PATIENT SEPARATIONS
In 2009-10, there were over 2.7 million patient separations from Acute and psychiatric hospitals, an increase of 5.0% since 2008-09. During 2009-10, almost 7.6 million patient days were provided in Acute and psychiatric hospitals, up 2.8% from 2008-09.
Same day patient separations from Acute and psychiatric hospitals accounted for 57.2% of all patient separations (approximately 1.6 million) in 2009-10, with the remaining number of almost 1.2 million separations relating to overnight-stay patients.
The average length of stay for all patients (same-day and overnight-stay) in Acute and psychiatric hospitals was 2.8 days in 2009-10, comparable to 2008-09 (2.8 days). For overnight-stay patients only, the average length of stay decreased to 5.1 days in 2009-10 from 5.3 days in 2008-09.