Source data: Same day public admitted mental health-related care tables (119KB XLSX).
Procedures
The most frequently reported procedure blocks for same day public mental health-related separations with specialised psychiatric care in 2018–19 were Cerebral anaesthesia (33.3% of procedures), and Electroconvulsive therapy (33.2% of procedures), which were associated with 24.0% and 23.9% of separations respectively. Cerebral anaesthesia is a form of general anaesthesia most likely associated with the administration of electroconvulsive therapy, a form of treatment for depression, which was the most common principal diagnosis for separations with specialised psychiatric care. The third most frequently reported procedure block was Generalised allied health interventions (13.3% of procedures and 7.9% of separations). Of these allied health interventions, procedures provided by Social work were the most common (41.3% of allied health interventions), followed by Psychology (28.521.4%) and Occupational therapy (14.5%).
Non-specialised admitted patient mental health care
Service provision
Non-specialised admitted patient mental health care takes place outside of a designated psychiatric unit, but for which the principal diagnosis is considered to be mental health-related. A list of mental health related principal diagnoses is available in the technical information section. Data for public acute and public psychiatric hospitals are combined in this section as there were very few separations without specialised psychiatric care in public psychiatric hospitals in 2018–19.
States and territories
In 2018–19, there were 41,052 same day public admitted mental health-related separations without specialised psychiatric care; equivalent to a national rate of 16.3 per 10,000 population. The majority (93.7%) of the separations were publically funded.
About three quarters (77.1%) of same day public mental health-related separations without specialised psychiatric care were discharges to ‘home’, which includes discharge to usual residence/own accommodation/welfare institution (including prisons, hostels and group homes providing primarily welfare services). The remaining quarter consisted of transfers to another facility (13.7%, which includes transfers to another acute or psychiatric hospital, aged care facilities, and other health accommodation), statistical discharges (6.1%, which include changes in care type and discharges from leave), patients leaving against medical advice (3.0%), and deaths (0.1%) respectively).
Patient demographics
In 2018–19, the highest rate of same day public mental health-related separations without specialised psychiatric care was observed for patients aged 85 years and over (26.0 per 10,000 population) and the lowest for those aged 5 to 11 years (2.0 per 10,000 population) (Figure SD.4). The separation rate was similar for males and females (16.1 and 16.5 per 10,000 population respectively).
There were 4,236 same day public mental health separations without specialised psychiatric care for Indigenous people in 2018–19, or 51.0 per 10,000 population, which is more than three times higher than the rate of 15.0 per 10,000 population for other patients. The 2001 age profile standardised rate was 58.4 per 10,000 population for Indigenous Australians which was 4.2 times higher than the standardised rate of 14.0 per 10,000 population for non-Indigenous Australians.
The rate per 10,000 population of same day public mental health-related separations without specialised psychiatric care increased with increasing remoteness, which contrasts with the inverse patterns observed for separations with specialised psychiatric care. People living in Major cities had the lowest rate (14.3 per 10,000 population), and people living in Remote and Very remote areas had the highest rate (40.0 per 10,000 population).