Please note: Figures 2 and 9 are the same. Figure 9 - National elective surgery admissions, patients waiting, and patients overdue at the end of the quarter, September 2007 to March 2010. The data source is the Elective Surgery Waiting List Reduction Plan reports to Australian Health Ministers’ Conference for 2010. The X-axis represents year quarters from September 2007 to March 2010. The Y-axis represents patient numbers.
There are three lines of data: admissions from lists, waiting list patients, and overdue patients. “ESWL Reduction Plan agreed” is marked on each line at January 2008. “Surcharge changes” is marked on each line at October 2008. 
The line for admissions from lists shows there has been an increase in the number of admissions from lists, but this has not been constant. There are seasonal fluctuations with fewer admissions from lists each March quarter. The number of admissions from lists varies each quarter, starting and finishing at approximately 160,000 and ranging between just under 140,000 in March 2008 to approximately 170,000 in both June 2008 and September 2009. 
The line for waiting list patients begins at over 160,000 at September 2007. It increases slightly to the March 2008 quarter, with the Elective Surgery Waiting List Plan agreed in January 2008. It then decreases to the December 2008 quarter. It then begins a steady increase between December 2008 and March 2010 quarters to just below 180,000. 
The line for overdue patients shows a marked decline since the introduction of the Elective Surgery Waiting List Reduction Plan in January 2008. The line remains steady at below 40,000 patients from September 2007 to March 2008. It then decreases over the next three quarters to just over 20,000 patients at December 2008. It remains relatively steady until there is a slight increase in December 2009 and March 2010.