A surgical separation involves a surgical (or operating room) procedure.
In 2011-12, 2.4 million, or 26%, of separations included a surgical procedure. This included 1.0 million public hospital separations and 1.4 million private hospital separations.
The number of surgical separations increased between 2007-08 and 2011-12 by an average of 2.6% for public hospitals and 3.7% for private hospitals each year.
How urgent was the care?
About 12% of surgical separations were emergency admissions, and 83% were elective admissions. About 4% of surgical separations were childbirth-related and 1% were other planned care. The proportion of surgical separations that were emergency admissions was higher in public hospitals than in private hospitals (25% and 3% respectively).
Who used these services?
Indigenous Australians had about twice the rate of emergency admissions involving surgery compared with other Australians (25 and 13 per 1,000 population, respectively). The rate of elective admissions involving surgery was about 60% higher for other Australians as for Indigenous Australians (87 and 54 per 1,000 population, respectively).
For emergency admissions involving surgery, persons usually resident in Very remote areas had the highest rate (21 per 1,000 compared with 13 per 1,000 nationwide). Persons usually resident in Very remote areas had 59 elective admissions involving surgery per 1,000 population, compared with 87 per 1,000 nationwide (Figure 36).
Separation rates for elective admissions involving surgery varied by socioeconomic status, from 79 per 1,000 population for the lowest SES group to 91 per 1,000 for the highest SES group.
The rate for public hospital elective admissions involving surgery was lowest for those classified as being in the highest SES group (16 per 1,000) and highest for those in the lowest SES group (38 per 1,000). In contrast, the number of private hospital elective admissions involving surgery per 1,000 population was highest for those classified in the highest SES group (75 per 1,000) and decreased with socioeconomic status to 40 per 1,000 population for the lowest SES group (Figure 37).
Why did people receive this care?
The most common principal diagnoses for emergency admissions involving surgery included:
- acute appendicitis (about 27,000 separations)
- fracture of femur (hip fracture, 19,000 separations)
- heart attack (14,000 separations).
The most common principal diagnoses for elective admissions involving surgery included:
- cataract (about 176,000 separations)
- malignant neoplasm of skin (about 95,000 separations)
- procreative management (68,000 separations).
What care was provided?
The most common surgical procedures performed for emergency admissions involving surgery included:
- appendicectomy (about 30,000 separations)
- coronary angioplasty (with stenting) (14,000 separations)
- excision procedure on musculoskeletal sites (13,000 separations).
The most common surgical procedures performed for elective admissions involving surgery included:
- lens extraction/insertion (about 198,000 separations)
- excision of skin lesion (90,000 separations)
- curettage and evacuation of uterus (84,000 separations).
How long did patients stay?
The average lengths of stay for surgery were similar for public and private hospitals.
The average length of stay for emergency admissions involving surgery was 7.3 days for both public and private hospitals.
For elective admissions involving surgery, the average length of stay was 2.4 days for public hospitals and 1.9 days for private hospitals.