Admitted patient safety and quality

Sources: ACSQHC National Hand hygiene data collection, AIHW NHMD, AIHW NSABDC.

How is the safety and quality of care in hospitals measured?

The safety and quality of care provided to patients in hospitals can be measured in several ways. Measures reported on these pages are:

• healthcare-associated infections (Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections)
• hand hygiene compliance
• hospital-acquired complications
• conditions that arose during a hospital stay
• potentially preventable hospitalisations
• patients’ experiences of hospital care.

Below is a summary of the latest results for each of these safety and quality measures.

Healthcare-associated infections

Healthcare-associated infections are one of the most common complications affecting patients in hospital and can prolong a patient’s hospital stay or result in death. Infections, such as Staphylococcus aureus (also known as ‘golden staph’), can be acquired as a direct or indirect result of care received in hospital. The current agreed benchmark for SABSI is no more than 1 case per 10,000 days of patient care.

In 2024–25:

• there were 1,749 cases of SABSI occurring during 23.5 million days of patient care in public hospitals – this was a rate of 0.74 SABSI cases per 10,000 patient days
• all public hospitals in each state and territory had rates below the national benchmark of 1.0 case per 10,000 patient days
• for private hospitals that volunteered to report SABSI surveillance data to the national collection (22% of hospitals), there were 178 SABSI cases occurring during just under 5.8 million days of patient care – a rate of 0.31 cases per 10,000 patient days.

Hand hygiene compliance

Hand hygiene refers to the washing of hands or use of alcohol-based rubs. Good hand hygiene is a first-line defence against viruses and infections.

Hand hygiene compliance by healthcare workers at specific times (or ’moments’) before and after patient interactions and procedures are audited year-round and reported against the current national benchmark of 80%.

In audit period 1, 2023 (November 2022 to March 2023):

• the national hand hygiene compliance rate was 86%
• compliance rates for each of the 5 moments varied between 81% (moment 5 – after touching a patient's surroundings) and 93% (moment 3 – after a procedure or body fluid exposure risk)
• the highest compliance rates were among dental professionals and nurses and midwives.

Hospital-acquired complications

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) lists 16 hospital-acquired complications (HACs) for which clinical risk mitigation strategies may reduce the risk of occurrence.

In 2024–25:

• one or more HACs were recorded in 171,000 hospitalisations in public hospitals (2.2% of hospitalisations), and 49,800 hospitalisations in private hospitals (1.0% of hospitalisations)
• the most recorded type of complication was Healthcare associated infection (29%), followed by Medication complications (12%) and Surgical complications requiring unplanned return to theatre (12%).

Conditions that arose during a hospital stay

Conditions that arise during a hospital stay include conditions which may or may not have been preventable.

In 2024–25, 1.0 million hospitalisations (8.1% of hospitalisations) recorded a condition noted as arising during the episode of hospital care. Hospitalisations involving Childbirth were most likely to record a condition that arose during the hospital stay (52% of same-day hospitalisations and 72% of overnight hospitalisations).

Patients’ experience of hospital care

Patient experience captures information on patients’ views of their interactions with the healthcare system and communication with staff delivering healthcare services.

In 2023–24, among people aged 15 and over who used hospital services as an admitted patient, most reported that:

• hospital doctors and specialists spent enough time with them (73%), listened carefully (76%) and always showed respect (79%)
• hospital nurses spent enough time with them (76%), listened carefully (78%) and always showed respect (80%).

Potential preventable hospitalisations

Potentially preventable hospitalisations are an indicator of the effectiveness of non-hospital care. These are hospitalisations which could potentially have been prevented through appropriate health interventions and early disease management in primary care and community-based care settings (including by general practitioners, medical specialists, dentists, nurses, and allied health professionals).

In 2024–25, there were 644,000 potentially preventable hospitalisations in public hospitals and 184,000 in private hospitals. These included:

• 290,000 hospitalisations for chronic conditions (excluding diabetes)
• 63,600 hospitalisations for diabetes complications
• 87,400 hospitalisations for vaccine-preventable conditions.