SABSI in public hospitals


Over 700 public hospitals reported a total of 1,428 cases of SABSI


SABSI rates over the past 5 years ranged from 0.74 cases per 10,000 patient days in 2015–16 to 0.71 in 2019–20



The proportion of cases treated with commonly used antibiotics have ranged from 81% to 83% over the past 5 years

In 2019–20:

  • There were 1,428 SABSI cases occurring during 20.1 million days of patient care under surveillance. Patient days under SABSI surveillance covered 99% of days of patient care in public hospitals.
  • Overall, there were 0.71 SABSI cases per 10,000 patient days.
  • 83% of SABSI cases were methicillin-sensitive (MSSA), and therefore treatable with commonly used antimicrobials.

Data in this report relating to numbers of cases and rates of S. aureus bloodstream infections exclude public hospitals where there were no SABSI surveillance arrangements, as well as some public hospital services supplied by private hospitals. Data relating to individual public hospitals with SABSI surveillance arrangements where services are supplied by private providers are available from the MyHospitals website.

Changes in SABSI over time

Between 2015–16 and 2019–20:

  • SABSI rates over the past 5 years have slightly decreased, from 0.74 cases per 10,000 patient days in 2015–16 to 0.71 in 2019–20.
  • The proportion of MSSA cases slightly increased from 81% to 83%.
  • The proportion of MRSA cases slightly decreased from 19% to 17%.

Figure 1: SABSI in public hospitals, by case type, 2015-16 to 2019-20

Figure 1: SAB in public hospitals, by case type, 2014-15 to 2018-19 (data visualisation)

SABSI in states and territories

In 2019–20:

  • For each state and territory, and at the national level, the SABSI rate was lower than the national benchmark of 2.0 cases per 10,000 patient days.
  • SABSI rates in 2019–20 ranged from 0.34 in the Northern Territory to 0.81 in Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.
  • Differences in SABSI rates between states and territories may reflect differences in surveillance and validation processes.
Table 1. SABSI infections in public hospitals, MSSA and MRSA, states and territories, 2019–20

 

MSSA
rate (a)

MRSA
rate (a)

Total SABSI

 Total SABSI
rate (a)

Patient days under surveillance (‘000)

Coverage
%

NSW

0.59

0.17

506

0.76

6,651,835

99

Vic

0.59

0.11

359

0.70

5,161,314

100

Qld

0.60

0.07

271

0.67

4,057,359

100

WA

0.61

0.10

104

0.71

1,468,973

96

SA

0.60

0.11

107

0.72

1,490,040

100

Tas

0.74

0.07

36

0.81

443,862

100

ACT

0.65

0.15

32

0.81

397,001

100

NT

0.16

0.18

13

0.34

380,961

100

Total

0.59

0.12

1,428

0.71

20,051,345

99

(a) Cases per 10,000 patient days

Source: AIHW National Staphylococcus aureus Bacteraemia Data Collection.

SABSI rates by type of public hospital

Major, large and children's hospitals can be more likely to treat patients at risk of SABSI than other hospitals, and therefore tend to have higher proportions of SABSI and higher SABSI rates.

For more information on public hospital peer groups, see the technical notes on the MyHospitals website.

In 2019–20:

  • The SABSI rate across all major hospitals was 0.96 cases per 10,000 patient days. In comparison, the rate across all large hospitals was 0.71 cases per 10,000 patient days and the rate across medium hospitals was 0.46 cases per 10,000 patient days. The SABSI rate across all children’s hospitals was 0.91 cases per 10,000 patient days and the rate across small hospitals was 0.32.
  • Over half of all SABSI cases occurred in major hospitals (55%).
  • 33% of all SABSI cases occurred in large hospitals.
  • 6% of all SABSI cases occurred in medium hospitals.
  • 4% of all SABSI cases occurred in children’s hospitals.
  • 3% of all SABSI cases occurred in small hospitals.

Figure 2: SABSI rate over time, by peer group and case type, states and territories​

Figure 2: SAB infection rate over time, by peer group and case type, states and territories (data visualisation)