Hospital accreditation is regarded as a performance indicator relevant to the effectiveness of hospital services. Hospitals can be accredited through organisations such as the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards, Business Excellence Australia, and the Quality Improvement Council, or through certification with the International Organization for Standardization’s 9000 quality family.
A total of 707 public hospitals with 57,713 beds (99% of public hospital beds) were known to be accredited at 30 June 2012 (Figure 1). These hospitals provided almost 100% of public hospital separations (completed episodes of admitted patient care) and 99% of patient days (days spent in hospital as an admitted patient).
The latest private hospital data, available from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, are for 2010–11. A total of 567 private hospitals with 27,825 beds (96% of hospitals, covering 98% of beds) were accredited that year.
The proportions of accredited hospitals and beds in accredited hospitals have not changed much over recent years, reflecting continuing requirements of funding organisations for hospitals to be accredited. Between 2007–08 and 2011–12, 90% or more of hospital beds were in accredited hospitals.