She said that the progress chart revealed that all four major public hospitals had average waiting times less than the national benchmark of 48 days.

But the December 2011 progress chart quoted figures for the three months ending September 30.

The community will have to wait for the next report to see the effect of the first hospital cost cutting as part of major budget constraints introduced late last year.

The chart released yesterday showed that the Launceston General Hospital was still the most efficient of the four Tasmanian hospitals.

It had elective surgery numbers nearly as high as the much larger Royal Hobart Hospital and a higher percentage of patients treated within the nationally recommended time.

Overall, the number of patients treated at the LGH in the three months until the end of September increased by 4.5 per cent compared to a decrease of 3.1 per cent at the RHH, a one per cent increase at the North-West General and no change at the Mersey Community Hospital.

In the same period the LGH's ability to deal with category one surgery patients dropped from 100 per cent to 97.8 per cent, category two patient flow-through dropped from 51 per cent to 48.3 per cent and category three patients from 50.5 per cent to 46.9 per cent.

Elective waiting lists before the introduction of budget cost cutting measures decreased by 12.2 per cent in the three months to September 30 at the RHH but increased by 14.2 per cent at the LGH.

In the provision of broader health services, the number of Ambulance Tasmania responses increased by 3.3 per cent state-wide.

In dental services, there was a 5.9 per cent increase in the number of general treatments and a hefty 42.7 per cent increase in the number of visits for prosthetics.

At the same time, there was a 7.6 per cent increase in the denture waiting list.

Ms O'Byrne cautioned that the state could expect a slow down in elective surgery in future department progress charts.