PATIENTS

In 2010-11, there were over 2.8 million patient separations from Acute and psychiatric hospitals, an increase of 3.3% since 2009-10. Most of the separations occurred in New South Wales (27.4%), Victoria (25.7%) and Queensland (22.6%), broadly reflecting the distribution of beds and chairs (26.4%, 26.1% and 23.6% respectively). New South Wales had the highest percentage increase in separations in 2010-11 from 2009-10, of 4.3% and Queensland had the smallest increase of 1.9%. Just over three quarters of the separations took place within capital city statistical divisions (76.0%, compared to 74.7% of the available beds and chairs), and 86.3% of the separations occurred in a metropolitan hospital, compared to 84.9% of the available beds and chairs.

During 2010-11, almost 8 million patient days were provided in Acute and psychiatric hospitals, up 5.1% from 2009-10. Victoria recorded the strongest growth in patient days, at 7.5%, followed by New South Wales, with 5.2% more patient days provided in 2010-11 than 2009-10.

The Average length of stay for Acute and psychiatric hospitals in Australia during 2010-11 was 2.8 days, unchanged from 2009-10. There was little variation between the average length of stay in all states and territories.

The bed occupancy rate in Acute and psychiatric hospitals for 2010-11 was 85.9%, up from 83.3% in 2009-10. The occupancy rate was higher in hospitals located in the Capital City Statistical Divisions (88.4%) than in the rest of Australia (78.6%). These rates have both increased from 2009-10, when Capital City Statistical Division hospitals recorded 85.6% occupancy and hospitals outside capital cities recorded 76.5% occupancy.

TABLE 2.5: PRIVATE ACUTE AND PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS, States and territories, 2009-10 to 2010–11
		Patient separations		Patient days		Average length of stay	Bed occupancy rate(a)
		'000	%	'000	%	days	%
		2009-10
New South Wales		742	27.2	2 026	26.7	2.7	84.3
Victoria		709	26.0	2 028	26.8	2.9	84.7
Queensland		627	23.0	1 835	24.2	2.9	85.5
South Australia		211	7.7	561	7.4	2.7	81.3
Western Australia		np	np	np	np	np	np
Tasmania, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory (b)		np	np	np	np	np	np
Australia (c)		2 731	100.0	7 580	100.0	2.8	83.3
Location
	Capital city statistical division	2 055	75.3	5 801	76.5	2.8	85.6
	Rest of state/territory	676	24.7	1 779	23.5	2.6	76.5
	Metropolitan (d)	na	na	na	na	na	na
	Rural (d)	na	na	na	na	na	na
		2010-11
New South Wales		774	27.4	2 131	26.8	2.8	87.1
Victoria		725	25.7	2 181	27.4	3.0	90.1
Queensland		639	22.6	1 885	23.7	3.0	86.1
South Australia		218	7.7	579	7.3	2.7	83
Western Australia		np	np	np	np	np	np
Tasmania, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory (b)		np	np	np	np	np	np
Australia (c)		2 822	100.0	7 966	100.0	2.8	85.9
Location
	Capital city statistical division	2 144	76.0	6 121	76.8	2.9	88.4
	Rest of state/territory	678	24.0	1 846	23.2	5.5	78.6
	Metropolitan (d)	2 434	86.3	6 934	87.0	5.7	88.1
	Rural (d)	388	13.7	1 032	13.0	2.7	73.8
not available np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated (a) Calculated by dividing patient days by the product of average number of beds and the number of days in the year and expressed as a percentage. See Glossary for more information. (b) Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory have been aggregated to protect the confidentiality of the small number of hospitals in these states/territories. (c) Figures have been rounded and discrepancies may occur between totals and the sums of the component items. (d) Metropolitan and rural are two classifications included in the newly introduced Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). See Glossary for more detail.

Hospital sector

Private hospitals operating on a For profit basis accounted for a little over half of the patient separations and patient days reported in 2010-11, 55.3% and 54.6% respectively, which is comparable to the proportion of beds and chairs that are located in For profit hospitals (53.2%). These proportions were very similar in 2009-10. Religious or charitable Not for profit hospitals accounted for 41.0% of separations and 41.6% of the patient days, with Other Not for profit hospitals accounting for the balance.

There was very little difference in average length of stay by hospital sector, with the overall average length of stay remaining at 2.8 days.

Bed occupancy rates are highest in the For profit hospitals (88.2%, up from 85.9% in 2009-10) and the Religious or charitable Not for profit hospitals (85.3%, up from 81.6% in 2009-10). The occupancy rate has fallen for Other Not for profit hospitals from 67.9% to 67.3%.

The average length of stay was shortest for the smallest hospitals, at 2.3 days for hospitals with 0-25 beds, compared to 3.0 days at hospitals with more than 200 beds. There was a strong correlation between hospital size and bed occupancy rates, with the smallest hospitals having the lowest occupancy rates (62.3% for hospitals with 0-25 beds) and the hospitals with more than 200 beds recording a 93.7% occupancy rate.

TABLE 2.6: PRIVATE ACUTE AND PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS, Australia—Sector(a)—2010–11
		Patient separations		Patient days		Average length of stay	Bed occupancy rate(b)
		'000	%	'000	%	days	%
For profit/Not for profit sector
For profit		1 559	55.3	4 350	54.6	2.8	88.2
Not for profit
	Religious or charitable	1 156	41.0	3 311	41.6	2.9	85.3
	Other(c)	107	3.8	306	3.8	2.9	67.3
Total(d)		2 822	100.0	7 966	100.0	2.8	85.9
Hospital size(e)
0–25 beds		59	2.1	136	1.7	2.3	62.3
26–50 beds		193	6.8	569	7.1	2.9	71.3
51–100 beds		727	25.8	2 039	25.6	2.8	84.9
101–200 beds		912	32.3	2 423	30.4	2.7	84.6
Over 200 beds		932	33.0	2 801	35.2	3.0	93.7
Total(d)		2 822	100.0	7 966	100.0	2.8	85.9
(a) For definition of 'For Profit/not for profit sector', see Glossary. (b) Calculated by dividing patient days by the product of average number of beds and the number of days in the year and expressed as a percentage. See Glossary for further information. (c) Comprising bush nursing, community and memorial hospitals. (d) Figures have been rounded and discrepancies may occur between totals and the sums of the component items. (e) Based on available beds (average for the year).

Insurance status

During 2010-11, 86.6% of patient separations from Acute and psychiatric hospitals carried hospital insurance, down from 88.1% in 2009-10. South Australia had the highest proportion of patient separations that carried hospital insurance, at 95.0%, while New South Wales had the lowest proportion of the four largest states at 83.2% coverage. WA had the largest disparity in average length of stay between those that carried hospital insurance (2.4 days) and those that did not (3.4 days) followed by Victoria with 2.9 days for those that carried hospital insurance 3.8 days for those that did not.

TABLE 2.7: PRIVATE ACUTE AND PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS, Patient insurance sector—States and territories—2010–11
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas., NT & ACT(a)	Aus.(b)
	Patient separations ('000)
Hospital insurance (c)	643.8	610.7	590.9	206.8	311.2	80.1	2 443.4
No hospital insurance	108.3	np	47.7	10.4	42.3	np	324.1
Total(d)	774.1	724.9	638.7	217.6	353.5	112.9	2 821.8
	Patient separations (%)
Hospital insurance (c)	83.2	84.3	92.5	95.0	88.0	70.9	86.6
No hospital insurance	14.0	np	7.5	4.8	12.0	np	11.5
Total(d)	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
	Average length of stay (Days)
Hospital insurance (c)	2.7	2.9	3.0	2.7	2.4	2.8	2.8
No hospital insurance	2.8	3.8	2.6	2.7	3.4	2.0	3.2
Total(d)	2.8	3.0	3.0	2.7	2.5	2.6	2.8
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated (a) Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory have been aggregated to protect the confidentiality of the small number of hospitals in these states/territories. (b) Figures have been rounded and discrepancies may occur between totals and the sums of the component items. (c) For definition of patient hospital insurance status, see Glossary. (d) Total includes patient separations where insurance status is not stated.

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