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STAFF

There were 53,850 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff employed at Acute and psychiatric hospitals in Australia during 2011-12, a decrease of 2.2% from 2010-11. Victoria employed the most FTE staff, with 14,801, ahead of New South Wales, which employed 13,948 FTE staff. Victoria also employed the most FTE nursing staff and diagnostic and allied health professionals of any state.

Nursing staff as a proportion of all staff varied from 52.9% in New South Wales to 61.1% of all staff in South Australia on an FTE basis. Among nursing staff, 83.4% were registered nurses and the remainder were enrolled nurses.

Table 2.11 PRIVATE ACUTE AND PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS, Staffing (a) — States and territories — 2011-12
		NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas., NT & ACT(b)	Aus.
Number of Full Time Equivalent Staff
Salaried medical professionals(c)		229	232	195	40	np	np	1 020
Diagnostic and allied health professionals		937	984	392	107	np	np	2 867
Full time equivalent nursing staff (d)(e)
	Registered nurses	6 277	7 039	5 953	1 797	np	np	25 228
	Enrolled nurses	1 106	1 350	1 323	441	np	np	5 016
	Total	7 384	8 390	7 276	2 238	np	np	30 243
Clinical support staff		1 336	735	881	129	np	np	3 928
Administrative and clerical staff		1 859	1 826	1 812	481	np	np	7 342
Domestic and other staff		2 204	2 635	1 839	666	np	np	8 449
Total FTE staff (f)		13 948	14 801	12 394	3 660	np	np	53 850
Average Number of Full-Time Equivalent Staff Per Occupied Bed (g)
Full time equivalent nursing staff (d)(e)
	Registered nurses	1.0	1.2	1.1	1.2	np	np	1.1
	Enrolled nurses	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	np	np	0.2
	Total	1.2	1.4	1.4	1.4	np	np	1.4
Other (h)		0.9	1.0	0.8	0.8	np	np	0.9
Total FTE staff (f)		2.3	2.5	2.3	2.4	np	np	2.4
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated (a) Includes Full-time equivalent staff. Full-time equivalent represents the sum of full-time staff and the full-time equivalent of part-time staff. See Glossary for further details. (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) Excludes visiting/consulting medical officers (d) Includes nurses in operating theatres, labour wards, psychiatric units, alcohol and drug rehabilitation units, other special care units, and emergency departments and units. (e) Includes contract staff sourced from employment agencies but paid via the hospital payroll. See Explanatory Note 40 for further information. (f) Figures have been rounded and discrepancies may occur between totals and the sums of the component items. (g) Calculated by dividing the number of FTE staff by the number of occupied beds. The number of occupied beds is calculated by multiplying the number of average available beds by the occupancy rate. See Bed occupancy rate in Glossary for more information. (h) Including salaried medical officers and other diagnostic health professionals, administrative, domestic and other staff.