Waiting times for elective surgery have risen slightly, according to a new report.
Of the 748,000 patients admitted for public hospital elective surgery in 2016-17, the national average wait time was 38 days. This was up from 36 days in 2012-13.
However, waiting times varied from state to state and from hospital to hospital, according to data released on Thursday by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
"In 2016-17, across the states and territories, the median waiting time ranged from 28 days in the Northern Territory to 54 days in NSW," AIHW spokeswoman Jenny Hargreaves said.
Waiting times also varied depending on the type of surgical procedure. The longest wait was 209 days for surgery on a deviated nasal septum. This compared with 13 days for coronary bypass surgery.
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Indigenous Australians continued to wait longer for elective surgery than non-indigenous Australians, with a median wait of 45 days.
The report also shows the proportion of patients who waited longer than 365 days to be admitted for their procedure decreased from 2.7 per cent in 2012-13 to 1.7 per cent in 2016-17.
