The COVID-19 pandemic significantly increased surgical waitlists as some Australian states and territories restricted semi-urgent (Clinical Priority Categories 2) and non-urgent (Clinical Priority Categories 3) procedures. 2023-24 data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) suggests that public hospital admissions for elective surgery have now returned to 2019-2020 levels. However, patients are waiting longer than they did before the pandemic. There is also high variability in wait times across Australia. Through a rapid evidence check, we identified three priority areas in which improvements are most likely to yield significant outcomes for the Australian healthcare system in reducing surgical wait times: 1) Streamlining processes and patient journeys to address the surgical waitlist backlog; 2) Improving waitlist management and prioritisation strategies; and 3) Reducing low-value, high-cost care. Reducing surgical wait times will require concerted actions by policy makers, surgeons, and patients. The literature suggests that there are implementable options, which provide us with somewhere to start in addressing this complex issue.