About Elective Surgery

Elective Surgery is surgical care that, in the opinion of the treating clinician, is necessary and admission for which can be delayed for more than 24 hours.

Demand for elective surgery is likely to increase at a greater rate in future years, given the trend towards an ageing population, rapidly decreasing levels of private health insurance and new technologies which enable treatment of previously untreatable diseases/conditions. The task of effectively managing waiting lists is increasingly dependent on the development of innovative approaches which prioritise patients based on the clinical urgency of their condition and focus on increasing elective surgery throughput whilst maintaining quality service provision.

In Victoria's public hospital's, specialists assess the clinical urgency of their patient's condition and categorise it as one of three levels.

It is expected that patients with a Category 1 rating are admitted within 30 days

For further information about waiting times in Victoria for elective surgery visit the ‘Your Hospitals’ site.