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Hospitalisations and patient days

The main measure of admitted patient activity is the number of hospitalisations. However, as hospitalisations can vary in length from ‘same-day’ to many days or weeks, another useful measure of hospital activity is patient days – which is a measure of activity that accounts for variations in the length of stay.

A hospitalisation is an episode of hospital care that starts with a formal admission process and ends with a formal separation process. A hospitalisation ends when a patient is discharged, is transferred to another hospital or care facility, dies, or when a change in the type of care provided occurs (for example, from acute to rehabilitation care).

A patient day is the number of full or partial days of stay for patients who were admitted to hospital for an episode of care and who underwent separation during the reporting period. A patient who is admitted and separated on the same day is allocated 1 patient day.

The Australian Capital Territory did not provide data for private hospitals for 2024–25.

Explore the data

In the visualisations below, you can explore information on hospitalisations and patient days for admitted patients between 2020–21 and 2024–25.

Hospital sector

These line graphs show the number of hospitalisations per 1,000 population, between 2018–19 and 2022–23. Data is presented by same day/overnight and hospital sector. National, state and territory data is available. In 2022–23, there were 262 same-day hospitalisations per 1,000 population and 153 overnight hospitalisations per 1,000 population.

Time series

This bar graph shows the number of hospitalisations between 2018–19 and 2022–23. Numbers and rates are presented by hospital sector and measure (average length of stay, overnight separations, patient days, same day separations and separations). National, state and territory data is available. The average length of stay has maintained at 2.7 days since 2018–19.

States and territories

This bar graph shows the number of hospitalisations per 1,000 population between 2018–19 and 2022–23. Data is presented by hospital sector. National, state and territory data is available. In 2022–23, the number of hospitalisations was 417 per 1,000 population compared with 419 hospitalisations in 2018–19.

Hospital sectorThese line graphs show the number of hospitalisations per 1,000 population, between 2018–19 and 2022–23. Data is presented by same day/overnight and hospital sector. National, state and territory data is available. In 2022–23, there were 262 same-day hospitalisations per 1,000 population and 153 overnight hospitalisations per 1,000 population.Time seriesThis bar graph shows the number of hospitalisations between 2018–19 and 2022–23. Numbers and rates are presented by hospital sector and measure (average length of stay, overnight separations, patient days, same day separations and separations). National, state and territory data is available. The average length of stay has maintained at 2.7 days since 2018–19.States and territoriesThis bar graph shows the number of hospitalisations per 1,000 population between 2018–19 and 2022–23. Data is presented by hospital sector. National, state and territory data is available. In 2022–23, the number of hospitalisations was 417 per 1,000 population compared with 419 hospitalisations in 2018–19.

Hospitalisations

There were 12.8 million hospitalisations in 2024–25, which was a rate of 416 hospitalisations per 1,000 Australians. Of these:

  • 60% were in public hospitals (7.7 million hospitalisations), and
  • 40% were in private hospitals (5.1 million hospitalisations).

Note that the 2024–25 data does not include information on private hospital activity for the Australian Capital Territory and so all private hospital figures for this period will be an undercount. 

Between 2023–24 and 2024–25: 

  • hospitalisations increased by 1.2%, from 12.6 million to 12.8 million:
    • overnight hospitalisations did not change between these years (both were 4.6 million), and 
    • same-day hospitalisations increased by 1.9% (8.0 million to 8.2 million)
  • despite this increase, the rate of hospitalisations decreased by 1.2%, from 421 to 416 per 1,000 population
  • hospitalisations in public acute hospitals increased by 2.3% (7.5 million to 7.6 million)
  • hospitalisations in Other private hospitals decreased the most (0.7%, 4.04 million to 4.01 million).

Patient days

There were 34.3 million days of patient care provided to admitted patients in 2024–25. 

Of these:

  • 70% were provided in public hospitals (24.0 million days), and 
  • 30% were provided in private hospitals (10.4 million days).

Note that the 2024–25 data does not include information on private hospital activity for the Australian Capital Territory and so all private hospital figures for this period will be an undercount. 

Between 2023–24 and 2024–25:

  • the number of patient days increased by 1.3%, from 33.9 million to 34.3 million patient days
  • patient days increased by 2.8% in public hospitals, but decreased 1.9% in private hospitals
  • patient days per 1,000 population decreased by 1.3%, from 1,100 to 1,085.

Over the five years to 2024–25:

  • the number of patient days increased by 2.5%, on average, each year – from 31.2 million to 34.3 million patient days
  • patient days increased, on average, each year by 3.5% in public hospitals and by 0.3% in private hospitals
  • although the patient days per 1,000 population fluctuated during this time period, overall it remained stable, with an average annual change of 0.1%.

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