Admitted patient access

The need for, and accessibility of admitted patient care services can vary for different population groups. This section presents information on the use of admitted patient care services for different population groups based on their socio–demographic characteristics, including:

• age and sex
• Indigenous status
• remoteness of area of usual residence
• socioeconomic status of area of usual residence.

In the data visualisation below, you can explore information on hospitalisations for 2020–21, by age group and sex, and age group and hospital sector.

Highlights

Age group and sex

In 2020–21:

• just over half of all hospitalisations (52%, 6.2 million) were for females
• females accounted for over two-thirds (69%) hospitalisations for people aged 20–39—the age range that includes most hospitalisations for childbirth
• females also accounted for more patient days than males (16.2 million and 14.9 million patient days, respectively)
• people aged 65 and over (who make up 16% of the population) accounted for 43% of hospitalisations and 49% of patient days
• people aged 85 and over (who make up 2% of the population) accounted for 7% of hospitalisations and 12% of patient days.

Hospitalisation rates

In 2020–21:

• there were 461 hospitalisations per 1,000 population 
• women had higher hospitalisation rates per 1,000 population in the age range of 15–44, which is likely in part due to those being reproductive years
• men aged 55–64 were more likely than women to be hospitalised (658 and 588 per 1,000, respectively); the difference in the separation rate for men and women increased even further for older age groups.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

In 2020–21:

• 1 in 20 (5.2%, 615,400) hospitalisations were reported for people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin, who represent 3.3% of the Australian population (ABS, 2018)
• over 4 in 5 (87%) of hospitalisations for Indigenous Australians were for care provided in public hospitals (533,100), compared with almost 3 in 5 (58%) hospitalisations for non-Indigenous Australians.

Hospitalisation rates

In 2020–21:

• there were 994 hospitalisations per 1,000 population for Indigenous Australians – about 2.5 times the hospitalisation rate for other Australians 
• Indigenous Australians had high rates of same–day acute hospitalisations for dialysis (490 per 1,000 population), which was nearly 11 times the rate for Other Australians (45 per 1,000 population) 
• among Indigenous Australians, there were 274 overnight acute hospitalisations per 1,000 population, which was almost twice the rate for other Australians (138 per 1,000).

Remoteness of area of usual residence

In 2020–21:

• hospitalisation rates were highest for people living in Very remote and Remote areas (767 and 570 per 1,000 population, respectively)
• for public hospitals, hospitalisation rates ranged from 634 per 1,000 for people living in Very remote areas to 222 per 1,000 for people living in Major cities
• for private hospitals, hospitalisation rates ranged from 133 per 1,000 for people living in Remote areas to 183 per 1,000 for people living in Major cities, in part, this may reflect the distribution of private hospitals across remoteness areas.

Socioeconomic status of area of usual residence

In 2020–21:

• overall, people living in the lowest socioeconomic areas had similar hospitalisation rates to those living in the highest socioeconomic areas (404 and 402 hospitalisations per 1,000, respectively). The highest hospitalisation rates were seen in those living in areas classified as being in the middle socioeconomic quintile (446 hospitalisations per 1,000 population)
• hospitalisation rates in public hospitals were highest for people living in the lowest socioeconomic areas (305 per 1,000 population)
• people living in the highest socioeconomic areas had the highest hospitalisation rates in private hospitals  (238 per 1,000).

Length of stay is the number of days between admission to hospital, and separation. The Average Length of Stay (ALOS) is calculated as the total number of patient days reported for the hospital (or group of hospitals), divided by the number of hospitalisations. 

OECD indicator: Length of stay

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) presents comparative information on the ALOS for overnight hospitalisations as an indicator of efficiency. The comparability of international ALOS may be affected by differences in definitions of hospitals, collection periods and admission practices.

Performance indicator: Average length of stay for selected AR-DRGs

The ALOS for selected AR-DRGs is an indicator of Efficiency and sustainability under the Australian Health Performance Framework (AHPF).

Explore the data

In the data visualisation below, you can view the ALOS by selected medical procedures, by state and territory, and by type of hospital (peer group).

Highlights

In 2020–21:

• the ALOS for overnight hospitalisations in Australia was 5.4 days, which was lower than the OECD average length of stay of 7.2 days
• there were notable differences (more than 1 day) in the ALOS between public and private hospitals for 6 of the 20 selected AR-DRGs. For example, the ALOS for Chronic obstructive airways disease, minor complexity was 2.8 days for public hospitals and 5.9 days for private hospitals.

Between 2016–17 and 2020–21:

• the overall ALOS for public and private hospitals combined decreased by an average of 1.8% per year from 2.8 days to 2.6 days
• for overnight hospitalisations, the ALOS in all hospitals combined was relatively stable between 2016–17 and 2020–21, decreasing by an average of 0.9% each year over this period.

Significant changes in ALOS over time may be related to changes in admission practices and improvements in the coverage of reporting.

The numbers of public and private hospitals in Australia can vary over time, reflecting the opening or closing of hospitals, the reclassification of hospitals as non‑hospital facilities (or vice-versa) and the amalgamation of existing hospitals.

The number of hospitals reported can be affected by jurisdictional variations in administrative and/or reporting arrangements and is not necessarily a measure of the number of physical hospital buildings or campuses.

This section reports on the number of public hospitals in Australia, reported by jurisdictions in the National Public Hospital Establishments Database 2020–21 (NPHED).

Highlights

In 2020–21:

• 697 public hospitals were reported to the NPHED
• 1 in 3 (30%) were located in Outer regional areas (210) and 1 in 4 (26%) public hospitals (184) were located in Major cities
• 7 in 10 (67%) of the average available beds were located in Major cities, and a further 2 in 10 (19%) in Inner regional areas
• the number of average available beds was higher in remote areas (4.0 beds per 1,000 population) compared with 2.3 in Major cities and 2.9 in regional areas.

Local hospital networks for public hospitals

Local hospital networks (LHNs) directly manage single or small groups of public hospital services and their budgets, and are directly responsible for hospital performance. They are defined as those entities recognised as LHNs by the relevant state or territory health authority.

LHNs vary greatly in location, size and in the types of hospitals that they include. LHNs may include both public and private hospitals. The information presented below relates to public hospitals only.

In 2020–21:

• there were 134 LHNs, including 81 in Victoria, and 1 each in Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory
• many LHNs in Victoria consist of a single public hospital. Other networks might consist of a Principal referral or Public acute group A hospital and a range of smaller and/or more specialised hospitals.

Availability of hospital beds

Information about the availability of public hospital beds in relation to the population provides some information about the accessibility of hospital services. However, the available data does not take account of the extent to which hospitals provide services for patients who usually reside in other areas of the state or territory, or in other jurisdictions. The patterns of bed availability across regions may also reflect the availability of other health-care services and patterns of disease and injury.

Available beds

'Average available beds' reflects the number of beds available each day, on average, over the collection period.

On average, in 2020–21:

• 63,300 beds were available in public hospitals, with 2,000 (3.2%) of these in public psychiatric hospitals
• just under 9 in 10 (86%) beds in Public hospitals (other than psychiatric) were available for overnight stay patients
• the proportion of beds available for same-day patients in Public hospitals (other than psychiatric) ranged from 6% in the Australian Capital Territory to 26% in the Northern Territory
• available beds per 1,000 population in Public hospitals (other than psychiatric) ranged from 2.2 per 1,000 in Victoria, to 4.4 per 1,000 in the Northern Territory.

On average, between 2019–20 and 2020–21:

• available bed numbers increased by 1.2% — from 62,700 to 63,300 average available beds
• but the rate of available beds per 1,000 population fell by 0.2% per 1,000 population (to 2.5 per 1,000 population).

Remoteness area

In 2020–21:

• 7 in 10 (67%) average available public hospital beds were located in Major cities (42,400 beds) and 1 in 5 (19%) were located in Inner regional areas (12,000 beds)
• the number of public hospital beds per 1,000 population ranged from 2.3 beds per 1,000 population in Major cities to 4.8 beds per 1,000 population in Remote areas.

The most recent data available for private hospitals and private free-standing day hospital facilities is for 2016–17, and is drawn from the Private Health Establishments Collection (PHEC) undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

In 2016–17, the ABS reports there were 657 private hospitals in Australia.

Highlights

Between 2012–13 and 2016–17:

• private hospital bed numbers rose by an average of 3.6% per year (from 29,800 to 34,300)
• the number of beds per 1,000 population increased from 1.31 to 1.42 per 1,000—an average of 2.0% per year
• the number of beds in Other private hospitals (those that do not specialise in same-day care) increased by an average of 3.6% per year, and the number of beds per 1,000 population in Other private hospitals rose from around 1.18 to 1.28 beds per 1,000
• the number of beds in Private free-standing day hospital facilities increased by 3.0% each year
• about 34,300 beds were reported for private hospitals, with 3,310 (9.6%) of these in Private free-standing day hospital facilities.

A specialised service unit is a facility or unit dedicated to the treatment or care of patients with particular conditions or characteristics, such as an intensive care unit.

In 2020–21, the most common specialised service units offered by public hospitals were:

• Domiciliary care units (provided by 333 public hospitals)
• Nursing home care units (provided by 281 public hospitals)
• Obstetric/maternity services units (provided by 216 public hospitals).

There were 84 Intensive care units (level III and above) and 31 Neonatal intensive care units (level III and above).

Explore the data

The data visualisation below provides a list of selected specialised services and clinics by hospital, including specialised care units, in 2020–21.

The information about services provided by a particular hospital is intended as a general guide only. There is the potential for some omissions or errors in this information and readers should contact a hospital directly for the latest advice on the services available.

A list of the types of specialised units is available in the ‘More information about the data’ section below.