Elective Waiting Times

Provided below are the median waiting times for the most performed inpatient and daycase elective procedures in certain specialties. Waiting times are calculated from the date of addition to the waiting list until the date of admission to hospital for treatment and are based on admissions in a 6-month period.

The median waiting times are provided to give a perspective of recent waiting times for elective procedures. Individual waiting times will potentially be different from the median waiting times presented below as each individual patient waiting times for elective admission will be influenced by a number of different variables.

Last updated: 31 Mar 2025

Specialty Procedure Median Waiting Times
ENT Drainage of middle ear 25 weeks
ENT Excision of thyroid gland 5 weeks
ENT Excision of tonsil 19 weeks
ENT Extirpation of lesion of external ear 6 weeks
ENT Operations on septum of nose 39 weeks
General Surgery Excision of gall bladder 16 weeks
General Surgery Other excision of lesion of skin 11 weeks
General Surgery Primary repair of incisional hernia 15 weeks
General Surgery Primary repair of inguinal hernia 11 weeks
General Surgery Primary repair of umbilical hernia 14 weeks
Gynaecology Abdominal excision of uterus 18 weeks
Gynaecology Diagnostic endoscopic examination of uterus 4 weeks
Gynaecology Other operations on vulva 3 weeks
Gynaecology Other repair of prolapse of vagina 60 weeks
Gynaecology Vaginal excision of uterus 9 weeks
Ophthalmology Combined operations on muscles of eye 34 weeks
Ophthalmology Correction of deformity of eyelid 11 weeks
Ophthalmology Filtering operations on iris 12 weeks
Ophthalmology Operations on vitreous body 5 weeks
Ophthalmology Prosthesis of lens 10 weeks
Oral Surgery Orthodontic operations 41 weeks
Oral Surgery Other excision of lesion of skin 5 weeks
Oral Surgery Other operations on tooth 2 weeks
Oral Surgery Simple extraction of tooth 3 weeks
Oral Surgery Surgical removal of tooth 18 weeks
Trauma & Orthopaedics Hybrid prosthetic replacement of hip joint using cemented femoral component 16 weeks
Trauma & Orthopaedics Release of entrapment of peripheral nerve at wrist 8 weeks
Trauma & Orthopaedics Therapeutic endoscopic operations on semilunar cartilage 10 weeks
Trauma & Orthopaedics Total prosthetic replacement of hip joint not using cement 34 weeks
Trauma & Orthopaedics Total prosthetic replacement of knee joint using cement 17 weeks
Urology Diagnostic endoscopic examination of bladder 6 weeks
Urology Endoscopic extirpation of lesion of bladder 4 weeks
Urology Operations on prepuce 5 weeks
Urology Other operations on outlet of male bladder 1 weeks
Urology Therapeutic ureteroscopic operations on ureter 7 weeks