Mental health
Patient experiences in private hospital mental health services
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This page reports on patient-rated experiences of care for mental health care provided by Australian private psychiatric hospitals. Patients receive this care under a Voluntary mental health legal status, and services are delivered in overnight inpatient or ambulatory settings, including day programs and outreach services. For the purposes of this report, overnight inpatient care and ambulatory care fall under admitted patient care settings as defined by the National Model (Morris-Yates 2000, APHA 2020). Non-admitted care is not included in this data collection.
While both surveys capture experiences of mental health care, the Patient Experiences of Care survey and Your Experience Survey have important differences in factors such as survey design and casemix characteristics; for example, patients receiving mental health care in a private hospital do so on a voluntary legal basis, and are less likely to have a diagnosis of schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders (AIHW 2025, APHA 2025b). For more information see the Australian Private Hospitals Association’s implementation and development report (APHA 2020) and Appendix 2 of the 2023–24 Patient experiences of care report (APHA 2025a).
Data reported on this page are collated and reported by the Australian Private Hospitals Association (APHA) Private Psychiatric Hospitals Data Reporting and Analysis Service (PPHDRAS). More information is available at the PPHDRAS Patient experiences of care report (PDF 717KB).
Key points
In the 2023–24 financial year, the APHA Patient Experiences of Care (PEx) survey found:
83% of overnight inpatient care survey responses indicated a positive experience of service
85% of ambulatory care survey responses indicated a positive experience of service
Survey responses from young females were less likely to indicate a positive experience of service
Spotlight data
The majority of survey responses indicated a positive experience of care with private hospital mental health services. The proportion of responses indicating a positive experience of care was similar for both overnight inpatient and ambulatory settings, and proportions have been steady since 2020–21.
Figure EOC.Priv.Spotlight: Proportion of Patient Experience of Care survey responses indicating a positive experience of care, by care setting, 2020–21 to 2023–24
Column graph reporting the proportion of returned Patient Experience of Care surveys with a positive experience of service, by care setting, in Australian private hospitals with psychiatric beds from 2020–21 to 2023–24.
| Reporting year | Overnight Inpatient Care | Ambulatory Care |
|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | 84 | 83 |
| 2021–22 | 83 | 84 |
| 2022–23 | 82 | 85 |
| 2023–24 | 83 | 85 |
Notes:
- An experience of service score is the average of 25 survey statements, each scored between 1 (‘Strongly disagree’) and 5 (‘Strongly agree’), multiplied by 20. A score of 80 or more (out of 100) indicates a positive experience.
- An individual patient may have completed the Patient Experience of Care survey more than once in the reporting period.
Source:
Australian Private Hospitals Association's Private Psychiatric Hospitals Data Reporting and Analysis Service Annual Statistical Report for Patients’ Experiences of Care, year ending June 2024 (Table 2.1)
Who rates a positive experience of service?
An experience of service score is calculated from 25 PEx survey statements, to reflect a patient’s experience across multiple aspects of care. Each statement is scored between 1 (‘Strongly disagree’) and 5 (‘Strongly agree’), and the average score across statements is multiplied by 20 to give a score between 20 and 100. A score of 80 or more indicates a positive experience.
Across jurisdictions, similar proportions of survey responses indicated a positive experience of service for overnight inpatient care. For ambulatory care, survey responses from Queensland were slightly more likely to indicate a positive experience compared to other jurisdictions.
Figure EOC.Priv.1: Proportion of Patient Experience of Care survey responses indicating a positive experience of care, by jurisdictional group and care setting, 2023–24
Column graphs reporting the proportion of returned Patient Experience of Care surveys with a positive experience of service, by jurisdictional group and care setting, in Australian private hospitals with psychiatric beds in 2023–24.
| Care setting | NSW and ACT | Vic | Qld | NT, Tas, SA and WA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overnight Inpatient Care | 84 | 84 | 84 | 82 |
| Ambulatory Care | 83 | 81 | 88 | 84 |
Notes:
1. An individual patient may have completed the PEx survey more than once in the reporting period.
2. Selected states and territories are reported in groups to maintain privacy.
Source:
Australian Private Hospitals Association's Private Psychiatric Hospitals Data Reporting and Analysis Service Annual Statistical Report for Patients’ Experiences of Care, year ending June 2024 (Tables 2.2.1 and 2.2.2)
Survey responses from young females were less likely to indicate a positive experience of care than males or other age groups, for both overnight inpatient and ambulatory care settings.
Figure EOC.Priv.2: Proportion of Patient Experience of Care survey responses indicating a positive experience of care by age group and gender, by care setting, 2023–24
Column graph reporting the proportion of returned Patient Experiences of Care surveys with a positive experience of service by age group and gender, by care setting, in Australian private hospitals with psychiatric beds in 2023–24.
| Age group | Female | Male |
|---|---|---|
| Youth (24 years and younger) | 74 | 82 |
| Adults (25 to 64 years) | 81 | 87 |
| Older persons (65 years and older) | 88 | 89 |
| Age group | Female | Male |
|---|---|---|
| Youth (24 years and younger) | 76 | 83 |
| Adults (25 to 64 years) | 85 | 85 |
| Older persons (65 years and older) | 87 | 93 |
Notes:
- An individual patient may have completed the Patient Experience of Care (PEx) survey more than once in the reporting period.
- The terms ‘gender’, ‘female’ and ‘male’ in this report may relate to sex or gender, due to the nature of the PEx survey where patients were asked ‘Are you male or female?’ without specifying sex or gender. Survey responses from patients who responded ‘other’ to this question are not available.
Source:
Australian Private Hospitals Association's Private Psychiatric Hospitals Data Reporting and Analysis Service Annual Statistical Report for Patients’ Experiences of Care, year ending June 2024 (Tables 2.3.1 and 2.3.2)
How do patients rate the quality of care?
The majority of survey responses strongly agreed with a statement that overall, the quality of care provided by the hospital had been excellent. Survey responses relating to ambulatory care were more likely to strongly agree with the statement, and less likely to disagree or strongly disagree.
Figure EOC.Priv.3: Proportion of PEx survey responses in agreement or disagreement with the statement ‘Overall, the quality of care provided by the hospital has been excellent’, by care setting, 2023–24
Bar graph reporting the proportion of returned Patient Experiences of Care surveys in agreement or disagreement with the statement ‘Overall, the quality of care provided by the hospital has been excellent’, by care setting, in Australian private hospitals with psychiatric beds in 2023–24.
| Response | Overnight Inpatient Care | Ambulatory Care |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly disagree | 1.3 | 0.3 |
| Disagree | 2.3 | 0.4 |
| Neutral | 4.1 | 2.3 |
| Agree | 22.2 | 22.5 |
| Strongly agree | 70.1 | 74.5 |
Note: An individual patient may have completed the PEx survey more than once in the reporting period.
Source:
Australian Private Hospitals Association's Private Psychiatric Hospitals Data Reporting and Analysis Service Annual Statistical Report for Patients’ Experiences of Care, year ending June 2024 (Tables 2.5.1 and 2.5.2)
Who completes a Patient Experience of Care survey?
The APHA Patient Experience of Care (PEx) survey is completed by patients of mental health services provided by participating private hospitals that have psychiatric beds in Australia. Patients receive care under a Voluntary mental health legal status, and care is provided in overnight inpatient or ambulatory settings including day programs and outreach services. The survey includes about 30 statements for patients to rate their experience of care using a 5-point response scale (from ‘Strongly disagree’ to ‘Strongly agree’). The survey also includes some demographic questions.
Between 81 and 85% of completed PEx surveys relate to overnight inpatient episodes of care, depending on reporting year. This is slightly higher than the proportion for all episodes of care in mental health services provided by hospitals implementing the PEx survey overall, and by all Australian private hospitals with psychiatric beds (both around 74%).
Figure EOC.Priv.4: Proportion of PEx survey responses and all eligible episodes of care in Australian private hospitals with psychiatric beds relating to each care setting, 2020–21 to 2023–24
Bar graph reporting the proportion of returned Patient Experiences of Care surveys and all eligible episodes of care in Australian private hospitals with psychiatric beds relating to each care setting, between 2020–21 and 2023–24.
| Reporting year | PEx survey responses | All Australian private hospitals |
|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | 81 | 75 |
| 2021–22 | 83 | 74 |
| 2022–23 | 85 | 74 |
| 2023–24 | 84 | 74 |
| Reporting year | PEx survey responses | All Australian private hospitals |
|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | 19 | 25 |
| 2021–22 | 17 | 26 |
| 2022–23 | 15 | 26 |
| 2023–24 | 16 | 26 |
Notes:
- An individual patient may have completed the PEx survey more than once in the reporting period.
- Eligible episodes are those where a PEx survey could have been offered to a patient, if the hospital was implementing the survey.
Source:
Australian Private Hospitals Association's Private Psychiatric Hospitals Data Reporting and Analysis Service Annual Statistical Report for Patients’ Experiences of Care, year ending June 2024 (Tables 1.3 and 2.1)
For both overnight inpatient and ambulatory episodes of care, surveys were more likely to be completed by patients aged 25–64 years and females. The age and gender distribution of survey responses are generally consistent with distributions for mental health service episodes of care provided by Australian private hospitals more broadly.
Figure EOC.Priv.5: Proportion of PEx survey responses and all eligible episodes of care in Australian private hospitals with psychiatric beds by age group and gender, by care setting, 2023–24
Bar graph reporting the proportion of returned Patient Experiences of Care surveys and all eligible episodes of care in Australian private hospitals with psychiatric beds by age group and gender, by care setting, in 2023–24.
| Data source | Female youth | Male youth | Female adults | Male adults | Female older persons | Male older persons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PEx survey responses | 8 | 3 | 49 | 26 | 8 | 5 |
| All Australian private hospitals | 8 | 3 | 45 | 31 | 8 | 5 |
| Data source | Female youth | Male youth | Female adults | Male adults | Female older persons | Male older persons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PEx survey responses | 8 | 2 | 47 | 31 | 6 | 5 |
| All Australian private hospitals | 8 | 3 | 47 | 28 | 9 | 5 |
Notes:
- An individual patient may have completed the PEx survey more than once in the reporting period.
- The terms ‘gender’, ‘female’ and ‘male’ in this report may relate to sex or gender, due to the nature of the PEx survey where patients were asked ‘Are you male or female?’ without specifying sex or gender. Survey responses from patients who responded ‘other’ to this question were not included in data disaggregated by age group and gender provided to the AIHW by PPHDRAS, therefore proportions in this graph may not add to 100%.
- Eligible episodes are those where a PEx survey could have been offered to a patient, if the hospital was implementing the survey.
- ‘Youth’ refers to patients aged 24 years and under, ‘adults’ refers to patients aged 25 to 64 years and ‘older persons’ refers to patients aged 65 years and older.
Source:
Australian Private Hospitals Association's Private Psychiatric Hospitals Data Reporting and Analysis Service Annual Statistical Report for Patients’ Experiences of Care, year ending June 2024 (Tables 1.4.1 and 1.4.2)
Where can I find more information?
If the information presented raises any issues for you, these resources can help:
- Lifeline (Phone 13 11 14)
- Kids Helpline (Phone 1800 551 800)
- Head to Health mental health portal
- 13YARN (Phone 13 92 76)
- QLife (Phone 1800 184 527)
Notes to interpret the data
PEx survey respondents have received care in an overnight inpatient or ambulatory setting, including day programs and outreach services. For the purposes of this report, overnight inpatient care and ambulatory care fall under admitted patient care settings as defined by the National Model (Morris-Yates 2000, APHA 2020). Non-admitted care is not included in this data collection.
While both surveys capture experiences of mental health care, the Patient Experiences of Care survey and Your Experience Survey have important differences in factors such as survey design and casemix characteristics; for example, patients receiving mental health care in a private hospital do so on a voluntary legal basis, and are less likely to have a diagnosis of schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders (AIHW 2025, APHA 2025b). For more information see the Australian Private Hospitals Association’s implementation and development report (APHA 2020).
The PEx survey comprises about 30 statements with a 5-item response scale to each statement (1 – Strongly disagree, 2 – Disagree, 3 – Neutral, 4 – Agree, 5 – Strongly agree). Examples include ‘I felt welcome at this hospital’ and ‘My privacy was respected’.
The Patient Experiences of Care (PEx) surveys were developed to gather information from patients about their experiences of care, specifically for use in private hospitals in Australia. Three versions of the PEx survey are used according to care setting: one survey for overnight patients, and 2 surveys for ambulatory care patients (one for day program and one for outreach care).
Patients are offered the PEx survey on discharge from episodes of care with a duration of 3 days or more. Full details of the data collection protocol are available from the Development and implementation of the PEx report Appendix 3.
In 2023–24 the PEx survey was implemented by 44 of the 81 private hospitals with designated psychiatric beds in Australia (53%). This is lower than previous years, as shown in Table 1.
| 2020–21 | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | 2023–24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of private hospitals that implemented PEx | 49 | 48 | 45 | 44 |
Number of private hospitals in Australia | 73 | 75 | 81 | 83 |
Per cent of private hospitals that implemented PEx | 67% | 64% | 56% | 53% |
In 2023–24 a total of 14,809 surveys were completed, representing 51% and 26% of all eligible episodes of care (where a survey could have been collected) in overnight inpatient and ambulatory settings, respectively, provided by hospitals implementing PEx survey collection.
Not all private hospitals with psychiatric beds implemented PEx survey collection. The surveys collected in 2023–24 represent 30% and 16% of all eligible episodes of care in overnight inpatient and ambulatory settings, respectively, provided by all Australian private hospitals with psychiatric beds.
An experience of care score is calculated to reflect a patient’s experience across multiple survey statements in PEx.
The score is equal to the average response of 25 survey statements multiplied by 20. This converts individual responses into an overall score between 20 and 100, with a score of 80 or more indicating a positive experience of service.
The Patient Experience of Care (PEx) Survey was developed for mental health services provided by private hospital-based psychiatric services, including overnight inpatient and ambulatory care. Many private hospital services across Australia use the survey and supply data to the Australian Private Hospitals Association. Data reported on this page has been sourced from the Private Psychiatric Hospitals Data Reporting and Analysis Service (PPHDRAS) annual statistical reports at the APHA website. More information about the development of the PEx surveys and the survey methodology protocol is available from the PPHDRAS development and implementation report.
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2025) Admitted patient mental health-related care, accessed 29 September 2025.
APHA (Australian Private Hospitals Association) (2020) Development and implementation of the Patient Experiences of Care (PEx) Survey for private hospital-based psychiatric services, with selected statistics for the 2018-19 Financial Year (PDF 10.2MB), APHA, accessed 29 September 2025.
APHA (2025a) Patients’ Experiences of Care in Private Hospitals with Psychiatric beds Financial Year ending 30 June 2024 (PDF 717KB) , APHA, accessed 29 September 2025.
APHA (2025b) Private Hospital-based Psychiatric Services 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024 (PDF 339KB), APHA, accessed 29 September 2025.
Morris-Yates, A. and The Strategic Planning Group for Private Psychiatric Services Data Collection and Analysis Working Group (2000) A National Model for the Collection and Analysis of a Minimum Data Set with Outcome Measures for Private, Hospital–based Psychiatric Services. Canberra, Commonwealth of Australia.
Data coverage includes the time period 2020–21 to 2023–24.