Summary

Hospitals are an important part of Australia’s health care system. In Australia, public hospitals are largely owned and managed by state and territory governments, and private hospitals are owned and managed by private for-profit and not-for-profit organisations. All hospitals can receive funding from governments, individuals and insurers.

Australia has more than 1,300 public and private hospitals that, in 2018–19, collectively provided almost 30.9 million days of patient care. This is an increase since 2014–15 when 28.7 million days of patient care were provided.

In 2018–19 emergency departments in public hospitals responded to about 8.4 million presentations, and public hospital outpatient clinics delivered about 39.0 million patient services, ranging from pathology to dental treatment. These have also increased since 2014–15, when 7.4 million emergency presentations occurred and 34.9 million patient services were provided.