Emergency department care 2017–18

In 2017–18, there were 8 million presentations to public hospital EDs, an average of approximately 22,000 presentations each day.

Between 2013–14 and 2017–18, the number of presentations to public hospital emergency departments increased by 11% overall—or by 2.7% on average each year. This was greater than the average growth in population over the same period, with an increase of 1.1% in the number of presentations per 1,000 people.

The number of hospitals that reported ED presentations to the NNAPEDCD was relatively stable for most states and territories.

Hospitals are classified into peer groups based on the types of services and facilities they provide. About 35% (2.8 million) of presentations to public hospital EDs occurred in Principal referral and Women’s and children’s hospitals, 37% (3.0 million) in Public acute group A hospitals, and 18% (1.4 million) in Public acute group B hospitals. See Appendix C for more information on peer group classifications.

See Tables 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 for caveat information on these data. Available to download in the data section.

More information on emergency department presentations by peer group is available in ‘Table S5.1: Emergency department presentation statistics, by triage category and public hospital peer group, 2017–18’. Available to download in the data section.