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Emergency department patients seen on time by hospital and triage category, Australia

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Publisher Australian Institute of Health and WelfareUpdated several times a yearLicence CC BY 4.0Latest 2026-10-03Rows 21,972Fields 9

The Patients seen on time sheet of the MyHospitals emergency department data extract from the AIHW MyHospitals Data API. Each row is one reporting unit, financial year and triage category, with the number of presentations, the percentage of patients seen on time and the peer group average.

Also called: ED waiting times by hospital, Emergency department patients seen on time, Hospital emergency wait times Australia, Triage category waiting times by hospital.

Part of AIHW MyHospitals, 3 tables the publisher releases together: Hospitals, Local Hospital Networks and Primary Health Networks in MyHospitals, Australia, Elective surgery waiting times by hospital and urgency category, Australia.

Before you use it
What is in each row?
One public hospital, Local Hospital Network, state or the nation, one financial year from 2011-12 and one triage category. It gives the number of emergency presentations and the share of patients whose care began within the recommended time for their triage category, beside the average for the hospital's peer group.
What is on time?
Care must begin within 2 minutes for resuscitation, 10 minutes for emergency, 30 minutes for urgent, 60 minutes for semi-urgent and 120 minutes for non-urgent patients. The share is a fraction, so 0.8 means 80 per cent.
What do the blanks mean?
The Institute writes <5 for a count under five and NP where the data did not meet its criteria or more than 10 per cent of times were missing. Those cells are null here with a suppressed flag. A dash, meaning no patients were reported, and Not peered are null. The Institute's file also marks with an asterisk the figures to interpret with caution, in a column with no heading, which is not carried here.

Made for agents

Connect your AI agent

Any agent that connects to publicdata.au/mcp can find this dataset, read its 9 fields, count and filter across all 21,972 rows and diff its versions. Every answer names the version and carries AIHW's attribution. No key.

Then ask it: What does Emergency department patients seen on time by hospital and triage category, Australia hold, and what changed in the newest version?

claude mcp add --transport http publicdata https://publicdata.au/mcp

One command. No key, no account, no sign-up.

Download it as Excel, CSV, JSON and 6 more formats

Pick a format and a version. Excel is picked first because it opens in the tools most offices have. The URL is yours to keep. A dated version never changes.

Format
"Latest" redirects to the newest version and will change when the publisher releases again. A dated version never changes.
https://publicdata.au/d/au-ed-patients-seen-on-time/latest/data.xlsx
Download

In your own tools

Use it in Excel, R, Python and more

Excel and Power BI read the CSV from its address and refresh from it. The R and Python packages take any dataset on this site by its slug, so a new dataset needs no new release. The DuckDB file attaches read-only over HTTPS, and a query reads only the blocks it touches.

The dated URL in the code never changes. https://publicdata.au/d/au-ed-patients-seen-on-time/latest/ redirects to the newest version.

https://publicdata.au/d/au-ed-patients-seen-on-time/latest/data.csv

In Excel choose Data, then From Web, and paste this address. Excel keeps it, so Refresh All reads the newest version. A sheet holds about a million rows; past that, load the query to the Data Model.

What is in it

Column names are made snake_case and the publisher's original header is kept beside each one. Blank cells are null. Nothing is added, removed, ranked or summarised.

FieldTypePublisher's headerNote
reporting_unitstringReporting unit
reporting_unit_typestringReporting unit type
statestringState
peer_groupstringPeer group
yearstringYear
triage_categorystringTriage category
presentationsintegerNumber of presentations
share_seen_on_timenumberPercentage of patients seen on timeThe fraction of patients whose care began within the recommended time, 0.8 for 80 per cent.
peer_group_averagenumberPeer group average
suppressedarrayNames of the fields the publisher suppressed in this row. The cells are null.

Download this table as a data dictionary (Excel), or read it as a Frictionless Table Schema at schema.json. The key is reporting_unit, reporting_unit_type, year, triage_category.

A sample of 10 rows

Urgent patients at the busiest hospitals in the newest year, the busiest hospital in each state first, then the next busiest. A blank cell is shown as null.

reporting_unitreporting_unit_typestatepeer_groupyeartriage_categorypresentationsshare_seen_on_timepeer_group_average
Gold Coast University HospitalHospitalQldMajor hospitals2024–25Urgent573150.70.58
The Northern Hospital [Epping]HospitalVicLarge metropolitan hospitals2024–25Urgent551880.550.56
Campbelltown HospitalHospitalNSWLarge metropolitan hospitals2024–25Urgent462220.570.56
The Canberra HospitalHospitalACTMajor hospitals2024–25Urgent440690.480.58
Fiona Stanley HospitalHospitalWAMajor hospitals2024–25Urgent393990.110.58
Royal Hobart HospitalHospitalTasMajor hospitals2024–25Urgent340920.280.58
Royal Adelaide HospitalHospitalSAMajor hospitals2024–25Urgent330480.290.58
Royal Darwin HospitalHospitalNTMajor hospitals2024–25Urgent221840.180.58
Sunshine HospitalHospitalVicLarge metropolitan hospitals2024–25Urgent544810.630.56
The Prince Charles HospitalHospitalQldMajor hospitals2024–25Urgent520990.650.58
The first row as JSON

As it appears in data.json.

GET https://publicdata.au/d/au-ed-patients-seen-on-time/latest/data.json
{
  "reporting_unit": "National",
  "reporting_unit_type": "National",
  "state": "NAT",
  "peer_group": null,
  "year": "2011–12",
  "triage_category": "Emergency",
  "presentations": 644112,
  "share_seen_on_time": 0.8,
  "peer_group_average": null,
  "suppressed": []
}

Query it without downloading

The query API returns only the rows you ask for, as JSON, NDJSON or CSV, from the same typed rows as the files. It needs no key. Build a query here and run it, then copy the URL or the code into your own work.

Try rows or aggregate for this dataset. The query builder needs JavaScript.

How filters work

Each filter is field=operator.value in the query string, and every filter must match. A number or date field compares as a number or date, and a text field compares as text. Values are case-sensitive except with ilike. Prefix not. to negate a filter, as not.eq.value.

OperatorWhat it matches
eq.valueEqual to the value.
neq.valueNot equal to the value. A blank cell does not match.
gt.valueGreater than the value.
gte.valueGreater than or equal to the value.
lt.valueLess than the value.
lte.valueLess than or equal to the value.
like.*text*Matches a pattern where * stands for any run of characters. Case-sensitive.
ilike.*text*The same as like, ignoring case.
in.(a,b,c)Equal to any value in the list. A value cannot contain a comma.
is.nullBlank in the source, or suppressed by the publisher.
ParameterWhat it does
selectFields to return, comma-separated. Every field when absent.
orderfield.asc or field.desc, comma-separated. The publisher's row order when absent.
limitRows per page, 1 to 10,000. 100 when absent.
offsetRows to skip. The next URL in each answer sets it for you.
groupOn aggregate, fields to group by, comma-separated.
metricOn aggregate, count, sum.field, avg.field, min.field or max.field, comma-separated. count when absent.
formatjson, ndjson or csv. JSON carries the provenance header, and the others carry it in response headers.

Without a version the API answers from the newest loaded version, and that answer changes when the publisher releases again. Put versions/<date>/ before rows or aggregate for an answer that never changes. /api/v1/datasets/<slug>/versions lists the loaded versions. The 1 newest version is loaded; versions lists them.

The API allows 60 requests in 10 seconds from one address. Above that it answers 429 for 10 seconds with a Retry-After header, a RateLimit-Policy header and a JSON body that gives the limit. Every API answer carries the same RateLimit-Policy. A client should wait the Retry-After seconds, or read the files, which have no limit. openapi.json describes this dataset's query paths for client generators and agents.

https://publicdata.au/mcp is a remote MCP server over Streamable HTTP with the same tools, defined in the same place, so a tool added to the pages is added here too. It needs no key and no account. The row tools are held to the query API's limit of 60 queries in 10 seconds from one address, and each call is two queries because it also counts the matching rows. Add it to Claude Code with claude mcp add --transport http publicdata https://publicdata.au/mcp, add the URL in Claude as a custom connector, or give it to any client that connects to remote MCP servers. Each queryable dataset is also a resource at https://publicdata.au/d/<slug>/fields.json, which lists its fields with their types, the publisher's descriptions, their ranges and the values they hold, so an agent can read a dataset's shape before it writes a query.

Smaller files

The same rows split by a field, one JSON file each. Each file carries the same provenance header.

By state (9 files)

by/state/index.json lists every file with its row count.

What changed

One version for every release the publisher has made since this site started following the dataset. The date is the day the file changed on the portal.

  • 2026-10-03
    21,972 rows9 fieldsxlsx196e28ee3512
    The publisher's server states no change date, so this version is dated by the fetch.

versions.json · changes.json · history.tar.zst (99 KB, every version's Parquet and manifest)

Questions

How do I download Emergency department patients seen on time by hospital and triage category as a CSV file?

Open https://publicdata.au/d/au-ed-patients-seen-on-time/latest/data.csv. It redirects to the newest dated version, which is https://publicdata.au/d/au-ed-patients-seen-on-time/v/2026-10-03/data.csv today. The same path serves Excel, JSON, Parquet, SQLite, DuckDB, NDJSON, Arrow. A dated URL never changes, so use it when the file must stay the same.

Can I open Emergency department patients seen on time by hospital and triage category in Excel?

Yes. https://publicdata.au/d/au-ed-patients-seen-on-time/v/2026-10-03/data.xlsx is a workbook with the 21,972 rows on a records sheet, the field list on a second sheet and the provenance on a third. The CSV also opens in Excel. https://publicdata.au/d/au-ed-patients-seen-on-time/v/2026-10-03/data.csv.gz is the CSV at about a tenth of the size.

What years does Emergency department patients seen on time by hospital and triage category cover?

The current version covers the years since 2011. Each release from AIHW becomes a new dated version here, and earlier versions stay online.

How often is Emergency department patients seen on time by hospital and triage category updated?

AIHW releases it several times a year. This site checks the portal every week and adds a dated version when the file changes.

Can I use Emergency department patients seen on time by hospital and triage category commercially?

Yes. CC BY 4.0 allows commercial use, redistribution and derived works as long as the attribution is kept. The attribution string is in this page's side column and inside every file.

Is this the official source for Emergency department patients seen on time by hospital and triage category?

No. The publisher is Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, and its page is https://www.aihw.gov.au/copyright. This site republishes the publisher's file without changing its content. The original sits beside every version as source.xlsx with its SHA-256, so the two can be compared.

How do I get only the rows for one state?

Every version has one JSON file per value of state, 9 files in the current version, listed with row counts at https://publicdata.au/d/au-ed-patients-seen-on-time/v/2026-10-03/by/state/index.json. For example https://publicdata.au/d/au-ed-patients-seen-on-time/v/2026-10-03/by/state/nsw.json holds the 11,499 rows where state is NSW.

What this site did to the data. Cells were typed, headers were renamed and the encoding was made UTF-8. Rows were left alone. The publisher's file sits beside every version as source.xlsx so the change can be checked.

The publisher releases AIHW MyHospitals as 3 files at once, so all 3 tables here share a version date.