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STAFF

There were 58,170 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff employed at Acute and psychiatric hospitals in Australia during 2013-14, an increase of 3.3% from 2012-13. Victoria employed the most FTE staff, with 15,705, slightly ahead of New South Wales, which employed 15,615 FTE staff. Victoria employed the most nursing staff while New South Wales employed the most salaried medical professionals and diagnostic and allied health professionals on an FTE basis.

Nursing staff as a proportion of all FTE staff varied across the states and territories. In South Australia, nursing staff represented 61.7% of total FTE staff compared with 53.8% in New South Wales. Registered nurses accounted for 83.9% of nursing staff.

Table 2.11 PRIVATE ACUTE AND PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS, Staffing (a) — States and territories — 2013-14
		NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas., NT & ACT(b)	Aus.
		Number of Full Time Equivalent Staff
Salaried medical professionals(c)		264	222	237	42	np	np	1,124
Diagnostic and allied health professionals		1,038	1,037	467	141	np	np	3,193
Full time equivalent nursing staff (d)(e)
	Registered nurses	7,111	7,793	6,446	1,947	np	np	27,828
	Enrolled nurses	1,293	1,355	1,446	467	np	np	5,357
	Total	8,404	9,148	7,892	2,414	np	np	33,185
Clinical support staff		1,484	744	942	135	np	np	4,078
Administrative and clerical staff		2,240	2,051	1,715	422	np	np	7,719
Domestic and other staff		2,186	2,503	1,882	761	np	np	8,870
Total FTE staff (f)		15,615	15,705	13,135	3,915	np	np	58,170
		Average Number of Full-Time Equivalent Staff Per Occupied Bed (g)
Full time equivalent nursing staff (d)(e)
	Registered nurses	1.1	1.2	1.1	1.2	np	np	1.1
	Enrolled nurses	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	np	np	0.2
	Total	1.3	1.4	1.3	1.5	np	np	1.4
Other (h)		0.9	0.9	0.7	0.9	np	np	0.9
Total FTE staff (f)		2.3	2.4	2.2	2.4	np	np	2.4
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated (a) Staff represented are typical full-time equivalent numbers for the year. Full-time equivalent represents the sum of full-time staff and full-time equivalent of part-time staff. See Glossary for further information. (b) Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory have been aggregated to protect the confidentiality of the small number of hospitals in these states/territories. (c) Excludes visiting/consulting medical officers (d) Includes nurses in operating theatres, labour wards, psychiatric units, alcohol and drug rehabilitation units, other special care units, and emergency departments and units. (e) Includes contract staff sourced from employment agencies but paid via the hospital payroll. See Explanatory Note 40 for further information. (f) Figures have been rounded and discrepancies may occur between totals and the sums of the component items. (g) Calculated by dividing the number of FTE staff by the number of occupied beds. The number of occupied beds is calculated by multiplying the number of average available beds by the occupancy rate. See Bed occupancy rate in Glossary for more information. (h) Including salaried medical officers and other diagnostic health professionals, clinical support staff, administrative, domestic and other staff.