Public hospital
Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital [Heidelberg West]
Part of LHN:
Austin Health (Vic)
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Elective surgery access
Patients with a cancer-related diagnosis often require more urgent admission from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists than patients awaiting surgery for other conditions.
Explore the data
In the data visualisations below, you can explore 50th percentile waiting times for admissions from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists for cancer-related principal diagnoses and by specialty of surgeon for 2021–22.
Cancer surgery waiting times
All data in these visualisations are available for download in the Data & downloads section of the MyHospitals website.
Principal diagnosis
This bar graph shows the time within which 50% of patients were admitted from elective surgery waiting lists in 2021–22. Data is presented by selected principal diagnoses for type of cancer (Bladder cancer, Bowel cancer, Breast cancer, Gynaecological cancer, Kidney cancer, Lung cancer, Melanoma, Prostate cancer, and All other principal diagnoses). National data is available. In 2021–22, 50% of patients were admitted within 21 days for all cancer-related principal diagnoses.
Surgical specialty
This bar graph shows the time within which 50% of patients were admitted from elective surgery waiting lists in 2021–22. Data is presented by neoplasm related diagnoses and other diagnoses by surgical speciality. National data is available. In 2021–22, patients with Neoplasm related diagnoses waited 21 days, whereas patients with Other diagnoses waited 56 days.
Highlights
In 2021–22:
- patients with a cancer-related principal diagnosis had shorter waiting times (at the 50th percentile) compared with patients waiting for surgery for other reasons (21 days and 56 days, respectively)
- for cancer-related orthopaedic surgeries, the median waiting times for publicly funded patients was more than twice that of patients with private health insurance (34 days and 15 days, respectively).
The time within which 50% of patients with a principal diagnosis of:
- Lung cancer were admitted for surgery was 13 days, with 90% of patients admitted for surgery within 33 days
- Breast cancer were admitted for surgery was 14 days, with 90% of patients admitted for surgery within 29 days
- Bladder cancer were admitted for surgery was 21 days, with 90% of patients admitted for surgery within 70 days
- Prostate cancer were admitted for surgery was 28 days, with 90% of patients admitted for surgery within 111 days.
Changes over time
In 2021–22, patients with a cancer-related diagnoses had the same median waiting time as in 2017–18 – 21 days. However, the waiting time for other diagnosis was lower in 2017–18 (50 days) compared with 2021–22 (56 days).
What other information is available?
More information on cancer surgery waiting times, appendixes and caveat information is available in Admitted patient care: What procedures were performed? Refer to data tables 6.34–6.35.
Data on cancer surgery waiting times is taken from the Admitted patient care data (NHMD elective surgery cluster), 2021–22.
Definitions of the terms used in this section are available in the Glossary.
Admitted patient activity
Various types of care are provided to admitted patients. The care type describes the overall nature of a clinical service provided to an admitted patient during an episode of care. This is not the same as the diagnosis or condition that a person might attend hospital for. A single type of care can be used to manage many different conditions. Care type can be classified as:
- Acute care
- Newborn care
- Subacute and non-acute care—Rehabilitation care, Palliative care, Geriatric evaluation and management, Maintenance care and Psychogeriatric care
- Mental health care.
Explore the data
In the data visualisation below you can explore the number of hospitalisations by care type for public and private hospitals between 2017–18 and 2021–22, and by hospital, between 2012–13 to 2021–22.
Type of care
All data in these visualisations are available for download in the Data & downloads section of the MyHospitals website.
Hospital sector
This column graph shows the number of hospitalisations by care type and private/public between 2017–18 and 2021–22. National data is presented by public/private and care type (acute, geriatric evaluation and management, maintenance care, mental health care, newborn care, palliative care, psychogeriatric care and rehabilitation care). In 2021–22, there were 6,422,078 Acute care separations in public hospitals and 4,193,089 Acute care separations in private hospitals.
Hospitals and LHNs
This table explores on the number of hospital admissions between 2011–12 and 2021–22. Data is presented by measure (number of admissions and care type). Hospital-level data is available.
Highlights
In 2021–22, for the public and private sectors combined:
- 92% of hospitalisations were classified as episodes of Acute care
- 3.3% were classified as episodes of as Rehabilitation care
- 3.0% were classified as episodes of as Mental health care
- 0.5% were classified as episodes of as Newborn care (this only refers to situations where the newborn requires specific care – not all births.).
The proportions of hospitalisations for each care type varied by hospital sector. Public hospitals accounted for 60% of hospitalisations for Acute care, while private hospitals accounted for 81% of hospitalisations for Rehabilitation care.
Changes over time
Over the last five years, from 2017–18 to 2021–22, there has been an annual average increase for hospitalisations with Acute care by 0.7% in public hospitals and 1.8% in private hospitals.
Acute care
In 2021–22:
- around 9 in 10 hospitalisations in public (94%) and private hospitals (88%) were for Acute care
- the most common principal diagnosis reported for overnight acute hospitalisations was Single spontaneous delivery (3.1% of hospitalisations)
- almost 1 in 4 (24%) of same-day acute hospitalisations had a principal diagnosis of Care involving dialysis.
Changes over time
- Compared with 2020–21, in 2021–22, the number of hospitalisations with Acute care decreased by 2.1% for public hospitals and by 1.5% for private hospitals.
- Over the last five years, from 2017–18 to 2021–22, there has been an annual average increase for hospitalisations with Acute care by 0.7% in public hospitals and 1.8% in private hospitals.
Newborn care
Newborns receiving care may have both ‘qualified’ (where the baby requires specialised care) and ‘unqualified’ days (where routine care is provided as part of the care for the mother). Refer to ‘More information about the data’ section below for definitions on qualified and unqualified care.
In 2021–22:
- there were 81,800 hospitalisations for newborn care with at least one qualified day—the majority of these (85%) occurred in public hospitals
- 1 in 4 hospitalisations for newborn care had a principal diagnosis of Disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight, not elsewhere classified (24% of hospitalisations for qualified newborns) followed by Respiratory distress of newborn (13% of hospitalisations for qualified newborns)
- almost all (95%) hospitalisations for newborn care were Discharged home and less than 0.24% Died.
Changes over time
Compared with 2020–21, in 2021–22:
- hospitalisations for qualified newborns decreased by 0.7% in public hospitals and increased in private hospitals by 6.7%
- for unqualified newborns, hospitalisations decreased by 1.3% in public hospitals and increased by 5.9% in private hospitals.
Compared with 2017–18, in 2021–22:
- hospitalisations for qualified newborns increased by an annual average of 2.7% (from 62,400 to 69,400) in public hospitals and increased in private hospitals by 1.7% (11,600 to 12,400)
- for unqualified newborns, hospitalisations decreased by an annual average of 0.5% in public hospitals and increased by 3.8% in private hospitals. Victoria had the largest annual average increase over this period at 39.1% in private hospitals (from 2,000 hospitalisations to 7,600 hospitalisations).
Subacute and non-acute care
In 2021–22:
- less than 1 in 20 hospitalisations (4.7%) were for Subacute and non-acute care
- over the previous year, from 2020–21 to 2021–22, the number of hospitalisations for Subacute and non-acute care increased by 7.7% in public hospitals and decreased by 10% in private hospitals
- over the last five years, from 2017–18 to 2021–22, there has been an annual average increase of 1.6% for Subacute and non-acute care hospitalisations in public hospitals and an annual average decrease of 5.1% in private hospitals.
Rehabilitation care
In 2021–22:
- there were around 382,000 Rehabilitation care hospitalisations, with 4 in 5 (81%) occurring in private hospitals
- New South Wales and Queensland combined accounted for 4 in 5 (79%) Rehabilitation care hospitalisations – 56% in New South Wales and 23% in Queensland.
Changes over time
- Over the previous year, from 2020–21 to 2021–22, the number of Rehabilitation care hospitalisations decreased by 10.1% in public hospitals and 11.4% in private hospitals.
- Over the last five years, from 2017–18 to 2021–22, there has been an annual average decrease of 6.0% for Rehabilitation care hospitalisations in public hospitals and an annual average decrease of 4.6% in private hospitals.
Palliative care
In 2021–22:
- nearly 9 in 10 (86%) of the 51,300 Palliative care hospitalisations occurred in public hospitals
- 1 in 2 (49%) hospitalisations for Palliative care had a neoplasm-related (cancer-related) principal diagnosis, with Malignant neoplasm of bronchus and lung accounting for 8% of Palliative care hospitalisations.
Mental health care
In 2021–22:
- over 3 in 5 (62%) of the 353,000 Mental health care hospitalisations occurred in private hospitals
- females (as identified in the data) accounted for 60% of all Mental health care hospitalisations.
Changes over time
Over the previous year, from 2020–21 to 2021–22, the number of Mental health care hospitalisations in private hospitals decreased by 6.0% (from 232,000 to 218,000). However, over the last five years, from 2017–18 to 2021–22, there has been an annual average increase of 2.9%.
What other information is available?
More information on these data are available in the Admitted patient care 2021–22: What services were provided? data tables.
Definitions of the terms used in this section are available in the Glossary.
Acute care
An episode of Acute care for an admitted patient is one in which the principal clinical intent is to do one or more of the following:
- manage labour (obstetric)
- cure illness or provide definitive treatment of injury
- perform surgery
- relieve symptoms of illness or injury (excluding palliative care)
- reduce severity of illness or injury
- protect against exacerbation and/or complication of an illness and/or injury which could threaten life or normal functions
- perform diagnostic or therapeutic procedures
Rehabilitation care
Rehabilitation care is care in which the primary clinical purpose or treatment goal is improvement in the functioning of a patient with an impairment, activity limitation, or participation restriction due to a health condition.
Rehabilitation care is always:
- delivered under the management of or informed by a clinician with specialised expertise in rehabilitation
- evidenced by an individualised multidisciplinary management plan, which is documented in the patient’s medical record, which includes negotiated goals within specified time frames and formal assessment of functional ability.
Palliative care
Palliative care is defined as care in which the primary clinical purpose or treatment goal is optimisation of the quality of life of a patient with an active and advanced life-limiting illness. The patient will have complex physical, psychosocial and/or spiritual needs.
Palliative care is always:
- delivered under the management of or informed by a clinician with specialised expertise in palliative care
- evidenced by an individualised multidisciplinary assessment and management plan, which is documented in the patient's medical record that covers the physical, psychological, emotional, social and spiritual needs of the patient and negotiated goals.
Mental health care
Mental health care is defined in this publication as care in which the primary clinical purpose or treatment goal is improvement in the symptoms and/or psychosocial, environmental, and physical functioning related to a patient’s mental disorder.
Mental health care:
- is delivered under the management of, or regularly informed by, a clinician with specialised expertise in mental health
- is evidenced by an individualised formal mental health assessment and the implementation of a documented mental health plan
- may include significant psychosocial components, including family and carer support.
Mental health care differs from mental health-related care reported in AIHW Mental health services reports. A hospitalisation is classified as mental health-related if:
- it had a mental health-related principal diagnosis, which, for admitted patient care in this report, is defined as a principal diagnosis that is either:
- a diagnosis that falls within the section on Mental and behavioural disorders (Chapter 5) in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision, Australian Modification (ICD‑10‑AM) (codes F00–F99), or
- a number of other selected diagnoses (see the technical information for a full list of applicable diagnoses), and/or
- it included any specialised psychiatric care.
For 2021–22, mental health care refers to hospitalisations for which the care type was reported as Mental health. The care type Mental health was introduced from 1 July 2015. Prior to this, mental health admitted patient activity was assigned to one of the other care types.
‘Qualified’ newborn
A day is considered ‘qualified’ for health insurance benefits purposes when a newborn meet at least 1 of the following criteria:
- the newborn is the second or subsequent live born infant of a multiple birth, whose mother is currently an admitted patient
- the newborn is admitted to an intensive care facility in a hospital, being a facility approved by the Commonwealth Minister for the purpose of the provision of special care
- the newborn is admitted to or remains in hospital without its mother.
A newborn admission to hospital can occur at any time within the first 9 days of life, including at the time of birth.
‘Unqualified’ newborn
The reporting of unqualified newborns has changed over time and varies across jurisdictions. Prior to 2017–18, newborn episodes involving unqualified care were routinely excluded from national reporting on the basis that they did not meet admission criteria for all purposes. However, due to changes in Newborn care practices (such as, care being provided to unqualified newborns on the ward rather than in a special care nursery) stakeholders have expressed interest in the reporting of all newborn episodes, regardless of qualification status.
Admitted patient safety and quality
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What is SABSI?
Staphylococcus aureus (also known as golden staph or S. aureus) is a usually harmless bacteria commonly found inside the nose and on the skin. However, if the bacteria enters the bloodstream a Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection (SABSI) can occur.
Contracting SABSI can be life-threatening and hospitals aim to minimise cases by implementing infection prevention and control policies, including good hygiene practices. Surveillance and reporting of healthcare-associated SABSI rates in hospitals helps to improve patient safety.
Types of SABSI
The two types of SABSI reported on are:
- methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) – which can be treated with commonly used antibiotics, and
- methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which resists treatment by many types of antibiotics, and is associated with poorer patient outcomes.
Data on healthcare associated infections associated with hospital care are presented in the following data visualisation and summarised in the sections below. The data presented are for the latest year for which national data are available, and over time.
Healthcare-associated infections
All data in these visualisations are available for download in the Data & downloads section of the MyHospitals website.
This data visualisation contains 4 tabs:
1. Column graph showing number and rate of SABSI in public hospitals for 2020–21
2. Line graph showing number and rate of SABSI in public hospitals over time from 2010–11 to 2020–21.
3. Table showing SABSI number and rates by hospital between 2010–11 and 2020–21. Data is able to be filtered by type of SABSI, public/private sector, hospital peer group.
4. Data notes.
Nationally, in 2021–22:
- there were 1,546 cases of SABSI in public hospitals during 21.1 million patient days of care – an average of 30 cases per week. This is equivalent to a rate of 0.73 cases per 10,000 public hospital patient days.
- 15% of SABSI cases were resistant to antimicrobial treatment (MRSA) and 85% were MSSA cases.
Of the 700 public hospitals in Australia that contributed data, 197 (33%) hospitals reported at least one SABSI case.
Rates varied by the type of hospital (peer group) – from 0.47 per 10,000 patient days in Small hospitals to 0.92 in Major hospitals which, along with Children's hospitals (0.82), are more likely to deliver services with a higher risk of SABSI.
Seven states and territories met the national benchmark
All states and territories achieved rates below the current nationally-agreed performance benchmark of 1.0 case per 10,000 patient days, except the Australian Capital Territory. Rates ranged from 0.62 in Western Australia to 1.08 in the Australian Capital Territory.
Trends over time
Overall, SABSI rates have decreased at the national level from 1.09 cases per 10,000 patient days in 2010–11 to 0.73 in 2021–22. Rates by state/territory fluctuate from year to year.
On 1 July 2020, the agreed national benchmark changed from no more than 2.0 cases of healthcare-associated SABSI per 10,000 days of patient care to no more than 1.0 case.
Since 2010–11, rates of healthcare-associated MRSA have also declined – from 0.29 cases per 10,000 patient days to 0.11 cases. These cases accounted for 27% of all SABSI cases in 2010–11 compared with 15% of all cases in 2021–22.
In 2021–22, 149 private hospitals (23%) voluntarily submitted SABSI data to the data collection. The rate of private hospital participation in the NSABDC was calculated using the 643 private hospital listed in the Australian Government Department of Health’s list of Commonwealth Declared Hospitals as 31 October 2021. Due to the participation rate, data may not be representative of the private hospital sector as a whole. Also, data provided by public and private hospitals should not be compared, as the procedures, types of cases and patients treated, and therefore the risk of healthcare-associated SABSI in each sector, differ.
In 2021–22:
- there were 189 cases of SABSI in private hospitals during 5.6 million private hospital patient days. This is equivalent to a rate of 0.34 cases per 10,000 private hospital patient days.
- 7.9% of SABSI cases were resistant to antimicrobial treatment (MRSA) and 92% were MSSA cases.
The interactive table in the data visualisation above presents data on SABSI healthcare-associated infections by hospital between 2010–11 and 2021–22 – see 'Hospitals' tab. It includes both public and private hospitals.
See the Hospital Safety and Quality theme page for more data downloads for healthcare-associated infections in public and private hospitals.
Data are from the AIHW National Staphylococcus aureus Bacteraemia Data Collection (NSABDC). NSABDC data are supplied by all states and territories for public hospitals and participating private hospitals.
The SABSI rate is calculated as the number of healthcare-associated cases (patient-episodes) of Staphylococcus aureus divided by the total number of patient days under surveillance (x 10,000).
For more information about data quality and methods see:
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) – Antimicrobial resistance
Australian Government Department of Health – Antimicrobial resistance
Health Direct – Staph infections
Previous releases
AIHW – Bloodstream infections associated with hospital care 2019–20
Definitions of the terms used in this section are available in the Glossary.
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Why is hand hygiene important?
Hand hygiene refers to the washing of hands or use of alcohol-based rubs. Good hand hygiene is a first-line defence against viruses and infections, such as COVID-19, influenza and Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections. This is especially important for hospital patients whose immune systems may already be weakened due to existing health conditions, or medical treatment they are undergoing, such as surgery.
How is hand hygiene measured in hospitals?
Hand hygiene amongst healthcare workers in hospitals is continuously monitored through hand hygiene audits, and data are reported for three consecutive audit periods a year for participating hospitals as part of the National Hand Hygiene Initiative (NHHI) coordinated by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC). In the last audit period (November 2022 to March 2023), data are reported here for 619 public hospitals, which is over 90% of the 680 public hospitals listed on the Australian Government Department of Health’s list of Commonwealth Declared Hospitals as at 31 October 2022.
There are certain times when the risk of healthcare workers transmitting disease in hospitals is greater. Known as hand hygiene ‘moments’, these are:
- before touching a patient (Moment 1)
- before a procedure (Moment 2)
- after a procedure or body fluid exposure risk (Moment 3)
- after touching a patient (Moment 4)
- after touching a patient’s surroundings (Moment 5).
Hand hygiene compliance rates are calculated by dividing the number of compliant hand hygiene moments by the number of moments observed by auditors. Since 2017 the national benchmark for hand hygiene compliance has been 80%.
Hand hygiene compliance for each audit period is reported here for public hospitals at national, and individual-hospital levels, as well as by hand-hygiene moment and healthcare-worker group.
Hand hygiene
All data in these visualisations are available for download in the Data & downloads section of the MyHospitals website.
Hospitals and LHNs
This figure shows hand hygiene rates and observed hand hygiene moments for several audit periods. Data are presented by measure (hand hygiene rate and observed hand hygiene moments). Hospital and national data are available.
Time series
This figure shows hand hygiene compliance between 2012 and 2023. Data is presented by audit period and hospital.
Hand hygiene in public hospitals
The latest national-level data (from Audit period November 2022 to March 2023), show:
- the national hand hygiene compliance rate was 86% – above the 80% national benchmark
- hand hygiene for each of the 5 moments was also above the benchmark:
- before touching a patient: 83%
- before a procedure: 91%
- after a procedure or body fluid exposure risk: 93%
- after touching a patient: 89%
- after touching a patient’s surroundings: 81%
- the highest rates of hand hygiene were among:
- dental professionals, for example, dentists’ compliance was 94%
- nurses and midwives: 89%
- the following healthcare-worker groups did not meet the 80% benchmark:
- doctors (medical practitioners): 76%
- ambulance workers: 69%
- domestic staff (for example, food services, cleaning and maintenance workers): 76%.
The ACSQHC (2023) reports that for Audit period 1 of 2023 the highest rates of compliance were in departments for:
- dentistry: 93%
- renal care: 90%
- neonatal care, mental health care, ambulatory care, oncology/haematology, palliative care (89%).
Emergency department (78%) was the only department type that did not been the 80% benchmark.
Hand hygiene in your hospital
The interactive table in the data visualisation above presents data on hand hygiene by participating public hospitals from 2010 onwards – see 'Hospitals' tab.
Data downloads
See the Hospital Safety and Quality theme page for more data downloads for hand hygiene in public hospitals from 2010 onwards.
There are a number of factors contributing to hospital hand hygiene compliance rates, including the type of clinical care provided, hand hygiene product placement and availability; and staff awareness of and compliance with infection prevention and control strategies.
For more information about data quality and methods see:
- Hand Hygiene National Best endeavours data set, 2012– (data set specification)
- National hand hygiene data collection 2012– (quality statement).
The number of public hospitals is from the Australian Government Department of Health List of declared hospitals from 2022.
Related information
National Hand Hygiene Initiative (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare – ACSQHC)
Admitted patient access
Length of stay is the number of days between admission to hospital, and separation. The Average Length of Stay (ALOS) is calculated as the total number of patient days reported for the hospital (or group of hospitals), divided by the number of hospitalisations.
OECD indicator: Length of stay
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) presents comparative information on the ALOS for overnight hospitalisations as an indicator of efficiency. The comparability of international ALOS may be affected by differences in definitions of hospitals, collection periods and admission practices.
Performance indicator: Average length of stay for selected AR-DRGs
The ALOS for selected AR-DRGs is an indicator of Efficiency and sustainability under the Australian Health Performance Framework (AHPF).
Explore the data
In the data visualisation below, you can view the ALOS by selected medical procedures, by state and territory, and by type of hospital (peer group).
Average length of stay
All data in these visualisations are available for download in the Data & downloads section of the MyHospitals website.
Hospital sector
This bar graph shows the average length of stay for selected AR-DRGs in 2021–22. Data is presented by public/private. National data is available. In 2021–22, heart failure and shock had the longest length of stay for private hospitals at 6.4 days and for public hospitals at 3.9 days.
Hospitals and LHNs
This figure shows the average length of overnight stay between 2011–12 and 2021–22. Data is presented by measure (average length of overnight stay, number of hospital stays, number of overnight bed stays, and percentage of hospital stays that were overnight), procedure category and peer group. Hospital data is available.
Highlights
In 2021–22:
- the ALOS for overnight hospitalisations in Australia was 5.7 days (5.9 days for public hospitals and 5.2 days for private hospitals), which is 1.8 days lower than the OECD average (7.5 days)
- there were notable differences (more than 1 day) in the ALOS between public and private hospitals for 6 of the 20 selected diagnosis groups – the AR-DRGs, (for example, the ALOS for Chronic obstructive airways disease, minor complexity was 2.9 days for public hospitals and 6.0 for private hospitals).
Between 2017–18 and 2021–22, the overall ALOS for hospitalisations in Australia continued to fluctuate, only increasing from 2.70 days to 2.74 days. Prior to this, the ALOS declined over the years as the ALOS was 3.0 days in 2012–13, dropping to 2.8 days in 2016–17.
The ALOS for overnight hospitalisations in public hospitals increased by 2.3% per year (5.4 to 5.9 days), whilst private hospitals decreased by 0.2% (5.21 to 5.17 days).
Significant changes in ALOS over time may be related to changes in admission practices and improvements in the coverage of reporting.
What other information is available?
More information about ALOS can be found in figures 2.2–2.3 in Admitted patient care 2021–22: How much activity was there?
Definitions of the terms used in this section are available in the Glossary.
Average length of stay
The average length of stay (ALOS) is calculated as the total number of patient days reported for the hospital (or group of hospitals), divided by the number of separations. Two measures for ALOS are presented:
- ALOS for all separations
- ALOS excluding same-day separations
Performance indicator: Average length of stay for selected AR-DRGs
The ALOS for selected AR-DRGs is an indicator of Efficiency and sustainability under the Australian Health Performance Framework (AHPF). The selected AR-DRGs were chosen on the basis of:
- homogeneity, where variation is more likely to be attributable to the hospital’s performance rather than variations in the patients themselves
- representativeness across clinical groups
- differences between jurisdictions and/or sectors
- policy interest, as evidenced by (1) inclusion of similar groups in other tables in Australian hospital statistics, such as indicator procedures for elective surgery waiting time, (2) high volume and/or cost and (3) changes in volume over years.
Due to changes in the AR-DRG classification, the data presented here are not comparable with the data presented in previous years.
OECD indicator: Length of stay
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) presents comparative information on the ALOS for overnight hospitalisations as an indicator of efficiency. The comparability of international ALOS may be affected by differences in definitions of hospitals, collection periods and admission practices.
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A specialised service unit is a facility or unit dedicated to the treatment or care of patients with specific conditions or characteristics, such as an intensive care unit.
In 2021–22, the most common specialised service unit in public hospitals were:
- Domiciliary care units (present in 334 public hospitals)
- Nursing home care units (present in 281 public hospitals)
- Obstetric/maternity services units (present in 216 public hospitals).
There were 87 Intensive care units (level III and above), and 31 Neonatal intensive care units (level III and above).
Explore the data
The data visualisation below provides a list of selected services provided by individual hospitals, including specialised care units, in 2021–22.
The information about services provided by a hospital is intended as a general guide only. There is the potential for some omissions or errors in this information and readers should contact a hospital directly for the latest advice on the services available.
A list of the types of specialised units is available in the ‘More information about the data’ section below.
Specialised services and clinics
All data in these visualisations are available for download in the Data & downloads section of the MyHospitals website.
Hospitals and LHNs
This figure shows the number of specialised service units in 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019–20. Data is presented by unit category. Hospital data is available.
More information about these data can be found in Hospital resources 2021–22 data tables. (439kB XLSX)
Definitions of the terms used in this section are available in the Glossary.
Specialised service units
Types of specialised service unit include:
- Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) unit - A specialised facility dedicated to the treatment of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) patients.
- Acute renal dialysis unit - A specialised facility dedicated to dialysis of renal failure patients requiring acute care.
- Acute spinal cord injury unit - A specialised facility dedicated to the initial treatment and subsequent ongoing management and rehabilitation of patients with acute spinal cord injury, largely conforming to Australian Health Minister’s Advisory Council guidelines for service provision.
- Alcohol and drug unit - A facility/service dedicated to the treatment of alcohol and drug dependence.
- Bone marrow transplantation unit - A specialised facility for bone marrow transplantation.
- Burns unit (level III) - A specialised facility dedicated to the initial treatment and subsequent rehabilitation of the severely injured burns patient (usually >10 per cent of the patient’s body surface affected).
- Cardiac surgery unit - A specialised facility dedicated to operative and peri-operative care of patients with cardiac disease.
- Clinical genetics unit - A specialised facility dedicated to diagnostic and counselling services for clients who are affected by, at risk of, or anxious about genetic disorders.
- Clinical pharmacology and/or toxicology service - A facility/service dedicated to providing clinical pharmacology and/or toxicology service.
- Comprehensive epilepsy centre - A specialised facility dedicated to seizure characterisation, evaluation of therapeutic regimes, pre-surgical evaluation, and epilepsy surgery for patients with refractory epilepsy.
- Coronary care unit - A specialised facility dedicated to acute care services for patients with cardiac diseases.
- Diabetes unit - A specialised facility dedicated to the treatment of diabetics.
- Domiciliary care service - A facility/service dedicated to the provision of nursing or other professional paramedical care or treatment and non-qualified domestic assistance to patients in their own homes or in residential institutions not part of the establishment.
- Geriatric assessment unit - Facilities dedicated to the Commonwealth-approved assessment of the level of dependency of (usually) aged individuals either for purposes of initial admission to a long-stay institution or for purposes of reassessment of dependency levels of existing long-stay institution residents.
- Heart, lung transplantation unit - A specialised facility for heart including heart lung transplantation.
- Hospice care unit - A facility dedicated to the provision of palliative care to terminally ill patients.
- In-vitro fertilisation unit - A specialised facility dedicated to the investigation of infertility provision of in-vitro fertilisation services.
- Infectious diseases unit - A specialised facility dedicated to the treatment of infectious diseases.
- Intensive care unit (level III) - A specialised facility dedicated to the care of paediatric and adult patients requiring intensive care and sophisticated technological support services.
- Liver transplantation unit - A specialised facility for liver transplantation.
- Maintenance renal dialysis centre - A specialised facility dedicated to maintenance dialysis of renal failure patients. It may be a separate facility (possibly located on hospital grounds) or known as a satellite centre or a hospital-based facility but is not a facility solely providing training services.
- Major plastic/reconstructive surgery unit - A specialised facility dedicated to general purpose plastic and specialised reconstructive surgery, including maxillofacial, microsurgery and hand surgery.
- Neonatal intensive care unit (level III) - A specialised facility dedicated to the care of neonates requiring care and sophisticated technological support. Patients usually require intensive cardiorespiratory monitoring, sustained assistance ventilation, long-term oxygen administration and parenteral nutrition.
- Neurosurgical unit - A specialised facility dedicated to the surgical treatment of neurological conditions.
- Nursing home care unit - A facility dedicated to the provision of nursing home care.
- Obstetric/maternity - A specialised facility dedicated to the care of obstetric/maternity patients.
- Oncology unit, cancer treatment - A specialised facility dedicated to multidisciplinary investigation, management, rehabilitation and support services for cancer patients. Treatment services include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.
- Pancreas transplantation unit - A specialised facility for pancreas transplantation.
- Psychiatric unit/ward - A specialised unit/ward dedicated to the treatment and care of admitted patients with psychiatric, mental, or behavioural disorders.
- Rehabilitation unit - Dedicated units within recognised hospitals which provide post-acute rehabilitation and are designed as such by the State health authorities.
- Renal transplantation unit - A specialised facility for renal transplantation.
- Sleep centre - A specialised facility linked to a sleep laboratory dedicated to the investigation and management of sleep disorders.
- Specialist paediatric - A specialised facility dedicated to the care of children aged 14 or less is provided within an establishment.