Overall, there were about 337,000 separations for sub-acute and non-acute admitted patient care in 2009–10. These accounted for about 3.9% of separations and 15.6% of patient days in public and private hospitals. This care includes Rehabilitation, Palliative, Psychogeriatric, Geriatric evaluation and management and Maintenance care (figures 47 and 48). Rehabilitation care was the most commonly provided care type. The term ‘non-acute care’ is used below to describe both sub-acute and non-acute care.
Figure 47: Separations for non-acute care, public and private hospitals, 2009–10
Figure 48: Patient days for non-acute care, public and private hospitals, 2009–10
The volume of these services increased over the period 2005–06 to 2009–10, particularly for Rehabilitation in private hospitals (19% per year) and Geriatric evaluation and management care in public hospitals (11% per year) (Figure 49).
Figure 49: Change in the number of separations for non-acute care, public and private hospitals, 2005–06 to 2009–10
Who used the services?
About 56% of non-acute separations were for females, and less than 30% of non-acute separations were for people aged under 65 years (Figure 50).
About 1.0% of non-acute separations were for Indigenous Australians, compared with 3.7% of admitted patient separations overall.
Figure 50: Separations for non-acute care, by age-group and sex, 2009–10
Persons usually resident in Major cities areas had 17 separations per 1,000 population for non-acute care, compared with 14 per 1,000 nationwide.
Separation rates varied by socioeconomic status, from 11 per 1,000 population for those classified as being in the lowest SES group to 21 per 1,000 for those classified as being in the highest SES group.
How did people access these services?
About half of separations for non-acute care were either transfers from another hospital or occurred within the same hospital when the patient’s type of care had changed (for example, from Acute care to Rehabilitation) (Figure 51). This contrasts with only 5% of separations overall that were transferred from another hospital or were a care type change.
Figure 51: Separations for non-acute care, by mode of access, 2009–10
How urgent was the care?
Under 5% of separations for non-acute care were reported as emergency admissions, compared with 26% of separations overall.
Over 66% were reported as elective admissions and 29% were other planned care.
Why did people receive this care?
The most common principal diagnosis was for Care involving use of rehabilitation procedures (227,000 separations).
Looking at second diagnoses for separations involving Rehabilitation care, the most common were:
- arthrosis of the knee (37,000 separations)
- arthrosis of the hip (18,000 separations)
- fracture of the femur (hip fracture, 15,000 separations).
For Palliative care, 9 out of the top 10 most common principal diagnoses were cancer-related. For Other non-acute care, the most common principal diagnosis was Problems related to medical facilities and other health care.
What care did they receive?
Around 783,000 procedures or other interventions were reported for non-acute separations. In public hospitals, about 81% of non-acute separations involved a procedure and about 92% of private hospital non-acute separations involved a procedure.
The most common were allied health interventions, including:
- physiotherapy (over 251,000 separations)
- occupational therapy (153,000 separations)
- social work (86,000 separations)
- hydrotherapy (51,000 separations).
How long did they stay?
The average length of stay for non-acute separations was 5.6 days in private hospitals and 20.4 days in public hospitals.
- For Rehabilitation care, the average length of stay was 5.2 days in private hospitals and 18.4 days in public hospitals.
- Separations for Maintenance care had the longest average length of stay (35.8 days), followed by Geriatric evaluation and management (20.2 days) and Psychogeriatric care (19.1 days).
Who paid for the care?
In public hospitals, over 77% of non-acute separations were public patients, and 6% were funded by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
In private hospitals, private health insurance funded about 78% of non-acute separations, and 13% were funded by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
How was care completed?
Just over three-quarters of separations for non-acute care were discharged to their usual place of residence, compared with over 92% of all admitted patient separations.
Over 6% of separations for non-acute care were discharged or transferred to another hospital or other health care accommodation.
A further 5% were discharged to a residential aged care service (that was not their usual place of residence), compared with about 1% overall.
- For Rehabilitation care 89% of separations were discharged to their usual place of residence, compared with 31% of separations for Palliative care (figures 52 and 53)
- Over half (57%) of Palliative care separations ended in the death of the patient
(Figure 52).
Figure 52: Separations for Rehabilitation care, by mode of separation, 2009–10
Figure 53: Separations for Palliative care, by mode of separation, 2009–10
