In 2017, nearly 79,000 people living with dementia and 630,000 people without dementia aged 65 or older had one or more hospitalisations.
This report focuses on people’s first hospitalisation in 2017 and compares transitions to residential aged care or mortality in the 7-days, 3-months and 12-months after discharge for people living with dementia and people without dementia.
For people living with dementia, the report also explores the characteristics that are associated with longer lengths of stay in hospital and transitions to residential aged care within 7-days of discharge. The use of key healthcare services in the 12-months after discharge are also summarised.
This report used the National Integrated Health Services Information (NIHSI) analysis asset, which contains de-identified administrative health (hospitals, Medicare claims and prescriptions), residential aged care, and deaths data from 2010–11 to 2018–19 (NIHSI 2018–19).
- Cat. no: DEM 8
Findings from this report:
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1 in 4 people with dementia who were living in the community moved into aged care after a hospital stay
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People who moved into aged care after their hospital stay spent 20-days longer in hospital than other older people
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People with dementia living in residential aged care were less likely to return to hospital than those in the community
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2 in 5 people with dementia did not have a chronic disease management plan or review in the year after being discharged