Australia’s hospitals provide a range of services for both non-admitted and admitted patients. Services for non- admitted patients include emergency department services and outpatient clinics. For admitted patients, they include emergency and planned (elective) care, maternity services, and medical and surgical services.
These admitted patient services are either provided on a same-day basis or involving a stay in hospital overnight or longer.
Variation in data on hospital services
Although there are national standards for data on hospital services, there are some variations in how hospital services are defined and counted, between public and private hospitals, among the states and territories, and over time.
For example, there is variation in admission practices for some services, such as chemotherapy and endoscopy. As a result, people receiving the same type of service may be counted as same-day admitted patients in some hospitals, and as non- admitted patients in other hospitals.
In addition, some services are provided by hospitals in some jurisdictions, and by non-hospital health services in other jurisdictions. The national data on hospital care does not include care provided by non-hospital providers, such as community health centres.
More detailed information on these variations is in Australian hospital statistics 2011–12 (AIHW 2013a).