Planned surgery Activity

Planned surgery

Queensland Health provides free access to specialist consultations and surgeries that can be planned and booked in advance. This page provides information about the demand for planned surgeries. Following an initial assessment by a specialist, it may be determined that a patient required a planned surgical procedure based on the patient's symptoms and health condition. Patients may be referred for a specialist assessment through their General Practitioner (GP).

Planned surgery activity summary

Planned surgeries (also called elective surgeries) are surgeries that can be booked in advance. Patients are referred to specialists through their GP for a clinical assessment based on their symptoms and health condition, and a decision may be made for the patient to be placed on a waiting list for planned surgery. Some patients will receive planned surgery through the Surgery Connect program, which is a Queensland Health initiative that provides an opportunity to treat selected public patients in a private hospital.

At a glance

Demand for planned surgery

Waiting lists for planned surgery

Surgeries are classified into groups known as ‘specialties’ according to the area of the body being treated or the branch of medicine that a surgeon specialises in. Patients are referred by their GP to be assessed clinically by a surgeon or specialist, who will determine if a patient requires surgery. The specialist will then assign the patient an urgency category (1 to 3), where 1 is most urgent and 3 is least urgent and will place the patient on a waiting list.

Waiting lists are managed centrally and vary due to the demand for services and hospital resourcing. The waiting time for planned surgery is calculated as the time between the date the patient was placed on the waiting list and the date the patient was removed from the waiting list for their planned surgery, excluding any periods the patient was not ready for care and any periods that the patient was waiting at a less urgent category than their assigned category at the date of surgery.

Planned surgeries performed

When a GP refers a patient for a specialist clinical assessment, the patient is assigned an urgency category (1 to 3), where 1 is most urgent and 3 is least urgent, based on the nature of their symptoms or underlying condition. Following the assessment and if surgery is required, the specialist will place the patient onto a waiting list for surgery and assign the same, or different, urgency category. When a patient is treated, they are removed from the planned surgery waiting list. To have surgery in a public Queensland hospital, a patient must be:

• assessed by a medical specialist as being able to benefit from surgery
• willing to consent to surgery
• ready for surgery.

Services provided through the Surgery Connect program

Surgery Connect is a Queensland Health initiative which provides an opportunity for selected patients to be seen in the private sector. Surgery Connect eases the burden on public hospitals while maintaining an acceptable level of service to public patients.

Queensland Health reports the occasions of service that have been provided through the Surgery Connect program.