Non-admitted patients

Non-admitted patients are patients who do not undergo a hospital’s formal admission process and do not occupy a hospital bed. Instead, they receive services as an outpatient. The types of care they receive include consultations with specialist medical practitioners, the provision of diagnostic or other procedures, and allied health or clinical nurse specialist services.

National data on services provided to non-admitted patients in Australia outlines information on the types of services provided, the types of clinics in which the services take place, the users of services and the funding of services.

Explore more details on the care provided to non-admitted patients via the links at the bottom of the page.

Nearly 40 million non-admitted patient care services events were provided

In 2018–19:

• 39 million non-admitted patient care service events were provided for public patients
• 602 public hospitals and 28 other services provided non-admitted patient care for public patients
• more than half (54%) of service events were in allied health and/or clinical nurse specialist intervention clinics.

Females are over-represented

In 2018–19:

• over half (56%) of service events were for females
• 35% of service events were for people aged 65 and over
• 5% of service events were for Indigenous Australians
• most service events (86%) were funded by ‘Other sources’ (including the jurisdiction’s health service budget) and 13% were funded by the Medicare Benefits Scheme. The remainder were funded through compensation schemes and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

Where do I find more information?

More data about non-admitted patient care is available to explore in the data section of the following reports and in the Data downloads section