Hospital spending out of whack

PUBLIC hospital spending is growing faster than increases in beds and staff, new data reveals.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s (AIHW’s) Hospital resources 2017–18: Australian hospital statistics report found recurrent spending on public hospital services increased by 3.3% to $71 billion in 2017–18, with about 62% of this being spent on wages and salaries.

The report showed full-time equivalent staff numbers grew by 1.1% in 2017-18, while hospitalisations increased by 2.1% during the same period.

The number of public hospital beds has grown by an average of 1.3% a year since 2013-14.

The report revealed there are 62,000 hospital beds available through the public hospital system nationally, with a further 34,300 private hospital beds.

The full report is available for download at aihw.gov.au.