 28 May 2026.Attribution: Surgery Waits (https://surgerywaits.au/surgery/heart-valve-replacement/), 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/heart-valve-replacement.svg" width="720" height="318" alt="Median public hospital waiting time for Heart valve replacement 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.