Hospital care

Emergency department care

Hospital emergency departments provide care for patients who present for urgent medical attention.

In 2017–18, there were 4 million emergency department presentations among Australian males, accounting for 50% of all presentations. Among adult males, rates of emergency department presentations were highest in those aged 75–84 and 85 years and older (599 and 923 per 1,000 population respectively) (AIHW 2019a).

For more information see: Emergency department care

Admitted patient care

Admitted patient care refers to care provided by public and private hospitals to admitted patients. A hospitalisation is an episode of hospital care that starts with the formal admission process and ends with the formal separation process.

In 2017–18, there were 5.3 million hospitalisations among Australian males, accounting for 48% of all hospitalisations.

Hospitalisation rates generally increase with age, and are highest among men aged 85 and over (Figure 18) (AIHW 2019b).

Figure 18: Hospitalisations per 1,000 population, males by age group (years), 2017–18

This column chart shows the rate of hospitalisations among males decreases with decreasing age up to age 5–14 (from 690.5 per 1,000 population among those aged under 1 year to 111.9 per 1,000 population among those aged 5–14) (). The rate of hospitalisations then increases with increasing age from 5–14 years and are highest among males aged 85 and over (2416 per 1,000 population).

Note: See Box 1.1 and appendixes A and B of Admitted patient care, 2017–18 for notes on data limitations and methods.
Chart: AIHW. Source: AIHW 2019b (see Table S17.1).

For more information see: Admitted patient care.