Surgery Waits

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 down to 60% at Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Reference period 2024–25 (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) · released

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 100% 2 days 18 surgeries
1 Clare Hospital 100% 7 days 10 surgeries
1 Crystal Brook and District Hospital 100% 7 days 11 surgeries
1 Kangaroo Island Health Service 100% 6 days 19 surgeries
1 Women's and Children's Hospital 100% 10 days 1254 surgeries
6 Northern Yorke Peninsula Health Service (Wallaroo) 99% 14 days 65 surgeries
7 Mount Barker District Soldiers' Memorial Hospital 98% 5 days 89 surgeries
8 Lyell McEwin Hospital 97% 18 days 1287 surgeries
9 Murray Bridge Soldiers' Memorial Hospital 96% 15 days 48 surgeries
9 Port Augusta Hospital and Regional Health Services 96% 9 days 128 surgeries
11 Riverland General Hospital 94% 13 days 196 surgeries
12 Modbury Hospital 93% 25 days 1332 surgeries
12 Noarlunga Hospital 93% 21 days 1735 surgeries
14 Mount Gambier and Districts Health Service 92% 9 days 396 surgeries
14 Port Lincoln Health Service 92% 13 days 112 surgeries
16 Angaston District Hospital 91% 14 days 43 surgeries
16 Flinders Medical Centre 91% 15 days 4412 surgeries
18 South Coast District Hospital 89% 14 days 102 surgeries
19 Naracoorte Health Service 88% 16 days 77 surgeries
20 Gawler Health Service 85% 14 days 119 surgeries
21 Millicent and District Hospital and Health Service 82% 13 days 34 surgeries
22 Port Pirie Regional Health Service 75% 27 days 93 surgeries
23 Whyalla Hospital and Health Services 74% 19 days 339 surgeries
24 The Queen Elizabeth Hospital 68% 22 days 2672 surgeries
25 Royal Adelaide Hospital 60% 26 days 5544 surgeries
unranked Bordertown Memorial Hospital not published not published not published
unranked Jamestown Hospital and Health Service not published not published 8 surgeries
unranked Kapunda Hospital not published not published 5 surgeries
unranked Loxton Hospital Complex not published not published not published
unranked Renmark Paringa District Hospital not published not published not published
unranked 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, see South Australia's waiting times by surgery, or start from what the urgency categories mean.