Impact of COVID-19 on hospitalisations

Early 2020 saw the emergence of a global pandemic of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, all non-urgent elective surgery was temporarily suspended from 25 March 2020 in both public and private hospitals. This resulted in a large decrease in elective eye procedures in April 2020. Emergency eye procedures were largely unaffected during this period.

Figure: Impact of COVID-19 on hospitalisations

This chart presents 13 separate charts showing the impact of COVID-19, by various characteristics.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, all non-urgent elective surgery was temporarily suspended from 25 March 2020 in both public and private hospitals. This resulted in a large decrease in elective eye procedures in April 2020. Emergency eye procedures were largely unaffected during this period.

Monthly separations, cataracts procedures by remoteness, 2019–20

This line graph compares the number of monthly hospital separations for cataracts procedures for Indigenous Australians in 2019–20, by region. Hospitalisations in all regions (Major cities, Inner and outer regional combined and Remote and very remote combined) fell sharply for Indigenous Australians in April 2020 as almost all hospitalisations for cataract surgery are elective. However, some of this decrease is attributable to seasonal effects associated with Easter public holidays.

Monthly separations, eye diseases by remoteness, 2019–20

This line graph compares the number of monthly hospital separations for eye diseases for Indigenous Australians in 2019–20, by region. Hospitalisations in all regions (Major cities, Inner and outer regional combined and Remote and very remote combined) fell sharply for Indigenous Australians in April 2020 as almost all hospitalisations for eye diseases are elective. However, some of this decrease is attributable to seasonal effects associated with Easter public holidays.

Monthly separations, eye injuries by remoteness, 2019–20

This line graph compares the number of monthly hospital separations for eye diseases for Indigenous Australians in 2019–20, by region. In April 2020, hospitalisations for eye injuries declined less than hospitalisations for elective procedures such as cataracts, in all regions,as most of these are emergency procedures.

Monthly separations, eye procedures by remoteness, 2019–20

This line graph compares the number of monthly hospital separations for eye procedures for Indigenous Australians in 2019–20, by region. Hospitalisations in all regions (Major cities, Inner and outer regional combined and Remote and very remote combined) fell sharply for Indigenous Australians in April 2020 as almost all hospitalisations for eye procedures are elective. However, some of this decrease is attributable to seasonal effects associated with Easter public holidays.

Monthly separations, cataracts procedures, 2015–16 to 2019–20

This line graph compares the number of monthly hospital separations for cataracts procedures for Indigenous Australians for 2015–16 to 2019–20. As almost all hospitalisations for cataract surgery are elective, hospitalisations for Indigenous Australians for cataract surgery for 2019–20 showed the largest monthly percentage point decrease in April seen in the last 10 years. However, some of this decrease is attributable to seasonal effects associated with Easter public holidays.

Monthly separations, eye diseases, 2015–16 to 2019–20

This line graph compares the number of monthly hospital separations for eye diseases for Indigenous Australians for 2015–16 to 2019–20. As almost all hospitalisations for eye diseases are elective, hospitalisations for Indigenous Australians for eye diseases for 2019–20 showed the largest monthly percentage point decrease in April seen in the last 10 years. However, some of this decrease is attributable to seasonal effects associated with Easter public holidays.

Monthly separations, eye procedures, 2015–16 to 2019–20

This line graph compares the number of monthly hospital separations for eye procedures for Indigenous Australians for 2015–16 to 2019–20. As almost all hospitalisations for eye procedures are elective, hospitalisations for Indigenous Australians for eye procedures for 2019–20 showed the largest monthly percentage point decrease in April seen in the last 10 years. However, some of this decrease is attributable to seasonal effects associated with Easter public holidays.

Monthly separations, eye injuries, 2015–16 to 2019–20

This line graph compares the number of monthly hospital separations for eye injuries for Indigenous Australians for 2015–16 to 2019–20. In April, hospitalisations for eye injuries did not show declines beyond those seen in the previous 10 years in April.  This is probably because most surgeries for eye injuries are emergency procedures.

Monthly separations, cataracts procedures by urgency of admission, 2019–20

This line graph compares the number of monthly hospital separations for elective and emergency cataract procedures for Indigenous Australians for 2019–20. Hospitalisations for Indigenous Australians for emergency cataract procedures did not decline in April, however, elective cataract procedures showed a steep decline in April.

Monthly separations, eye diseases by urgency of admission, 2019–20

This line graph compares the number of monthly hospital separations for elective and emergency eye disease procedures for Indigenous Australians for 2019–20. Hospitalisations for Indigenous Australians for emergency eye disease procedures did not decline in April, however, elective eye disease procedures showed a steep decline in April.

Monthly separations, eye injuries by urgency of admission, 2019–20

This line graph compares the number of monthly hospital separations for elective and emergency eye injury procedures for Indigenous Australians for 2019–20. Hospitalisations for Indigenous Australians for emergency eye injury procedures did not decline in April, however, elective eye injury procedures did decline in April, although the decline was not as great as that for elective procedures such as cataracts.

Monthly separations, eye procedures by urgency of admission, 2019–20

This line graph compares the number of monthly hospital separations for elective and emergency eye procedures for Indigenous Australians for 2019–20. Hospitalisations for Indigenous Australians for emergency eye procedures did not decline in April, however, elective eye procedures showed a steep decline in April.

10 year monthly time series, July 2010 to June 2020

These 4 line graphs compare the number of monthly hospital separations and trends in hospital separations for cataracts, eye diseases, eye procedures and injuries for Indigenous Australians from July 2010 to June 2020. The monthly separations show a steep decline in April 2020 for cataracts, eye diseases, and eye procedures but no decline in injuries separations. The trend lines show there has been an increase in hospitalisation rates for cataracts, eye diseases and eye procedures for Indigenous Australians over this time. There is no clear trend in hospitalisation rates for injuries over this time.

  • As almost all hospitalisations for eye procedures are elective, total hospitalisations for Indigenous Australians fell by 67 percentage points below the 10 year trend in April 2020. This was the largest monthly percentage point decrease in ten years. However, some of this decrease is attributable to seasonal effects associated with Easter public holidays. Hospitalisations for cataract surgery and eye disease were similarly affected as most of these are elective procedures
  • In April 2020, hospitalisations for eye injuries declined less than hospitalisations for elective procedures such as cataracts, as most of these are emergency procedures.