This publication presents statistics about the characteristics and activities of the private hospital component of the Australian hospital sector, collected through the ABS' annual Private Health Establishments Collection (PHEC). This sector consists of private acute and psychiatric hospitals, and free-standing day hospital facilities.

Private acute and psychiatric hospitals must be licensed by the relevant state or territory health authority. Private acute hospitals provide medical, surgical or obstetrical services for admitted patients, round-the-clock comprehensive qualified nursing services and other necessary professional services. Most of the patients have acute conditions or temporary ailments. Psychiatric hospitals cater primarily for admitted patients with psychiatric, mental or behavioural disorders.

Free-standing day hospitals provide investigation and treatment for acute conditions on a day-only basis and are approved by the Commonwealth for the purposes of health insurance benefits and include those registered with their respective state health authority.

Information in this release is presented in a number of separate sections covering all private hospitals, private acute and psychiatric hospitals and free-standing day hospitals. The data cover hospital facilities, activities, staffing and finances:

1. Section one - All private hospitals - summary

• Table 1.1: Private Hospitals, Australia - Selected years
• Table 1.2: Private Hospitals, States and Territories, Australia - Selected years
• Table 1.3: Private Hospitals by Type, Australia - Selected years
• Graph 1: Private Hospitals, Net Operating Margin 2010-11 to 2014-15

2. Section two - Private acute and psychiatric hospitals - summary

• Table 2.1: Private Acute and Psychiatric Hospitals, Australia - Selected years
• Graph 1: Acute and Psychiatric Hospitals, Real Income and Expenditure 2010-11 to 2014-15

3. Section three - Private free-standing day hospitals - summary

• Table 3.1: Private Free-standing Day Hospitals, Australia - Selected years
• Graph 1: Private Free-standing Day Hospital Facilities, Real Income and Expenditure 2010-11 to 2014-15
  

Further detailed information is provided in datacubes:

• Datacube 1, Private Hospitals - Summary Tables contains eight summary tables on private hospitals, including accreditation information, patient characteristics, hospital characteristics and activities, staffing and financial data.
  
• Datacube 2, Private Acute and Psychiatric Hospitals - Summary Tables contains 17 tables and provides data including patient characteristics, hospital characteristics activities and facilities, staffing and finances.
  
• Datacube 3, Private Day Hospital Facilities - Summary Tables has nine tables with data on hospital type, patient characteristics, hospital characteristics activities and facilities, staffing and finances.
  
• Datacube 4, Private Acute and Psychiatric Hospitals - Detailed Tables contains 25 tables and provides data including patient characteristics, hospital characteristics activities and facilities, staffing and financial data.
  
• Datacube 5, Private Day Hospital Facilities - Detailed Tables has 15 tables with including data on hospital type, patient characteristics, hospital characteristics activities and facilities, staffing and financial data.

Further Information and Acknowledgements

There are relatively few psychiatric hospitals and some of these are owned by the same parent company. To maintain the confidentiality of data, psychiatric hospitals are combined with acute hospitals in most tables in this publication. Any differences between the data presented in this publication and the data shown in other reports on private hospital activity are due to differences in scope and coverage, relative completeness of the data sources and differing error resolution procedures.

The success of the PHEC is dependent on the very high level of cooperation received from private hospitals operating in Australia. Their continued cooperation is very much appreciated; without it, the range of statistics published by the ABS would not be possible. Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905.

The PHEC was not conducted for the 2007-08 reference period due to ABS budgetary constraints. This represented a break in the time series for the collection.


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