More patients left the emergency ward within four hours but some had to wait nearly a year for some surgery.

Specifically, 348 days for hip replacements, 351 days for knee replacements and 329 days for cataract removals and orthopaedic surgery.

Labor candidate for Dubbo Stephen Lawrence was unimpressed, calling on the NSW government to explain why waits for hip and knee replacements were "longer in the central west than virtually anywhere in Australia".

Some argue such waits are unacceptable in a lucky country like Australia, given the quality of life we have come to expect and enjoy.

No one would swap places with the frail, elderly pensioner in pain or immobile, unable to go about their daily activities because they are waiting for a hip or knee replacement. And those of us with crystal-clear vision can only imagine what it's like for someone who cannot read or watch television or struggles to read basic safety instructions on medication because they are waiting for a cataract removal.

Yet as dim as it may seem, at least there appears to be some light at the tunnel for those Australians who do have to wait.

Even if it takes almost a year, at some stage they'll have their operation at a public hospital and it's likely a good portion will be subsidised through our public healthcare system.

That's what taxes and Medicare levies pay for.

Australians would have even more reason to shudder at the thought of a US-type user pays system where the cost of medical procedures for those without insurance is crippling.

Indeed, in third-world countries, they are almost certainly out of reach altogether.