Admitted patient access

The need for, and accessibility of, admitted patient care services can vary for different population groups. This section presents information on the use of admitted patient care services for different population groups based on their socio-demographic characteristics, including:

• age and sex (information about the use of sex in our datasets can be found on the AIHW data by sex and gender page)
• Indigenous status (information on First Nations people can be found on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework website)
• remoteness area of usual residence
• socioeconomic status of area of usual residence.

In the data visualisation below, you can explore information on hospitalisations from 2018–19 to 2022–23, by age group, sex, Indigenous status, hospital sector and geography.

Highlights

Age group and sex

In 2022–23:

• just over half of all hospitalisations (52%, 6.3 million) were for females (as identified in the data)
• females accounted for over two-thirds (69%) of hospitalisations for people aged 20–39 – the age range that includes most hospitalisations for childbirth
• females also accounted for more patient days than males (17.1 million and 16.1 million patient days, respectively)
• people aged 65 and over (who make up 17% of the population) accounted for 44% of hospitalisations and 51% of patient days (ABS, 2022)
• people aged 85 and over (who make up 2.1% of the population) accounted for 6.7% of hospitalisations and 13% of patient days (ABS, 2022).

Hospitalisation rates

In 2022–23:

• there were 466 hospitalisations per 1,000 population – males were hospitalised at a rate of 449 per 1,000 males and females at a rate of 483 per 1,000 females
• hospitalisation rates increased with age groups, with those aged 5–14 hospitalised at a rate of 94 per 1,000 population and those aged 75–84 hospitalised at a rate of 1,463 per 1,000 population
• between the age range of 15-54 females had a higher hospitalisation rate per 1,000 population than males, which is likely in part due to those being reproductive years
• males aged 55–64 were more likely than females to be hospitalised (654 and 591 per 1,000 population, respectively); the difference in the hospitalisation rate for males and females increased even further for older age groups.

Changes over time

Compared to 2018–19, in 2022–23, the number of:

• male hospitalisations was 6.3% higher (5.5 million to 5.8 million)
• male patient days was 9.1% higher (14.7 million to 16.1 million)
• female hospitalisations was 5.3% higher (6.0 million to 6.3 million)
• female patient days was 6.1% higher (16.1 million to 17.1 million). 

First Nations people

In 2022–23:

• 657,000 hospitalisations (5.4%) were reported for First Nations people, who represent 3.8% of the Australian population (ABS, 2023)
• 86% of hospitalisations for First Nations people were in public hospitals (562,000), compared with 57% of hospitalisations for other Australians.

Hospitalisation rates

In 2022–23:

• there were 914 hospitalisations per 1,000 population for First Nations people – 2.3 times the hospitalisation rate for other Australians (401 hospitalisations per 1,000 population)
• First Nations people had high rates of same-day acute hospitalisations for dialysis (437 per 1,000 population), which is over 9 times the rate for other Australians (46 per 1,000 population)
• among First Nations people, there were 256 overnight acute hospitalisations per 1,000 population, which is 1.9 times the rate for other Australians (137 per 1,000).

Changes over time

Compared to 2018–19, in 2022–23:

• the proportion of hospitalisations reported for First Nations people was 0.5 percentage points higher (4.9% to 5.4%)
• the proportion of hospitalisations for First Nations people in public hospitals was 3 percentage points lower (89% to 86%)
• the rate of same-day acute hospitalisations for dialysis amongst First Nations people declined (from 474 to 437 hospitalisations per 1,000 population) and increased for other Australians (from 43 to 46 hospitalisations per 1,000 population). 

Remoteness area of usual residence

In 2022–23, hospitalisation rates:

• were highest for people living in Very remote and Remote areas (821 and 536 per 1,000 population, respectively), and lowest for those living in Major cities (407 per 1,000 population)
• for public hospitals, ranged from 678 per 1,000 population for people living in Very remote areas to 224 per 1,000 for people living in Major cities
• for private hospitals, ranged from 96 per 1,000 population for people living in Remote areas to 183 per 1,000 for people living in Major cities. In part, this may reflect the distribution of private hospitals across remoteness areas.

Socioeconomic area of usual residence

In 2022–23, hospitalisation rates:

• were highest for people living in areas classified as being in the middle socioeconomic quintile (441 hospitalisations per 1,000 population) and the hospitalisations rates were lowest for people living in the highest socioeconomic areas (394 hospitalisations per 1,000 population)
• in public hospitals were highest for people living in the lowest socioeconomic areas (329 per 1,000 population)
• in private hospitals were highest for people living in the highest socioeconomic areas (235 per 1,000 population).

Length of stay is the number of days between admission to hospital, and when that episode of hospital care ends. The Average Length of Stay (ALOS) is calculated as the total number of patient days reported for the hospital (or group of hospitals), divided by the number of hospitalisations. 

Explore the data

In the data visualisation below, you can view the ALOS by selected medical procedures, by state and territory, and by type of hospital (peer group).

Highlights

In 2022–23:

• the ALOS for overnight hospitalisations in Australia was 5.7 days (6.0 days for public hospitals and 5.1 days for private hospitals)
• there were notable differences (more than 1 day) in the ALOS between public and private hospitals for 6 of the 20 selected diagnosis groups – the AR-DRGs (for example, the ALOS for Chronic obstructive airways disease, minor complexity was 2.9 days for public hospitals and 5.8 for private hospitals).

Between 2018­–19 and 2022–23,

• the overall ALOS for all hospitalisations remained stable at around 2.7 days
• the ALOS for overnight hospitalisations in public hospitals increased on average by 2.7% per year (5.3 to 5.8 days), and private hospitals increased on average by 2.7% (5.4 to 6.0 days).

Significant changes in ALOS over time may be related to changes in admission practices, changes in the types of treatments provided and clinical practices.

The numbers of public and private hospitals in Australia can vary over time, reflecting the opening or closing of hospitals, the reclassification of hospitals as non‑hospital facilities (or vice-versa) and the amalgamation of existing hospitals.

The number of hospitals reported can be affected by jurisdictional variations in administrative and/or reporting arrangements and is not necessarily a measure of the number of physical hospital buildings or campuses.

This section reports on the number of public hospitals in Australia, provided by jurisdictions to the Local Hospital Networks/Public hospital establishments NMDS 2022–23.

Highlights

In 2022–23:

• there were 700public hospitals 
• 30% (or 209) public hospitals were located in Outer regional areas and 27% (or 189) were located in Major cities
• of the 65,100 average available beds, 68% (or 44,000) were located in Major cities, and 19% (or 12,400) were in Inner regional areas
• the number of average available beds per 1,000 people was higher in Remote areas (4.5 beds per 1,000 population) compared with 2.3 in Major cities and 2.9 in regional areas. 

Local hospital networks for public hospitals

Local hospital networks (LHNs) directly manage single or small groups of public hospital services and their budgets are directly responsible for hospital performance. They are defined as those entities recognised as LHNs by the relevant state or territory health authority.

LHNs vary greatly in location, size and in the types of hospitals that they include. LHNs may include both public and private hospitals. The information presented below relates to public hospitals only.

In 2022–23:

• there were 128 LHNs, including 76 in Victoria, and 1 each in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory
• many LHNs in Victoria consist of a single public hospital. Other networks might consist of a Principal referral or Public acute group A hospital and a range of smaller and/or more specialised hospitals.

Availability of hospital beds

Information about the availability of hospital beds in relation to the population provides some information about the accessibility of hospital services. However, the available data does not take account of the extent to which hospitals provide services for patients who usually reside in other areas of the state or territory, in other jurisdictions, or who receive services via different modes of care (such as virtual care or ‘hospital in the home’ care models). The patterns of bed availability across regions may also reflect the availability of other health-care services and patterns of disease and injury.

Available beds

‘Average available beds’ reflects the number of beds available each day, on average, over the collection period.

On average, in 2022–23:

• there were 65,100 available beds in public hospitals, with 1,600 (2.5%) of these in public psychiatric hospitals
• 86% of beds in Public hospitals (other than psychiatric) were available for overnight stay patients
• the proportion of beds available for same-day patients in Public hospitals (other than psychiatric) ranged from 6.5% in the Australian Capital Territory to 23% in the Northern Territory
• available beds per 1,000 people in Public hospitals (other than psychiatric) ranged from 2.3 per 1,000 people in Victoria, to 4.2 per 1,000 people in the Northern Territory.

From 2021–22 to 2022–23:

• average available beds increased by 0.8% – from 63,400 to 65,100
• the number of available beds per 1,000 people increased slightly from 2.47 to 2.50 per 1,000 people.

  
  

Remoteness area

In 2022–23:

• of the 65,100 average available beds, 68% (or 44,000) were located in Major cities, and 19% (or 12,400) were in Inner regional areas
• the number of average available beds per 1,000 people ranged from 2.3 per 1,000 people in Major cities to 4.5 beds per 1,000 people in Remote areas.

The most recent data available for private hospitals and private free-standing day hospital facilities is for 2016–17 and is drawn from the Private Health Establishments Collection (PHEC) undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

In 2016–17, the ABS reports there were 657 private hospitals in Australia, however the number of private hospitals reported can vary depending on the source of the information.

National trends

Between 2012–13 and 2016–17:

• private hospital bed numbers rose by an average of 3.6% per year (from 29,800 to 34,300)
• the number of beds per 1,000 population increased from 1.31 to 1.42 per 1,000—an average of 2.0% per year
• the number of licensed beds in Other private hospitals (those that do not specialise in same-day care) increased by an average of 3.6% per year, and the number of licensed beds per 1,000 population in Other private hospitals rose from around 1.18 to 1.28 beds per 1,000
• the number of licensed beds/chairs in Private free-standing day hospital facilities increased by 3.0% each year
• about 34,300 licensed beds were reported for private hospitals, with 3,310 (9.6%) of these in Private free-standing day hospital facilities.

A specialised service unit is a facility or unit dedicated to the treatment or care of patients with specific conditions or characteristics, such as an intensive care unit.

A list of specialised service units and their descriptions can be found in the ‘More information about the data’ section below.

In 2022–23, the most common specialised service units in public hospitals were:

• Domiciliary care units (present in 337 public hospitals)
• Nursing home care units (present in 279 public hospitals)
• Maintenance renal dialysis centre (present in 221 public hospitals).

There were 87 Intensive care units (level III and above), and 31 Neonatal intensive care units (level III and above).

Explore the data

The data visualisation below provides a list of selected services provided by individual hospitals, including specialised care units, in 2022–23.

The information about services provided by a hospital is intended as a general guide only. There is the potential for some omissions or errors in this information and readers should contact a hospital directly for the latest advice on the services available.

A list of the types of specialised units is available in the ‘More information about the data’ section below.