Australian hospital statistics 2003-04

Australian Hospital Statistics 2003-04 provides an eleventh year in the Institute's comprehensive annual statistical reporting of statistics on Australia's hospitals. Detailed information is presented on hospital care and hospitals in 2003-04, as are summaries of changes over time, and comparisons between public and private hospitals. Included are statistics on admissions to public and private hospitals in 2003-04, covering the age and sex of patients, diagnoses, procedures, lengths of stay and waiting times for elective surgery. Also included are hospital expenditure, revenue and bed numbers, and a range of hospital performance indicators reported using the National Health Performance Framework. Included for the first time in 2003-04 are more comprehensive statistics about patients who presented to selected public hospital emergency departments. The statistics now cover patients' demographics, triage categories, waiting times, durations of care and a range of other data. This report is a useful resource for health planners, administrators and researchers with an interest in the Australian hospital system.