Admitted patient care 2016–17: Australian hospital statistics

In May each year the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare releases its report on admitted patient care in Australian hospitals. In 2016–17, the majority of admissions to public hospitals (83% or 5.5 million) were for public patients with admissions rising by 4.3% on average each year for public hospitals and 3.6% for private hospitals between 2012–13 and 2016–17. Public hospitals accounted for the majority of emergency admissions (92%), medical admissions (77%) and childbirth admissions (76%) in 2016-17. ‘By contrast, 59% of admissions for surgery were in private hospitals. Overall, the average length of stay in 2016-17 was 3.2 days in public hospitals and 2.2 days in private hospitals.
Admitted patient care 2016–17: Australian hospital statistics. Health Services Series Number 84, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra. Cat. no. HSE 201