“Hiding these results does not make the problem go away — it only undermines confidence in the system and makes it harder to drive necessary change,” Austin said.

“Surgery waiting time information remains available in the key findings, along with graphs clearly presenting waiting times and the percentage of surgeries performed on time.”

He attributed the drop-offs to a recruitment drive of nearly 3,000 full-time health workers as retention rates return to pre-pandemic levels, and an uptake of urgent and virtual care health services.

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said that, despite hospitals continuing to experience high demand, the government was working towards relieving the pressure. Source: AAP / Dan Himbrechts

Emergency departments had 785,084 attendances, with a slight drop of 1.3 per cent from the same quarter in 2024.