How urgently was care required?
In 2014–15, more than half (58%, 44,858) of deaths in hospital were emergency admissions, while 21% were elective admissions (16,076) (Figure 3). Urgency status was not assigned or not reported (for example, for planned admissions where the patient receives limited care or treatment for a current condition) for 21% of deaths in hospital (15,909). Over three-quarters of separations that ended in death and for which the urgency status was not assigned were for palliative care.
Figure 3: Proportion of deaths in hospital by urgency of admission, 2014–15
Source: NHMD.