Same-day admitted patient care occurs when the patient is admitted and separated on the same day. This section reports on same-day acute care (referred to as same-day care), where the care was not for rehabilitation or other non-acute care (which together made up 3.1% of same-day care).
In 2009–10, 4.8 million, or 55.6% of separations, were same-day acute care separations. This included 2.6 million or 49.9% of separations from public hospitals and 2.2 million or 64.0% of separations from private hospitals.
Between 2005–06 and 2009–10, the proportion of same-day separations increased from 54.2% to 55.6%. On average, the number of same-day separations increased by 3.8% per year for public hospitals, and 5.8% per year for private hospitals.
Who used these services?
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were hospitalised on a same-day basis at about three times the rate of other Australians. Almost one in four same-day separations were for care involving dialysis (over 1.0 million). After excluding dialysis, the rate of same-day separations for Indigenous Australians was lower than the rate for other Australians (Figure 37).
Figure 37: Same-day acute separations per 1,000 population, by Indigenous status, all hospitals, 2009–10
Persons usually resident in Very remote areas had 279 same-day separations per 1,000 population, compared with 210 per 1,000 nationwide.
Same-day separation rates were similar for different socioeconomic status (SES) groups, ranging from 191 per 1,000 population for the second lowest SES group to 215 per 1,000 for the middle SES group.
How urgent was the care?
Over 72% of same-day separations were for elective care, 11% were for emergency care and about 17% were other care (not assigned) (Figure 38).
Figure 38: Same-day acute separations by urgency of admission, 2009–10
Why did people receive this care?
The most common principal diagnoses for same-day acute separations were:
- care involving dialysis (over 1.1 million separations for kidney failure)
- other medical care (343,000 separations, mainly chemotherapy for cancer)
- cataract (134,000 separations).
What care was provided?
In both public and private hospitals, the majority of same-day acute separations were for Medical care (including Specialist mental health).
Around 7.3 million procedures were reported for same-day separations. In public hospitals, about 83% of same-day separations involved a procedure and about 96% of same-day separations in private hospitals involved a procedure (2.1 million).
The most common procedure was haemodialysis, followed by pharmacotherapy (includes chemotherapy).
Who paid for the care?
In public hospitals, almost 87% of same-day separations were public patients.
In private hospitals, private health insurance funded about 78% of same-day separations.