HOSPITALS

There were 601 private hospitals operating in Australia in 2012-13, a net increase of nine from 2011-12. The number of Acute and psychiatric hospitals increased by one and there was an increase of eight private Day hospital facilities (Free-standing day hospitals).

TABLE 1.1: PRIVATE HOSPITALS, Australia—2012-13
	Acute and psychiatric hospitals	Day hospital facilities	All private hospitals
New South Wales	92	100	192
Victoria	78	87	165
Queensland	54	52	106
South Australia	28	27	55
Western Australia	21	36	57
Tasmania, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory(a)	9	17	26
Australia	282	319	601
(a) Tasmania, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory have been aggregated to protect the confidentiality of the small number of hospitals in these states/territories.

Gross and net capital expenditure was not released in Private Hospitals, Australia, 2011-12 because of concerns about historical reporting of capital expenditure. A detailed analysis confirmed that there were no quality issues with the 2011-12 results. However issues were identified with gross capital expenditure reported for 2010-11.

The revision of 2010-11 gross capital expenditure for private Acute and psychiatric hospitals in Australia resulted in a decrease from $838 million to $722 million for all private hospitals. Gross capital expenditure for private hospitals decreased in 2011-12 to $492 million and then increased to $713 million in 2012-2013.


The number of available beds and chairs increased by 2.8% from 29,004 in 2011-12 to 29,827 in 2012-13. The number of beds and chairs in Acute and psychiatric hospitals increased by 3.3% while those in Day hospital facilities decreased by 1.2%.

Total patient separations were 7.2% higher overall in 2012-13 compared to 2011-12. There were 4.2 million patient separations from all private hospitals in 2012-13, compared with 3.9 million in 2011-12.

The proportion of patients aged 65 and over in Australian private hospitals increased from 39.6% in 2011-12 to 41.0% in 2012-13. The proportion of patients at Day hospital facilities aged 65 years and over increased from 40.4% of all patients to 43.5% of all patients. The proportion of patients at Acute and psychiatric hospitals who were aged 65 years and over increased from 39.4% to 40.1%.

Private hospitals provided 9.4 million days of hospitalisation to patients in 2012-13, up 4.3% from 2011-12 (9.0 million). There was a 16.3% increase, over the same period, in the number of same day patients for Day hospital facilities.

The number of operating theatres in Acute and psychiatric hospitals increased by 0.3% to 1,054 in 2012-13, while the number of theatres in Day hospital facilities increased by 1.2%.

Staff numbers (full-time equivalent) increased by 5.0% to 60,387 in 2012-13 compared with 57,495 in 2011-12.

Total private hospital income increased by 5.1% to $11.8 billion in 2012-13, with the proportion of total income classified as patient income increasing slightly to 95.6%. Total income from private Acute and psychiatric hospitals was $10.9 billion, which accounted for 92.0% of all private hospital income.

Total private hospital recurrent expenditure increased by 5.8% to $10.6 billion in 2012-13. For Acute and psychiatric hospitals, wages and salaries as a proportion of recurrent expenses increased to 49.2% in 2012-13, while for Day hospital facilities the proportion increased slightly to 41.4%.

Gross capital expenditure increased by 44.8% in 2012-13 to $712.9 million (from $492.3 million in 2011-12). Net capital expenditure increased by 45.3% in 2012-13 to $693.1 billion (from $477.0 million in 2011-12).

TABLE 1.2: PRIVATE HOSPITALS, Summary—2012-13
		Acute and psychiatric hospitals	Day hospital facilities	All private hospitals
Hospitals (no.)		282	319	601
Beds/Chairs (no.)(a)		26,889	2,938	29,827
Separations ('000)		3,092	1,086	4,178
Sex ('000)(b)
	Males	1,397	491	1,888
	Females	1,695	595	2,290
Aged 65 and over (%)		40.1	43.5	41.0
Patient days ('000)
	Same-day patient(c)	1,841	1,086	2,928
	Overnight-stay patient	6,458	-	6,458
	Total	8,299	1,086	9,385
Operating theatres		1,054	325	1,379
Co-located with a public hospital (no.)		43	10	53
Full-time equivalent staff (no.)(d)		56,317	4,070	60,387
Income(e)
	Total ($'000)	10,856,065	946,584	11,802,649
	Patient income (%)(f)	95.7	95.0	95.6
Expenditure(g)
	Total ($'000)	9,859,844	769,822	10,629,666
	Wages and salaries, including on-costs, as a proportion of total expenditure (%)	49.2	41.4	48.6
Gross Capital expenditure ($'000)(h)		663,558	49,321	712,879
Net Capital Expenditure ($'000)(h)		644,752	48,322	693,074
— nil or rounded to zero (including null cells) (a) Available beds/chairs (average for the year). (b) Excludes patients with sex not stated, therefore sum may not add to total separations. (c) Same-day patients are counted as having a stay of one day. (d) Staff represented are typical full-time equivalent numbers for the year. Full-time equivalent represents the sum of full-time staff and full-time equivalent of part-time staff. See Glossary for further information. (e) Income includes income from patients, recoveries and other income such as investment income and income from charities, bequests, meals and accommodation but excludes income payments from state and territory governments. See Glossary for further information. (f) Includes income received by, and due to, the hospital in respect of patient liability for accommodation and other fees. See Glossary for further information. (g) Expenditure refers to expenditure on goods and services, which does not result in the creation or acquisition of fixed assets (new or second-hand). See Glossary for further information. (h) Capital expenditure refers to expenditure in a period on the acquisition or enhancement of an asset (excluding financial assets). See Glossary for further information. Note that gross and net capital expenditure was not published for 2011-12. See Explanatory Note 40 for further information.

Net operating margin

Net operating margin is derived by subtracting recurrent expenditure from income and expressing the result as a proportion of income. The net operating margin for Acute and psychiatric hospitals during 2012-13 was 9.2%, down from 9.7% in 2011-12. The net operating margin for Day hospital facilities decreased from 19.6% in 2011-12 to 18.7% in 2012-13.

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