Summary
Key points
- There were about 57,260 same day mental health-related hospitalisations from public hospitals in 2020–21, representing about 1% of all same day hospitalisations.
- In 2020–21, about 20,890 patients received same day admitted mental health care from private hospitals.
- There were about 280,700 overnight mental health-related hospitalisations in 2020–21 across both public and private hospitals, representing about 6% of all overnight hospitalisations.
- The most frequently reported principal diagnosis for mental health-related hospitalisations with specialised psychiatric care was Depressive episode (20% of same day public hospitalisations and 15% of overnight hospitalisations).
- For public hospitals, the most frequently reported principal diagnosis for mental health-related hospitalisations without specialised psychiatric care was Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol (25% of same day hospitalisations, 21% of overnight hospitalisations).
- In private hospitals, 45% of same day mental health-related episodes of care reported a principal diagnosis related to Major Affective and Other Mood Disorders.
Admitted patients are those who undergo a hospital’s formal admission processes. This section presents information on admitted patient mental health-related hospitalisations from Australian public and private hospitals.
To provide the most comprehensive view of mental health-related admitted care, two different data sources are used for private hospitals (described in detail in each section below). When considering the data presented in this section it should be noted that some activity reported as same day admitted care in the private hospitals data may be reported in the public sector data as community mental health care, due to differences in classification criteria. As such, any comparisons of the volume of care provided by public and private hospitals described in this section should be made with caution. Further information can be found in the data source section.
During 2019–20 there was a decline in admitted mental health-related care, likely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Australia’s hospitals and health care provision from February 2020. In 2020–21, some pandemic-related restrictions were eased, leading to a small increase of some types of hospitalisations.
There were 110 overnight mental health-related hospitalisations and 22 same day public mental health-related hospitalisations per 10,000 population in 2020–21. In private hospitals there were 8 patients per 10,000 population receiving same day mental health-related admitted care.
For jurisdictions where figures are published and across both public and private sectors, the rate of overnight mental health-related hospitalisations with specialised psychiatric care was highest for Queensland (72 per 10,000 population), and for those without specialised psychiatric care, the rate was highest for South Australia (55).
Queensland had the highest rate of same day public mental health-related hospitalisations with specialised psychiatric care (16 per 10,000 population) and the Northern Territory had the highest rate of hospitalisations without specialised care (71). In private hospitals, the rate of patients was highest in Queensland (11).
Spotlight data