PHN palliative care services information

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Introduction How to use the data exploration tool PHN data exploration tool

Introduction

The Primary Health Network (PHN) data exploration tool provides information on palliative care services, and the people who access these services, at the PHN level. These data will enhance previously published data on palliative care services by including additional disaggregations, compiled into a regional interactive data exploration tool at the PHN-level. This more granular view of palliative service utilisation aims to increase our understanding of receipt of palliative care services at the PHN level.

This tool includes information on palliative care related hospitalisations (admitted and non-admitted patient care), receipt of Medicare-subsidised specialist palliative care services and palliative-care related medications (from the PBS Palliative Care Schedule).

More detailed information and analysis for the data included in the PHN data exploration tool is available in the relevant sections of the Palliative Care Services in Australia report:

Note that the data on this page do not include receipt of all palliative care services, due to data availability. These data gaps are described in further detail in the above-mentioned chapters of this report.

Table 1 includes high-level definitions for commonly used terms in the tool.

The data in this tool was last updated October 2025.

For further information on the definitions, data, and data sources used on this page, see Glossary and Technical specifications and General information within the Data tables: PCSiA October 2025 PHN palliative care services data.

How to use the data exploration tool

Instructions

Select a PHN from the ‘Select a PHN’ drop-down menu to filter data for that PHN specifically.

Use the ‘Filter by State/Territory’ drop-down menu to filter PHNs for a specific state/territory.

Use the navigation bar across the top to view more detailed information related to Admitted palliative care hospitalisations, Non-admitted palliative care service events, MBS-subsidised palliative medicine attendances and case conference services, and PBS palliative care-related medications.

Use the ‘Select measure’ filter to change the value type displayed in the charts.

Hover over chart components to see more information.

Use the ‘Show PHN map’ button to view your selected PHN in comparison to surrounding PHNs on a heatmap.

Note that data are not available for all disaggregations due to small counts and/or to preserve data confidentiality. In these cases, the charts will have missing bars.

Accessing data

See Data to download the PHN level data used in this tool, including further details on definitions and data sources.

PHN data exploration tool

PHN palliative care services dashboard

This dashboard provides an interactive display of charts on palliative care services and the people who access them at the PHN level. It includes data on palliative care-related hospitalisations (both admitted and non-admitted patient care), Medicare-subsidised specialist palliative care services, and palliative care-related medications listed in the PBS Palliative Care Schedule. Key metrics include the number of hospitalisations for admitted patient care, the number of service events for non-admitted patient care, number of people and services for MBS and PBS data, and population rates. All data are available for download on this webpage.

This dashboard provides an interactive display of charts on palliative care services and the people who access them at the PHN level. It includes data on palliative care-related hospitalisations (both admitted and non-admitted patient care), Medicare-subsidised specialist palliative care services, and palliative care-related medications listed in the PBS Palliative Care Schedule. Key metrics include the number of hospitalisations for admitted patient care, the number of service events for non-admitted patient care, number of people and services for MBS and PBS data, and population rates. All data are available for download on this webpage.
Table 1: Key terms
Key conceptsDescription
MBS-subsidised palliative medicine attendance and case conference services

Services provided by palliative medicine physicians or specialists and are claimed under specialist palliative care MBS item numbers.

For more information, see Data source.

Palliative care-related hospitalisation

A hospitalisation where palliative care was a component of the admitted patient care provided during all or part of the episode. These hospitalisations can be divided into 2 groups:

  • primary palliative care hospitalisations: hospitalisations with a recorded care type of palliative care, and
  • other palliative care hospitalisations: hospitalisations with a recorded diagnosis of palliative care, but the care type is not recorded as palliative care.
For more information, see Data source.
Primary palliative care service event

A non-admitted patient service event with a recorded care type of palliative care, where the primary clinical purpose or treatment goal is optimisation of the quality of life of a patient with an active and advanced life-limiting illness. These services are often associated with an emergency or admitted patient episode for which diagnostic or follow-up care is required without requiring hospital admission.

For more information, see Data source.

Principal diagnosisThe diagnosis established after study to be chiefly responsible for occasioning an episode of admitted patient care, episode of residential care or attendance at a health care establishment.

See METEOR identifier: 746665.
Palliative care-related prescriptions

Palliative care-related prescriptions are defined as medications listed in Palliative Care Schedule under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (RPBS). It is a count of medications dispensed, rather than a count of prescriptions written by clinicians.

For more information, see Data source.

Primary Health Network (PHN)Primary Health Network area of usual residence is based on the geographical region in which a person usually resides (provided as Statistical Area level 2 for most jurisdictions) defined as a Primary Health Network 2023. Your local Primary Health Network | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
Socioeconomic areaSocioeconomic areas are based on the ABS Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage (IRSD). The IRSD has been used in these reports to indicate socioeconomic position for five groups (quintiles) – from the most disadvantaged (worst off or lowest socioeconomic area) to the least disadvantaged (best off or highest socioeconomic area).

It is important to note that the IRSD reflects the overall or average socioeconomic position of the population of an area; it does not show how individuals living in the same area might differ from each other in their socioeconomic position.
PHN state
The state value displayed in the tool is calculated by summing all PHNs within the state. It excludes individuals and services where the PHN information was unknown. Therefore, it may not align with previously published state-level data.
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