The Elective Surgery Data Collection (ESDC) is a monthly collection of patients who have been removed from the elective surgery waiting list in one of 52 reporting public hospitals. The ESDC collects demographic, waiting list and service information to meet State and national reporting requirements. The Elective Surgery-Removals Data Supply Requirement defines the meaning and describes the acceptable representation of a set of data elements required for submission.

In Queensland public hospitals, there is a need for uniform and reliable information on the activity, demand and performance of elective surgery services. A statewide elective surgery data collection provides Hospital and Health Services (HHSs), and the Department of Health, with consistent and actionable data.

From 1 July 2015, the HHS Service Agreements include a requirement that all in-scope services provide data to the collection according to a minimum data set, outlined in this document.

Elective surgery is defined as surgery for patients whose clinical condition requires a procedure that can be managed by placement on a waiting list. Further information on elective surgery is available in the Queensland Health Elective Surgery Implementation Standard.

Elective surgery is defined as surgery for patients whose clinical condition requires a procedure that can be managed by placement on a waiting list. For the purpose of the ESDC, this is described as a service request with:
- A Clinical urgency category of 1, 2 or 3;
- A Surgical specialty code of 01 to 11.
Out of scope is emergency surgery, elective caesareans and medical inductions of labour. 
See section 1.9 for a description of a service request as the unit of count.
The scope of the ESDC is separated into Part A (Waiting List Removal) and Part B (Waiting List Census).
The unit of count for Part A (Waiting List Removal)  is service requests where the patient was removed during the reporting period.

The unit of count for Part B Part B (Waiting List Census) is service requests where the patient is still waiting for their surgery as at the census date.

A patient is removed from an elective surgery waiting list when a service request for a surgical procedure has been received and the patient has been wait-listed, and is subsequently removed from the waiting list with or without the procedure being performed. Reasons for removal may include:
-	The procedure has been performed.
-	The patient requested to be removed from the waiting list.
-	The facility removes the patient from the waiting list according to local policy, which may include: where the patient declines an offer of procedure; the patient fails to respond to audit measures despite reasonable efforts to contact the patient; or the patient exceeds a not ready for surgery time threshold for personal reasons.
-	A designated clinician removes the patient from the waiting list for clinical reasons, such as the patient being deemed not fit for the procedure due to co-morbidities requiring management for stabilisation or investigation.
-	The patient dies.
-	The facility ceases the elective surgery service and transfers the patients on the waiting list to another facility or an alternative care pathway.
When a patient is removed from an elective surgery waiting list and requires reinstatement, the same service request should be reinstated where possible, in order to continue the patient's waiting time from that previously accrued, with a not ready for surgery period applied where appropriate.

The method of submission to the collection is detailed in the HIU Data Collection Guide 2017-2018. The ESDC 2017-2018 operates on a monthly basis and submission is required by midnight on the 4th calendar day following the reporting month.

DSR; Elective surgery; ESDC; Part A; Removal; Waiting list