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National public hospital establishments database (NPHED)

  • The NPHED is compiled from data supplied by the state and territory health authorities. It is a collection of electronic records for public hospitals within Australia. All records are based on information collected for financial years. Data is held for the years 1993-94 to 2008-09.
  • Almost all public acute and public psychiatric hospitals in Australia are included.
  • The National health data dictionary  definitions form the basis of the database, ensuring a high standard of data comparability.
  • Some of the information available in the NPHED are presented as interactive data cubes. They contain information for:
    • capacity measures, 2003-04 to 2007-08
    • Financial and staffing measures, 2003-04 to 2007-08

Main data elements included in the NPHED

The data elements listed below form part of the National Minimum Data Set for Public Hospital Establishments.

  • Revenues
    • Patient revenues
    • Recoveries
  • Staffing levels
    • Full time equivalent staff
  • Expenditure
    • Salaries and wages
    • Depreciation
    • Interest payments
    • Drug supplies
  • Other
    • Number of available beds for admitted patients
    • Geographical location of establishment
    • Specialised service indicators
    • Type of non-admitted patient care

Publications

An annual report is published on hospital activity and operations. The current report,  Australian hospital statistics 2008-09 includes analyses of the majority data elements included in the database.

Chapter 3 Public hospital establishments, describes public hospitals in terms of their size, distribution of beds, staff employed and specialised services provided. Information and summary tables on public hospital recurrent expenditure and revenues are also provided.

Earlier data on Public hospital establishments have been reported and can be accessed online via the links below.

Example of data from the NPHED

Table 4.5: Number of hospitals, available beds and number of available beds in area to 1,000 population resident in area, by Remoteness Area(a), public acute and psychiatric hospitals, states and territories, 2008-09 (p67, Australian hospital statistics 2008-09).

Beds by remoteness

(a) Beds per 1,000 population was based on the 30 June 2008 population in region in question.

Notes: See Box 4.1 and 4.2 for notes on data limitations and methods.

For more examples of data from NPHED go to Hospitals at a glance or Chapter 4 of  Australian hospital statistics 2008-09.

National public hospital establishments data service

The AIHW provides extracts of data from the National public hospital establishments database (NPHED) on request. A charge may apply. The amount charged will depend on the extract requirements and the complexity of the analysis undertaken.

Confidentialised data based on records included in the collection are available for a range of health service research and planning purposes.

To request data from this collection email

Additional information and limitations

  • The actual definitions used by the data providers may vary from year to year and between jurisdictions and sectors. Comparisons between the states and territories, reporting years and hospital sectors should be therefore made with caution.
  • Public hospitals operated by the Department of Defence, correctional facilities and hospitals located in off-shore territories are not included.