Deaths in Australian hospitals 2014–15

Web report

Last updated: 10 Mar 2017

Topic: Hospitals

AIHW

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2017) Deaths in Australian hospitals 2014–15, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 20 April 2024.

APA

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2017). Deaths in Australian hospitals 2014–15. Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/hospitals/deaths-in-australian-hospitals-2014-15

MLA

Deaths in Australian hospitals 2014–15. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 10 March 2017, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/hospitals/deaths-in-australian-hospitals-2014-15

Vancouver

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Deaths in Australian hospitals 2014–15 [Internet]. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2017 [cited 2024 Apr. 20]. Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/hospitals/deaths-in-australian-hospitals-2014-15

Harvard

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2017, Deaths in Australian hospitals 2014–15, viewed 20 April 2024, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/hospitals/deaths-in-australian-hospitals-2014-15

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Information on patient deaths in public and private hospitals for the period 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015, and comparative information for the previous 10 years.

Cat. no: WEB 186

Findings from this report:

In 2014–15, there were 76,856 admitted patient deaths in hospital
About 82% of deaths in hospital occurred in public hospitals
There were more male deaths in hospital (55%) than female deaths in hospital (45%)
Since 2005–06, more than 93% of deaths in hospital were for patients aged 50 or over

Data source and references

Data source

These data are from the National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD) and from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) publication Deaths 2014 [1] for total deaths in Australia. For more information on the data drawn from the NHMD, please refer to Admitted patient care 2014–15: Australian hospital statistics.

In this spotlight and the Admitted patient care 2014–15 report, counts of separations do not include stillborn babies or Posthumous organ procurement (deceased organ donors). However, this spotlight includes separations for newborns did not have any ‘qualified patient days’ (for example, they did not receive care in a neonatal intensive care unit). This differs from counts of separations presented in Admitted patient care 2014–15, which exclude newborns who did not have any ‘qualified patient days’ as they do not meet admission criteria for all purposes.

Two NHMD data items—Care type and Additional diagnosis—capture information on palliative care. In this spotlight and the Admitted patient care series of reports Palliative care refers to separations with a Care type of Palliative care. More detailed information on the provision of palliative care is available in the AIHW’s online Palliative care services in Australia publication which includes both separations with a Care type of Palliative care and/or an Additional diagnosis of Palliative care.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2016. Deaths 2014. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2016. Admitted patient care 2014–15: Australian hospital statistics. Health services no. 68. Cat. no. HSE 172. Canberra: AIHW.