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In Australia, hospital services are provided by both public and private hospitals.

The state and territory governments mainly own and manage public hospitals. Public acute hospitals mainly provide ‘acute care’ for short periods, although some provide longer term care, such as for rehabilitation. Public psychiatric hospitals specialise in the care of people with mental health problems, sometimes for long periods.

Private hospitals are mainly owned and managed by private organisations; either for-profit companies, or not-for-profit non-government organisations. They include day hospitals that provide services on a day- only basis, and hospitals that provide overnight care.

Between 2007–08 and 2011–12, the number of public acute hospitals and private hospitals was relatively stable.

In 2011–12, there were 1,345 hospitals in Australia comprising:

  • 736 public acute hospitals
  • 17 public psychiatric hospitals
  • 307 private free-standing day hospitals
  • 285 other private hospitals.

The numbers of hospitals in each state and territory are in Table 1.

Table 1: Public and private hospitals, states and territories, 2011–12
NSW Vic Qld WA SA Tas ACT NT Total
Public hospitals
Public acute hospitals 218 150 166 94 78 22 3 5 736
Public psychiatric hospitals 7 1 4 2 2 1 . . . . 17
Total public hospitals 225 151 170 96 80 23 3 5 753
Private hospitals
Private free-standing day hospitals 94 85 52 35 26 n.p. n.p. n.p. 307
Other private hospitals 93 81 52 21 29 n.p. n.p. n.p. 285
Total private hospitals 187 166 104 56 55 n.p. n.p. n.p. 592
All hospitals 412 317 274 152 135 n.p. n.p. n.p. 1,345

n.p. not published
. . not applicable