Only half of those who need urgent treatment are being seen within 30 minutes, according to new data. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Story updated to include new comment from the Health Minister and to provide more context.
Independent MLA Thomas Emerson has called on the ACT Government to hire private doctors to perform an “elective surgery blitz” at public hospitals to clear the huge backlog of those waiting for procedures.
According to the Canberra Health Services annual report, the ACT Government set a target of 17,450 elective surgeries to be performed in the 2024/25 financial year.
Only 16,565 were completed.
“It’s concerning but not surprising that the latest data confirms what Canberrans already knew – that many patients have been left waiting, often in debilitating pain, beyond clinically recommended timeframes,” Mr Emerson said.
“I’ve repeatedly called for the ACT Government to bring in an external provider to perform an elective surgery blitz to help clear the backlog.
“We’ve got plenty of operating theatres that could be made available for a blitz targeting common procedures contributing to long wait times like joint replacements.”
As of 30 June 2025, 6847 people in the ACT were waiting for elective surgery (a 10 per cent reduction compared to the same time last year).
Mr Emerson said the business-as-usual approach wasn’t working and the ACT Government was failing to meet its own targets.
“We need the Commonwealth to uphold its hospital funding commitments and come through with a fairer agreement for the ACT. Canberrans have suffered on the wrong end of a raw deal for too long,” he said.
Thomas Emerson MLA thinks the Commonwealth Government should contribute more to the ACT. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
His comments come as the data also showed an increasing number of Canberrans were facing dangerously long waits for emergency treatment after presenting themselves at hospital.
Only 51 per cent of all “urgent” (category 3) patients were seen within the recommended 30-minute timeframe, while more than a third of emergency clients were not treated within 10 minutes.
However, 61 per cent of all presentations to Canberra’s emergency departments had a length of stay that was four hours or less – the best performance recorded since 2017-18.
ACT Greens leader and health spokesman Shane Rattenbury said more funding was needed for services to treat people before they ended up in an emergency ward.
“The ongoing failure to meet targets is disappointing for the ACT community,” he said.
“This data underlines the need for greater investment in primary health services – the services that prevent some people ending up in the Emergency Department. We need better access to these preventative services so people can make use of them before their ailment ends up needing emergency care.
“Not only does this provide better quality of life for patients, it is more cost effective. Given the pressures on the ACT health budget, this approach is more important than ever.”
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith has previously said Canberra emergency departments faced increased pressure from interstate patients crossing the border for treatment and called on the NSW Government to contribute more to ACT health infrastructure.
She said the 2025-26 ACT Budget delivered a record $1.19 billion investment in Canberra’s public health system and has set a target of 70,000 elective surgeries to be performed over the next four years.
An ACT Government spokesperson pointed out the number of elective surgeries completed (16,565) was a record, and that this led to a 10.9 per cent reduction on the number of outstanding procedures when compared to the same time last year.
“Canberra Health Services delivered a record number of elective surgeries in 2024-25. This is a huge effort by teams across the ACT health system, with our public and private hospitals working together to complete more surgeries to support patients,” they said.
“The Government is continuing to invest in more elective surgery capacity across our system. This funding will support our territory-wide teams to continue this momentum, delivering more timely care to Canberrans.”
