SABSI in private hospitals

Counts and rates for individual private hospitals participating in the NSABDC are provided on MyHospitals.

In 2019–20:

  • There were 202 SABSI cases occurring during 6.6 million days of patient care under surveillance. Patient days under SABSI surveillance covered 99.9% of days of patient care in private hospitals that provided SABSI data.
  • Overall, there were 0.30 SABSI cases per 10,000 patient days.
  • 83% of SABSI cases were methicillin-sensitive (MSSA), and therefore treatable with commonly used antimicrobials.
  • Amongst the 63 private hospitals that reported 1 or more SABSI cases in 2019–20, SABSI rates ranged from 0.09 cases per 10,000 patient days to 1.80 cases per 10,000 patient days.
  • All private hospitals reporting 1 or more SABSI cases provided separate counts of MSSA and MRSA cases. Among these hospitals, rates of MSSA ranged from 0 to 1.55 and rates of MRSA ranged from 0 to 1.80 cases per 10,000 patient days.

28%
of private hospitals provided data for 2019–20

183
private hospitals reported a total of 202 SABSI cases

Private hospital participation

The rate of private hospital participation in the NSABDC for 2019–20 is calculated using counts of all private hospitals from the 2016–17 Private Health Establishments Collection of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS 2018).

  • 183 private hospitals (or 28%) participated in the NSABDC. This is the same as the overall participation rate for the 2018–19 NSABDC (183 private hospitals, or 28%, provided data by the time of the previous AIHW report, though not all hospitals reported in both years).
  • 3 private hospitals also provided public hospital services.
Table 2. Participation in NSABDC reporting among private hospitals, states and territories, 2019–20

 

Private hospitals participating in
2019–20 
NSABDC (a) (no.)

Private hospitals listed as such in 2016–17 (no.)

Participation rate (%)

NSW

60

210

29

Vic

60

174

34

Qld

30

118

25

WA

19

64

30

SA

9

56

16

Tas, ACT & NT (b)

5

35

14

Total

183

657

28
  1. Includes some public hospital services supplied by private providers.
  2. Figures for Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory were combined to protect the confidentiality of the small numbers of private hospitals in these states and territories.

Source: AIHW National Staphylococcus aureus Bacteraemia Data Collection and ABS Private Health Establishments Collection (ABS 2018).

Private hospital data quality

Currently, private hospitals participate in the NSABDC on a voluntary basis, and coverage of SABSI rates in the private sector is therefore incomplete. The casemix of patients treated in private hospitals may also be different to that in public hospitals. Data reported by participating private hospitals may therefore not be representative of the private sector as a whole.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2018. Private Hospitals, Australia, 2016–17, ABS cat. no. 4390.0. Canberra: ABS.