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Admissions to hospitals rise HOSPITAL admissions are up again according to a report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).The report, Australian hospital statistics 2005-06, shows there were 7.3 million public and private hospital admissions in 2005-06, compared to approximately 7 million in 2004-05. This included a 4.5 per cent rise in public acute hospital admissions and a 3.3 per cent rise in private hospital admissions. "The total number of days Australians spent in hospital was 24.3 million, 2 per cent higher than in the previous financial year," said Mr George Bodilsen of the Institute's Hospitals Unit. Between 1996-97 and 2005-06 same-day hospital admissions rose from 45 per cent of admissions to about 55 per cent, and now account for almost half of admissions in public hospitals and 64 per cent in private hospitals. "The increasing numbers of same-day admissions means that the average length of stay for all admissions has fallen by 21 per cent between 1996-97 and 2005-06, from 4.2 days to 3.3 days," Mr Bodilsen explained. "While same day admissions have increased, the average length of other hospital stays has remained fairly constant. Excluding same-day admissions, the average length of stay in 2005-06 was 6.3 days in public acute hospitals and 5.4 days in private hospitals," he said. The report also provides statistics on many other aspects of hospital treatment, including services in public hospital emergency departments. It showed there were approximately 6.3 million accident and emergency occasions of service provided in Australia's public hospitals in 2005-06, an increase over the 6.0 million provided in 2004-05. In the majority of visits (69 per cent), patients were seen on time, including 99 per cent of those needing immediate care and 77 per cent of those who required care within 10 minutes of arriving in the emergency department. The proportion seen on time overall was also 69 per cent in 2004-05, 100 per cent for those needing emergency care and 76 per cent of those requiring care within 10 minutes. During 2005-06, Australia had 1,291 public and private hospitals, with almost 82,000 available hospital beds. Compared with 2004-05, bed numbers decreased for public hospitals by 0.9 per cent, to about 54,600, and increased for private hospitals by 3.0 per cent, to about 27,200. Total recurrent expenditure on public acute and public psychiatric hospitals was $24 billion in 2005-06, 5.6 per cent higher than expenditure in 2004-05 after adjusting for inflation. |
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