Hospitals
The total government spending on the response to COVID–19 for hospitals was $15.7 billion (29%) over the four financial years (2019–20 to 2022–23). Of this, $14.1 billion was for public hospitals and $1.5 billion was for private hospitals that mainly consisted of financial and capacity viability payments. Table 3 shows the total hospital COVID–19 related spending for each year compared to the number of confirmed COVID–19 cases, hospital separations, intensive care unit stays (ICU), continuous ventilatory support (CVS) and deaths, with a COVID–19 related diagnosis. See MyHospitals admitted patient activity (AIHW 2024b).
There was also a substantial number of presentations to specialised COVID–19 outpatient clinics, primarily for COVID–19 PCR tests, that are not captured as a measure of activity in Table 3.
| 2019–20 | 2020–21 | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Government spending ($ billion) | 3.3 | 4.9 | 6.1 | 1.3 | 15.7 |
Confirmed COVID–19 cases | 8,595 | 22,421 | 7,935,111 | 3,593,216 | 11,559,343 |
Hospital separations* | 2,628 | 4,718 | 263,425 | 182,824 | 453,595 |
ICU* | 225 | 329 | 7,774 | 6,362 | 14,690 |
CVS* | 138 | 180 | 3,338 | 2,331 | 5,987 |
Deaths* | 105 | 487 | 5,265 | 6,538 | 12,395 |
*With a COVID–19 related diagnosis.
Source: National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) extracted 17 May 2024, AIHW MyHospitals data downloads, National Health Funding Body, Department of Health and Aged Care.
AIHW (2024b) MyHospitals [website], accessed 10 July 2024.