Sydney Children's Hospitals Network

An ED presentation occurs following the arrival of the patient at the ED and commences at the point of being registered or triaged. Triage is the process during which a health professional assesses the urgency of the care needs, including assigning one of five urgency categories to the health record.

Explore the data

Explore the number of presentations to Australia’s public hospital EDs between 2017–18 and 2021–22 in the data visualisation below.

Information is presented by the following patient characteristics:

• age and sex (as recorded in the data)
• Indigenous status
• the remoteness of the patient's residential address
• the socioeconomic status of the area that the patient lives in.

The data can also be explored by:

• state and territory
• hospital peer group
• local Hospital Network (LHN) (where data is available)
• hospital (where data is available).

Highlights

Overall, in 2021–22:

• There were 8.79 million presentations to emergency departments in Australia – a rate of 339 per 1,000 population
• Most ED presentations were to Principal referral and women’s and children’s and Public acute group A hospitals (71%, combined).

Emergency presentations have increased over the last five years, from 8.01 million in 2017–18 to 8.79 million in 2021–22, representing an average annual increase of 2.3% per year. However the number of presentations fluctuated during the years that were affected by COVID, decreasing in 2019–20 and increasing again in 2020–21.

Presentations to Public acute group C hospitals have increased the most by 6.4% per year since 2017–18.

Age and sex

• In 2021–22, while, overall, males accounted for 49% of all ED presentations and females accounted for 51%, there were differences across age groups. In age groups under 15 years, a higher proportion of presentations were for males, but for age groups between 15 to 44 years and 85 years and over, most presentations were for females. In the age groups between 45 and 84 years, presentations were more evenly split between males and females.
• For both males and females, the highest rates of presentation per 1,000 population were for patients aged 85 or over – 873 presentations per 1,000 population for males, and 712 per 1,000 population for females.
• The second highest presentation rates for both males and females were seen in  patients aged 4 and under – who presented at EDs at a rate of 649 per 1,000 population for males and 548 per 1,000 population for females.
• While ED presentation rates were highest in the very young and very old age groups, 46% of all ED presentations were for people aged between 25 and 64.

Indigenous status

• Overall, 7.7% of ED presentations were for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
• Across all age groups, the presentation rates per 1,000 population were greater for Indigenous Australians compared to Other Australians. The largest difference was for people aged 35–39 where the presentation rate was 967.1 per 1,000 population for Indigenous Australians and 279.5 per 1,000 population for Other Australians.

Remoteness area of usual residence 

• People living in Major cities (who make up 72% of the Australian population), accounted for 63% of ED presentations—297 presentations per 1,000 people.
• People living in Remote and Very remote areas (who make up 2.0% of the population) accounted for 3.4% of presentations.
• Information on presentation rates should be interpreted with caution as the scope of the ED data collection is ‘formal’ EDs that meet specific criteria and may not be evenly accessible to people across all geographic areas.

Socioeconomic status of area of usual residence

• People living in the second lowest socioeconomic (second most disadvantaged) areas were most likely to visit an ED, accounting for 23% of ED presentations (340 presentations per 1,000 people.) This was followed by people who lived in areas classified as being of lowest socioeconomic status – who presented at a rate of 378 presentations per 1,000 population.
• People living in the highest socioeconomic (least disadvantaged) areas were least likely to visit an ED. They accounted for 15% of all ED presentations (250 presentations per 1,000 people).

Emergency department (ED) waiting time is the time elapsed for each patient from presentation in the ED to commencement of clinical care.

A patient is considered to be 'seen on time' when the time between arrival at the ED and the time that their clinical care starts is within the time specified in the definition of the triage category they are assigned:

• Resuscitation: Immediate (within seconds)
• Emergency: within 10 minutes
• Urgent: within 30 minutes
• Semi-urgent: within 60 minutes
• Non-urgent: within 120 minutes.

Explore the data

The data visualisation below presents the following emergency department waiting time statistics by triage category:

• proportion seen on time
• 50th percentile (median) waiting time (half of all people waited less than this time)
• 90th percentile waiting time (90% of people waited less than this time).

In addition to the national data, the data can also be explored for recent years by:

• state and territory
• hospital (where data is available)
• local Hospital Network (LHN) (where data is available).

Highlights

Over the last five years, the proportion of patients ‘seen on time’ has decreased and the time in which 90% of presentations were seen has increased.

In 2021–22:

• The proportion of patients ‘seen on time’ was 67%, down from 71% in 2020–21 and from 72% in 2017–18.
• Public acute group A hospitals had the lowest overall proportion of presentations ‘seen on time’ (63%), and Other hospitals had the highest proportion (92%).
• 50% of patients were seen within 20 minutes, which was a higher waiting time than the previous year (18 minutes) and also higher than the preceding three years.
• The time within which 90% of presentations were seen was 1 hour and 57 minutes, an increase from 1 hour and 39 minutes in 2017–18.

An emergency department (ED) stay is the period between a patient presenting at an ED, and when that person is recorded as having physically departed the ED (regardless of whether they were admitted, referred, discharged or left at their own risk).

Explore the data

The data visualisation below presents the following measures related to time spent in the emergency department:

• proportion of patients with a length of stay of 4 hours or less
• 50th percentile (median) time spent in the ED (half of all people waited less than this time)
• 90th percentile time spent in the ED (90% of people waited less than this time).

The data is presented by:

• state and territory
• admission status
• triage category
• peer group.

The data can also be explored by:

• trends over time
• local Hospital Network (LHN) (where data is available)
• hospital (where data is available).

Highlights

Over the last five years, the time in which 90% of presentations were completed has been increasing, and the proportion of presentations completed within 4 hours has been decreasing.

In 2021–22:

• 50% of ED presentations were completed within 3 hours and 20 minutes, which is around 30 minutes longer than in 2017–18 (2 hours, 53 minutes).
• The time in which 50% of patients completed their ED care was longer for patients who were subsequently admitted to the hospital (5 hours, 32 minutes) than for patients who were not admitted (2 hours, 46 minutes).
• 90% of ED presentations were completed within 9 hours and 10 minutes which is just under 2 hours longer than in 2017–18 (7 hours, 14 minutes).
• The time in which 90% of patients completed their ED care was longer for patients who were subsequently admitted to the hospital (15 hours, 37 minutes) than for patients who were not admitted (6 hours, 38 minutes).
• 61% of patients who presented to ED had their care completed within 4 hours compared to 67% in 2020–21 and 71% in 2017–18.
• For patients subsequently admitted to the same hospital, one-third (34%) of ED presentations were completed within 4 hours.
• For patients not subsequently admitted, 72% of ED presentations were completed within 4 hours.
• 80% of ED presentations occurred between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Elective surgery waiting list activity is measured by the number of additions to and removals from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists, and the number of patients admitted for their awaited procedure.

Explore the data

This data visualisation below presents data for 2021–22 and recent years.

The data can also be explored:

• nationally, for additions to waiting lists and reason for removal
• by Local Hospital Network (LHN) (where data is available)
• by hospital (where data is available).

Highlights

Admissions from elective surgery waiting lists

Overall, in 2021–22:

• There were 623,000 admissions from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists – 99% of which were elective admissions for the intended procedure. The remaining 1% were admitted as emergency patients because the patient’s condition deteriorated or for other reasons.
• Of the 623,000 admissions, 228,500 (37%) were Category 1, 229,200 (37%) were Category 2, and 165,300 (26%) were Category 3.
• Principal referral and women’s and children’s hospitals and Public acute group A hospitals accounted for approximately three‑quarters of all admissions from elective surgery waiting lists (40% and 34%, respectively).
• 4.2% of admissions from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists were for people reported as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin who represent 3.8% of the Australian population.

In 2021–22, admissions from elective surgery waiting lists decreased overall by 17% compared with 2020-21, likely due to COVID-19 restrictions and limitations on hospital services during this period.

This contrasts with the change in the previous year, where admissions increased overall by 9.6% between 2019–20 and 2020–21. In the year prior, 2019–20, which was the first year of restrictions due to COVID-19, there was an overall reduction of elective surgeries admissions by 9.2% compared with 2018–19. In the years preceding this period, the number of admissions increased annually on average by 2.1% from 2014–15 to 2018–19.

The change in the number of elective surgery admissions, from 2020–21 to 2021–22, was not uniform across Australia. In NSW, admissions decreased by 27%, while admissions increased in Tasmania by 11%. This is likely due to the disproportionate impact COVID-19 had on each state and territory.

Additions to elective surgery waiting lists

In 2021–22, 783,700 patients were added to elective surgery waiting lists in Australia – a 12% decrease from the number of patients added in 2020–21. However, it should be noted that:

• The number of patients added in 2020–21 (893,200) was a 6.6% increase in the number of additions from the previous year and was affected by the easing of restrictions placed on elective surgery and healthcare services more generally in the previous year.
• In the 5 years prior to 2018–19, the number of additions to elective surgery waiting lists increased, on average, by 2.5% each year.

Removals from elective surgery waiting lists

In 2021–22:

• 759,100 patients were removed from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists –  a decrease of 16% compared with 2020–21.
• Most patients removed from waiting lists (82%) were admitted for their intended procedure.
• 17% were removed from waiting lists for other reasons (for example, the surgery was no longer required, they were treated elsewhere, transferred to another hospital’s waiting list, were unable to be contacted, or died).

The 16% decrease in removals in 2021–22 followed an 11% increase in 2020–21, which in turn, was followed by an 8.0% decrease in removals in 2019–20. This fluctuating pattern in recent years is likely due to restrictions and limitations in services that were able to be provided in response to COVID-19 outbreaks at different periods over these three years. In the years before COVID-19, the total number of removals from waiting lists increased on average by 2.3% each year between 2014–15 and 2018–19.

In 2021–22, there was an 11.5% decrease in patients removed from elective surgery waiting lists due to being transferred to another hospital’s waiting list, compared with 2020–21. In comparison, the change in the previous corresponding period was an increase of 40%; and in the year prior, it increased by 20%. The increase in these previous two years were possibly due in part, to management of waiting lists during COVID-19.  

The surgical speciality describes the area of clinical expertise held by the doctor scheduled to perform the elective surgery. This section presents information on the type of elective surgery provided, by surgical speciality, in 2021–22 and changes over recent years.

Information on 11 categories of surgical speciality is presented. The ‘other’ category contains data for surgeons whose speciality was not one of the 11 specified categories.

This data visualisation below presents data for 2021–22 and recent years.

 The data can be explored:

• nationally or by state/territory, by surgical speciality
• by Local Hospital Network (LHN) (where data is available)
• by hospital (where data is available).

The continuation of restrictions on elective surgery admissions across some jurisdictions and the overall impact of the COVID–19 pandemic in recent years should be considered when interpreting this data.

Highlights

In 2021–22, of the 623,000 admissions from elective surgery waiting lists:

• 21% were for General surgery (on abdominal organs, including endocrine surgery and breast surgery). This was the most common surgical specialty resulting in an admission from a waiting list.
• 16% were for Urological surgery (on organs of the urinary system such as bladder, urethra, and kidneys) and 13% were for Orthopaedic surgery (on bones, joints, ligaments, and tendons, including knee and hip replacements).

Changes over time

• Between 2020–21 and 2021–22, overall admissions from elective surgery waiting lists decreased by 17%, whereas between 2017–18 and 2021–22, it decreased by 4.5%.
• Between 2020–21 and 2021–22, Otolaryngology, head, and neck surgery and Orthopaedic surgery had the largest decrease in admissions by 24% and 23% respectively. This was much lower between 2017–18 and 2021–22, where it decreased by 8.0% and 6.9% respectively.
• Between 2020–21 and 2021–22, Paediatric surgery and Plastic surgery had the smallest decrease in admissions by 8.6% and 9.1% respectively, while between 2017–18 and 2021–22, it decreased by 1.6% and 2.2% respectively.

In general, those surgical specialties with the largest decreases between 2018–19 and 2019–20 had the greatest increase in admissions between 2019–20 and 2020–21.

The intended surgical procedure describes the type of surgery for which a patient has been placed on a public hospital elective surgery waiting list. In some instances, the intended procedure may not reflect what was actually performed during the hospitalisation.

Explore the data

In the data visualisations below, you can explore data about admissions from elective surgery waiting lists for 15 intended procedures and ‘other’ procedures for 2021–22 and recent years by:

• state/territory
• Local Hospital Network (LHN) (where data is available)
• Hospital (where data is available).

The 15 intended procedures selected were previously known as indicator procedures, chosen due to their typically high volume of admissions and long wait times.

Highlights

In 2021–22:

• The 15 indicator procedures accounted for 32% of admissions from elective surgery waiting lists.
• Cataract extraction was the most common intended surgical procedure with 58,200 patients admitted, followed by Cystoscopy with 51,700 patients admitted.

Changes over time

Admissions for most indicator procedures decreased between 2021–22 compared with 2020–21, likely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

• Between 2020–21 and 2021–22 and between 2017–18 and 2021–22, admissions from elective surgery waiting lists decreased for all indicator procedures.
• The three procedures with the greatest decrease in admissions were Tonsillectomy (which decreased by 35%), Varicose veins treatment (34%) and Total knee replacement (33%) between 2020–21 and 2021–22. Over the long-term, between 2017–18 and 2021–22, the greatest decreases in admissions were for Varicose veins treatment (which decreased by 15%), Myringotomy (15%) and Tonsillectomy (14%).

Waiting times data provides information about the length of time waited by patients on public hospital elective surgery waiting lists before being admitted for surgery.

Explore the data

In the data visualisation below, you can explore waiting times for elective surgery by hospital peer group and clinical urgency category of the surgery for 2021–22 and other recent years.

The data can also be explored by:

• Hospital (where data is available)
• Local Hospital Network (LHN) (where data is available).

Highlights

In 2021–22:

• The overall time within which 50% of patients were admitted (the median waiting time) was 40 days, and the time within which 90% of patients were admitted was 323 days.
• 6.3% of patients waited more than 365 days for their surgery.
• The 50th percentile (median) waiting time for patients admitted from waiting lists to Principal referral and Women’s and children’s hospitals (29 days) was shorter than for smaller hospitals categorised as Public acute group A hospitals and Public acute group B hospitals (44 days and 56 days, respectively).

Changes over time

Between 2020–21 and 2021–22, decreases in the 50^th and 90^th percentile waiting times occurred across almost all states/territories. 

50th percentile (median) waiting time

Between 2020–21 and 2021–22, the 50th percentile waiting time:

• decreased overall from 48 days to 40 days
• decreased for all public hospital peer groups except Other hospitals (not included in group A or B), which increased by 2 days.

Between 2017–18 and 2021–22, the 50th percentile waiting time:

• remained the same overall at 40 days
• increased for all public hospital peer groups except Principal referral and Women’s and children’s hospitals, which decreased by 6 days.

90th percentile waiting time

Between 2020–21 and 2021–22, the 90th percentile waiting time:

• decreased overall from 348 days to 323 days
• decreased for all public hospital peer groups.

Between 2017–18 and 2021–22, the 90th percentile waiting time:

• decreased overall from 268 days to 323 days
• increased for all public hospital peer groups.

Patients who waited more than 365 days

Between 2020–21 and 2021–22, the proportion of patients who waited more than 365 days to be admitted decreased from 7.6% to 6.3%. Prior to 2020–21, this proportion fluctuated between 1.8% in 2017–18 to 2.8% in 2018–19.

Waiting times by clinical urgency category

When a patient is placed on a public hospital elective surgery waiting list, a clinical assessment is made to determine the urgency with which they require elective surgery (the clinically recommended time). The proportion of patients seen within the recommended time is the percentage of patients who were admitted for surgery within the clinically recommended time as defined by their clinical urgency category.

The ‘overdue wait’ is the amount of time spent waiting while overdue—that is, after 30, 90, or 365 days for clinical urgency categories 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The average overdue wait time (in days) is calculated for patients who were still waiting for their elective surgery as at 30 June 2022, who were ready for care, and who had waited beyond the recommended time.

Due to the lack of comparability of clinical urgency categories between states and territories, these data are presented for each state and territory separately.

In 2021–22, the proportion of patients admitted within the clinically recommended time was:

• for New South Wales; 83%
• for Victoria; 80%
• for Queensland; 85%
• for Western Australia; 81%
• for South Australia; 76%
• for Tasmania; 57%
• for the Australian Capital Territory; 78%
• for the Northern Territory; 68%.

In 2021–22, the average overdue wait time was:

• for New South Wales; 91 days
• for Victoria; 211 days
• for Queensland; 78 days
• for Western Australia; 96 days
• for South Australia; 86 days
• for Tasmania; 253 days
• for the Australian Capital Territory; 123 days
• for the Northern Territory; 310 days.

The surgical speciality describes the area of clinical expertise held by the doctor performing the elective surgery.

A range of restrictions and disruptions to elective surgeries occurred as a result of COVID-19 which has impacted elective surgery waiting times across most surgical specialties from 2019–20 to 2021–22. Prior to this, between 2016–17 and 2019–20, median waiting times for elective surgeries tended to remain relatively stable across most surgical specialties.

Explore the data

In the data visualisation below, you can explore elective surgery waiting times by surgical speciality for 2021–22 and for other recent years by:

• area of surgical specialty
• state and territory
• Local Hospital Network (LHN) (where data is available)
• Hospital level (where data is available).

Highlights

In 2021–22:

• The surgical speciality with the highest median waiting time was Ophthalmology (107 days).
• The surgical specialty with the highest 90^th percentile waiting time was Otolaryngology, head and neck surgery (405 days).
• The surgical speciality with the lowest median and 90th percentile waiting time was Cardiothoracic surgery (18 days and 92 days, respectively).
• The surgical specialities that had the highest proportions of patients who waited more than 365 days to be admitted were Otolaryngology, head and neck surgery and Orthopaedic surgery (15% and 13%, respectively).

Changes over time

Between 2020–21 and 2021–22:

• The median waiting time decreased for 11 out of the 12 surgical specialties, excluding Cardio-thoracic surgery which remained the same at 18 days.
• The 90^th percentile waiting time decreased for 10 out of the 12 surgical specialties, excluding Cardio-thoracic surgery which increased by 6 days from 86 days in 2020–21 to 92 days in 2021–22, and Other surgery which increased by 4 days from 133 days in 2020–21 to 137 days in 2021–22.
• Neurosurgery median waiting times decreased from 37 days to 28 days.
• Otolaryngology, head and neck surgery median waiting times decreased from 112 days to 84 days.

Waiting list statistics for intended surgical procedures can indicate performance in particular areas of elective surgery. Information on the types of elective surgery provided by public hospitals is shown by the intended surgical procedure, for selected procedures only.

A range of restrictions and disruptions to elective surgeries occurred as a result of COVID-19 which has impacted elective surgery waiting times across most procedures from 2019–20 to 2021–22. Prior to this, between 2016–17 and 2019–20, median waiting times for elective surgeries tended to remain relatively stable across most procedures.

Explore the data

In the data visualisations below, you can explore elective surgery waiting times for 2021–22 and other recent years by:

• a list of 15 selected intended procedures (also previously known as indicator procedures)
• state and territory
• Local Hospital Network (LHN), and hospital level (for all intended procedures).

Highlights

In 2021–22, for the 15 selected intended (indicator) procedures:

• Coronary artery bypass graft had the shortest median and 90^th percentile waiting times with 19 and 87 days respectively. Less than 0.1% of patients waited more than 365 days to receive this type of surgery.
• Septoplasty had the highest median waiting time with 315 days and Myringoplasty/Tympanoplasty had the highest 90^th percentile median waiting time with 525 days.

In 2021–22, for the top 25 intended procedures:

• Dialysis access surgery had the shortest median waiting time of 13 days and Breast lump excision and/or biopsy had the shortest 90^th percentile waiting times with 49 days. Both procedures had a proportion of patients waiting more than 365 days to receive this elective surgery of <1% (0.3% and 0.4% respectively).
• Septoplasty had the highest median waiting time with 315 days and Myringoplasty/Tympanoplasty had the highest 90^th percentile median waiting time with 525 days.

Changes over time

Between 2017–18 and 2021–22, for the 15 selected intended (indicator) procedures:

• Coronary artery bypass graft surgery consistently had the lowest waiting times across all of the waiting time measures.
• Septoplasty consistently had the highest median waiting times and Myringoplasty/Tympanoplasty consistently had the highest 90^th percentile waiting time except for 2020–21 when waiting times for Septoplasty were 500 days.
• Varicose vein treatment had the largest increase in median waiting time with 107 days, from 101 days in 2017–18 to 208 days in 2021–22 and Haemorrhoidectomy had the largest increase in 90^th percentile waiting time with 149 days from 190 days in 2017–18 to 339 days in 2021–22.
• Median waiting times for Cytoscopy remained the same at 24 days.
• Coronary artery bypass graft surgery had the lowest increase in 90^th percentile waiting times of just 5 days from 82 days in 2017–18 to 87 days in 2021–22.

Hospitals provide various types of care to admitted patients. The care type describes the overall nature of a clinical service provided to an admitted patient during an episode of care. Care type can be classified as:

• Acute care
• Newborn care
• Subacute and non-acute care—Rehabilitation care, Palliative care, Geriatric evaluation and management, Maintenance care and Psychogeriatric care
• Mental health care.

Explore the data

In the data visualisation below you can explore the number of hospitalisations by care type for public and private hospitals between 2016–17 and 2020–21, and by hospital, between 2012–13 to 2020–21.

Highlights

In 2020–21, for the public and private sectors combined:

• over 9 in 10 (94%) hospitalisations were classified as episodes of Acute care
• 3.6% were classified as episodes of as Rehabilitation care
• 3.2% were classified as episodes of as Mental health care
• 0.5% were classified as episodes of as Newborn care (with at least one qualified day).

The proportions of hospitalisations for each care type varied by hospital sector. Public hospitals accounted for 61% of hospitalisations for Acute care, while private hospitals accounted for 81% of hospitalisations for Rehabilitation care.

Acute care

In 2020–21:

• around 9 in 10 hospitalisations in public (94%) and private hospitals (87%) were for Acute care 
• the most common principal diagnosis (at the 3-chartacter level) reported for overnight acute hospitalisations was Single spontaneous delivery (3.1% of hospitalisations)
• almost 1 in 4 (23%) of same-day acute hospitalisations had a principal diagnosis of Care involving dialysis.

In 2020–21, the number of hospitalisations for Acute care increased by 3.8% for public hospitals and by 11.1% for private hospitals compared with 2019–20.

Newborn care

This section presents information on Newborn care provided for 2020–21. Newborns receiving care may have both ‘qualified’ and ‘unqualified’ days. Refer to ‘More information about the data’ section below for definitions of qualified and unqualified care.

In 2020–21:

• there were 81,500 hospitalisations for newborn care with at least one qualified day—the majority of these (86%) occurred in public hospitals
• 1 in 4 hospitalisations for newborn care had a principal diagnosis of Disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight, not elsewhere classified (25% of hospitalisations for qualified newborns) followed by Respiratory distress of newborn (14% of hospitalisations for qualified newborns).

Overall, almost all (95%) hospitalisations for newborn care were Discharged home—these hospitalisations include newborn care without qualified days and those with at least one qualified day, or a combination of the two.

In 2020–21:

• Newborn care ​hospitalisations for qualified newborns increased by 7.1% in public hospitals and 5.9% in private hospitals compared with 2019–20
• for unqualified newborns, Newborn care hospitalisations increased by 0.8% for public hospitals and 14.9% for private hospitals.

Subacute and non-acute care

In 2020–21:

• less than 1 in 20 hospitalisations (4.8%) were for Subacute and non-acute care. 
• the number of hospitalisations for Subacute and non-acute care decreased by 2.3% in public hospitals and increased by 5.3% in private hospitals compared with 2019–20.

Rehabilitation care

In 2020–21:

• there were over 430,000 Rehabilitation care hospitalisations, with 4 in 5 (81%) occurring in private hospitals
• Rehabilitation care accounted for over 9 in 10 (95%) of Subacute and non-acute care hospitalisations for private hospitals and over 4 in 10 (42%) for public hospitals
• females accounted for more than half (56%) of all Rehabilitation care hospitalisations 
• Indigenous Australians had lower hospitalisations rates for Rehabilitation care than Other Australians (8.5 per 1,000 and 13.6 per 1,000 population, respectively)
• people in Major cities had higher rates of Rehabilitation care in private hospitals compared to people who live in other remoteness areas (13.5 hospitalisations per 1,000 population compared with 11.0 per 1,000 nationally)
• Just over half (52%) of Rehabilitation care hospitalisations in public and private hospitals had a principal diagnosis in the ICD-10-AM chapter Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue—which includes conditions such as arthrosis of the knee or hip, back pain and other joint disorders.

Between 2019–20 and 2020–21, Rehabilitation care increased by 5.7% in private hospitals and fell by 6.7% in public hospitals.

Palliative care

Palliative care is defined as care in which the primary clinical purpose or treatment goal is optimisation of the quality of life of a patient with an active and advanced life-limiting illness.

In 2020–21:

• nearly 9 in 10 (86%) of the 49,000 hospitalisations with a care type of Palliative care occurred in public hospitals
• 1 in 2 hospitalisations for Palliative care had a neoplasm-related (cancer-related) principal diagnosis, with Malignant neoplasm of bronchus and lung accounting for 8% of Palliative care hospitalisations
• the most common non-neoplasm-related principal diagnoses for Palliative care included Other sepsis, Heart failure and Pneumonitis due to solids and liquids.

In 2020–21 Palliative care hospitalisations decreased by 4.7% in private hospitals and increased by 2.7% for public hospitals compared with 2019–20.

Mental health care

Mental health care is defined as care in which the primary clinical purpose or treatment goal is improvement in the symptoms and/or psychosocial, environmental and physical functioning related to a patient’s mental disorder.

For 2020–21, mental health care refers to hospitalisations for which the care type was reported as Mental health. The care type Mental health was introduced from 1 July 2015. Prior to this, mental health admitted patient activity was assigned to one of the other care types.

In 2020–21:

• over 3 in 5 (62%) of the 375,000 Mental health care hospitalisations occurred in private hospitals
• almost 9 in 10 (88%) hospitalisations in public hospitals involved a stay of at least one night
• 4 in 5 (79%) hospitalisations for Mental health care in private hospitals were for same-day care
• females accounted for 3 in 5 (59%) of all Mental health care hospitalisations.

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.