Glossary
In this report, we use the following definitions.
Admitted patient: Admitted patients are people who undergo a formal admission process in a hospital to receive treatment and/or care. In this report, admitted patients refer to people who are hospitalised for mental health care (see hospitalisation for mental health care definition).
Age-standardisation: A method of removing the influence of age when comparing populations with different age structures. This can be useful in understanding differences between populations as people of different ages often have different health or welfare outcomes.
For example, a community with more older people will likely have more hospitalisations than one with more younger people. The age structures of these different communities are adjusted for, and then the hospitalisations that would have occurred within that structure are calculated and compared (see age-standardised rate definition).
Age-standardised rate: A rate that is adjusted to account for differences in the age structure of the populations being compared (see age-standardisation definition). In this report, age-standardised rates have been calculated using the indirect method. For more information, see the METEOR page on Age-standardised rate.
Arrival mode: The mode of arrival relates to how a patient arrives at the emergency department (ED), whether by ambulance or helicopter rescue service, police/correctional vehicle or other.
Disability: In the Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (ABS SDAC), a person is considered to have disability if they have at least one of a list of limitations, restrictions or impairments, which has lasted, or is likely to last, for at least 6 months and restricts everyday activities. This may include limitation in core activities, schooling or employment restriction, or restrictions in other non-core activities of daily living.
Disability flags: Disability flags are types of information about disability. These flags help us to consistently include and describe people with disability in the National Disability Data Asset (NDDA). The first set of disability flags include people who:
- were National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants
- were assessed as eligible for or received a Centrelink Disability Support Pension (DSP)
- received
- Centrelink Mobility Allowance
- Centrelink Youth Disability Supplement
- a one-off Business Services Wage Assessment Tool (BSWAT) payment scheme
- had carers eligible for Centrelink Carer Allowance or Carer Payment.
This does not represent all people with disability in Australia. The flags do not measure a broad or unified conceptual definition of disability. They describe one group of people within the wider disability community. The first set of disability flags includes information about people who accessed these payments or services during 2019 to 2023 using data from Data Over Multiple Individual Occurrences (DOMINO) and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
Disability Support Pension (DSP) recipient: The Disability Support Pension (DSP) is a means-tested income support payment which assists recipients to meet the everyday costs of living. It can be accessed by people who are aged 16 and over but under Age Pension age (at claim) and who have reduced capacity to work because of their disability. This includes those who:
- are permanently blind
- have a physical, intellectual or psychiatric condition resulting in functional impairment making the person unable to work for 15 hours or more per week for the next 2 years due to their disability or medical condition
- are unable, as a result of impairment, to undertake a training activity which would equip them for work within the next 2 years.
DSP recipients are encouraged to participate in employment where they have the capacity to, and can gain from the benefits of working, including improved wellbeing.
DSP is administered through Services Australia. For more information see DSP – Qualification & Payability, Participation requirements for DSP recipients, and Disability Support Pension.
People who access the DSP are referred to as DSP recipients.
Episode end status: The episode end status describes the status of the patient at the conclusion of their presentation in the emergency department (ED). This includes whether the patient is admitted to the same hospital as the ED, leaves the hospital without being admitted or referred to another hospital, is referred to another hospital for admission, decides not to wait to be seen by a health care professional, leaves the ED at their own risk after being seen by a health care professional but before being discharged, dies in the ED, is dead on arrival, or is advised of another health care service and leave the ED without being attended by a health care professional.
Hospitalisation for mental health care: Hospitalisation refers to a hospital admission where an individual is admitted for care. A hospital admission is mental health-related if it had a mental health-related principal diagnosis which is defined as a principal diagnosis that is either a diagnosis that falls within the section on Mental and behavioural disorders (Chapter 5) in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 12th revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM) classification (codes F00–F99) or a number of other selected diagnoses (refer to the Classification Codes section for the full list of applicable diagnoses codes and exclusions), or it included any specialised psychiatric care. Other reports may refer to hospitalisation as admitted patient care.
People with government disability supports: People with government disability supports include people with disability who access government payments or services related to disability. This cohort has been represented by the National Disability Data Asset (NDDA) disability flags (see disability flags definition).
People with no government disability supports: People with no government disability supports include people who do not access government payments or services related to disability. This cohort includes people without disability but also people with disability who do not receive government disability supports. This cohort are those not represented by the National Disability Data Asset (NDDA) disability flags (see disability flags definition).
Public hospital: Public hospitals are controlled by a state or territory health authority. Public hospitals offer free diagnostic services, treatment, care and accommodation to all eligible patients.
Mental health-related emergency department presentation/ Presentation to the emergency department for mental health care: A hospital emergency department (ED) presentation that has a principal diagnosis that falls within the Mental and behavioural disorders chapter (Chapter 5) of ICD-10-AM (codes F00–F99). It should be noted that this definition does not encompass all mental health-related presentations to the ED.
National Disability Data Asset (NDDA): The National Disability Data Asset (NDDA) initiative brings together de-identified information from different government agencies, to assist in gaining a better understanding of the needs and experiences of people with disability.
The data bought together via the NDDA initiative is used to:
- share information about how to improve opportunities and outcomes for people with disability
- help governments improve supports and services for people with disability
- improve reporting on outcomes for people with disability under Australia’s Disability Strategy
National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participant: The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) provides ‘reasonable and necessary supports’ to help people who have a ‘significant and permanent’ disability. The scheme is based on an insurance model, and each individual seeking access is assessed according to a common set of criteria. Individuals who are deemed eligible receive a package of funding to purchase the supports identified in their individualised plan.
The NDIS is administered by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). For more information, see Eligibility requirements | NDIS.
People who access the NDIS are referred to as NDIS participants.
National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participant receiving the Disability Support Pension (DSP): People who access both the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and Disability Support Pension (DSP) (see NDIS participant and DSP recipient definitions) are referred to as NDIS participants receiving the DSP.
Overnight hospitalisation: A patient may be admitted to the hospital just for the day, a single overnight stay, or for a number of days. Care that lasts more than one day is referred to as overnight hospitalisation.
Psychiatric units: Psychiatric units are specialised units or wards that are dedicated to the treatment and care of admitted patients with psychiatric, mental or behavioural disorders.
Separation mode: The mode of separation describes how each hospitalisation ended, and for some, the place to which the patient was discharged or transferred. These modes include usual place of residence, an(other) psychiatric hospital, other care or other.
Specialised psychiatric care: Hospitalisations are classed as with specialised psychiatric care if the patient spends one or more days in a specialised psychiatric unit or ward. In public acute hospitals, a specialised episode of care or hospitalisation may comprise some psychiatric care days and some days in general care. An episode of care from a public psychiatric hospital is deemed to comprise psychiatric care days only and to be specialised, unless some care was given in a unit other than a psychiatric unit, such as a drug and alcohol unit.
Triage category: The triage category indicates the level of urgency of the patient’s need for medical and nursing care. It is usually assigned by an experienced registered nurse or medical practitioner at, or shortly after, the time of presentation to the emergency department (ED). The triage category assigned is in response to the question: ‘This patient should wait for medical assessment and treatment no longer than...?’
The Australasian Triage Scale has 5 categories that incorporate the time by which the patient should receive care:
- Resuscitation: immediate (within seconds)
- Emergency: within 10 minutes
- Urgent: within 30 minutes
- Semi-urgent: within 60 minutes
- Non-urgent: within 120 minutes.