Australia - New report claims hospital intakes on the rise

Citation

(2006), "Australia - New report claims hospital intakes on the rise", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 19 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2006.06219fab.009

Australia - New report claims hospital intakes on the rise

AustraliaNew report claims hospital intakes on the rise

Keywords: Health services, Health education, Secondary care

Hospital admissions are up, according to a report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), with same-day care admissions, especially to private hospitals, accounting for a large part of the increase. The report, Australian Hospital Statistics 2004-05, shows there were seven million hospital admissions in the 2004-2005 period, a 2.6 per cent increase over the previous financial year. The total number of days spent in hospital was 23.8 million – an increase of 1 per cent.

Head of the AIHW’s Hospitals Unit, Ms Jenny Hargreaves, said that same-day admissions rose by 2 per cent (to 2.1 million) in public hospitals and by 6.1 per cent (to 1.7 million) in private hospitals. Admissions for overnight stays, or longer, increased by 1.5 per cent in public hospitals (to 2.2 million), and by 1.6 per cent (to one million) in private hospitals. Ms Hargreaves says that hospital admissions, particularly for same-day care, have been on the rise for some time. Between 1995-1996 and 2004-2005, same-day hospital admissions rose from about 42 per cent of the total to about 55 per cent of the total – as a result, they now account for 49 per cent in public hospitals and 64 per cent in private hospitals. The increasing numbers of same-day admissions means that the average length of stay is declining. In 2004-2005, it was 3.4 days, compared with 3.7 days in 2000-2001. However, the average length of stay for patients staying at least one night has remained more constant. It was 6.3 days in 2004-2005. The report also provides statistics on many other aspects of hospital treatment, including public hospital emergency departments, which provided care for about 5.9 million patient visits during 2004-2005.

For more information, see: www.healthnews.infoxchange.net.au