Qld emergency waiting times improve SICK Queenslanders are spending less time waiting for emergency treatment but still face long delays for non-urgent surgery in the public hospital system. The state government has started publishing hospital data in newspapers and the latest figures show the average length of stay in emergency departments has dropped in the past six months. But the wait to see a specialist about elective surgery hasn't budged and the delay in having the surgery is longer. Twenty-five per cent of Queenslanders who presented to a hospital emergency departments stayed more than four hours compared with 36 per cent six months ago, according to the figures. Health Minister Lawrence Springborg says the improvement is a direct result of his government's move to decentralise hospital management to regional boards. But almost half (48 per cent) of Queenslanders who need non-urgent "Category 3" surgery are still waiting more than 12 months to book a first appointment with a specialist, according to public health data for the three months to March. And 13 per cent are then waiting another 12 months or more to actually have the surgery, up two percentage points from the three months to September 2012. The minister says the improvement in emergency wait times must be translated to surgery and there is still a way to go before Queensland Health meets national standards. Publishing the numbers in newspapers will allow people to see how their hospitals are performing and encourage healthy competition between districts, he says. "I can assure you, like any sporting code, that no hospital and health service will want to be the one propping up the table," he said in a statement on Friday.