Latest AIHW data gives a snapshot into the nation’s private and public hospitals, including how much is spent per individual each year on hospital care and how much the workforce earns.
Australia’s public and private hospitals cost $293 million each day to run, on average, a new report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reveals.
In 2022–23, $107 billion ($4069 per person) was spent on hospital care in Australia (AIHW 2024), according to the AIHW’s Australia’s Hospitals at a Glance report.
“Individual spending per person on hospital care increased by an average of 2.8% per year between 2017–18 and 2022–23, after adjusting for inflation,” the report’s authors wrote.
The $107 billion spent on hospitals in 2022–23 accounted for 42% of all health expenditure ($252.5 billion) and is comprised of an estimated:
- $49.7 billion (46%) from state and territory governments;
- $39.4 billion (37%) from the Australian Government;
- $18.0 billion (17%) from non-government sources.
The breakdown for public hospitals showed that in 2022–23, a total of $85.6 billion was spent in Australia, with state and territory governments stumping up the lion’s share (58% or $49.4 billion), followed by the federal government (37% or $31.8 billion), and non-government entities such as individuals and private health insurers (5% or $4.4 billion).
“Between 2012–13 and 2022–23, Australian government expenditure on public hospitals increased 4.3% per year on average and state and territory expenditure increased 5.0% per year on average,” the authors wrote.
In the private hospital sector, in 2022–23, an estimated total of $21.5 billion was spent on private hospitals. Private health insurance providers stumped up the most (45% or $9.7 billion), followed by the federal government (36% or $7.6 billion 36%), individuals (11% or $2.4 billion), other non-government sources (6.9% or $1.5 billion), and state and territory governments (1.2% or $256 million).
Sixty-three per cent ($13.6 billion) of private hospital spending came from the non-government sector.
“Between 2012–13 and 2022–23, total funding for private hospitals increased by an average of 3.7% each year,” the authors wrote.
“The proportion of funding provided by the Australian Government increased 4.9% and funding from state and territory governments increased, on average, 13.2%.”
When it came to hospital admissions, conditions and complications, the report also had some record results across a number of areas, including:
- 33,200 hospitalisations in public and private hospitals;
- 410 hospitalisations with a hospital-acquired complication in public and private hospitals;
- Five Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections in public hospitals;
- 24,700 presentations in emergency departments at public hospitals;
- 2100 admissions to public hospitals from elective surgery waiting lists.
In 2023–24, the most common reason for a presentation at an emergency department was for so-called ‘symptoms, signs, and abnormal findings’, which include abnormalities of heartbeat, abnormalities of breathing, chest pain, nausea and vomiting, headache, and convulsions that are not attributable to a specific diagnosis based on the information available at the time of the care. These accounted for 27% of all emergency department presentations.
Private and public hospitals provided 33.2 million days of patient care in 2022–23. This was an increase compared with 2018–19 when 30.9 million days of patient care were provided.
In 2022–23, there were 12.1 million hospitalisations (415 per 1000 population). Public hospitals provided 59% (7.1 million) of hospitalisations and private hospitals provided 41% (5 million).
“Since 2018–19, hospitalisations have increased from around 11.5 million (6.8 million in public hospitals and 4.6 million in private hospitals),” the authors wrote.
“The rate of hospitalisations per 1000 population over the same period decreased in public hospitals from 254 to 247 per 1000 population and increased slightly in private hospitals from 167 to 168 per 1000 population.”
In 2023–24, 772,000 patients were admitted for surgery from public hospital elective surgery waiting lists – an 4% increase compared with 2022–23, and an average decrease of 3% per year since 2019–20.
In 2022–23, there were 700 public hospitals which varied in location, size, and services provided. Of these public hospitals, 189 were in major cities, 400 were in inner and outer regional areas, and 111 were in remote or very remote areas.
There were 65,000 public hospital beds available, on average, in 2022–23, representing 2.5 beds per 1000 population. Since 2018–19, the number of beds per 1000 population in public hospitals has fallen by an average of 0.3% every year.
When it came to the public hospital workforce, the report showed that in 2022–23, there were 448,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff employed across the country. The number of FTE staff has increased 3.5% per year on average since 2018–19.
The breakdown of this, including the number and their average salary included:
- Nurses – 186,229 (42% of the total workforce); average annual salary $122,422;
- Administrative and clerical staff – 82,736 (18%); average annual salary $94,245;
- Diagnostic and allied health professionals – 74,601 (17%); average annual salary $106,735;
- Salaried medical officers – 56,744 (13%); average annual salary $252,295;
- Domestic and other personal care staff – 48,047 (11%); average annual salary $77,905.
Read the full report here.
