Access to hospital procedures
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are more likely to be hospitalised than non-Indigenous Australians, but are less likely to receive a medical or surgical procedure while in hospital.
Over the period July 2017 to June 2019, there were 385,020 hospitalisations (excluding dialysis) for Indigenous Australians where a medical or surgical procedure was recorded, and 15,231,823 for non-Indigenous Australians. After adjusting for differences in the age structure between the two populations, Indigenous Australians were 0.8 times as likely to have a medical or surgical procedure recorded than non-Indigenous Australians (63% compared with 77%).
For Indigenous Australians, the proportion of hospitalisations where a procedure was recorded decreased as remoteness of usual residence increased, declining from 68% in Major cities to 53% in Very remote areas (Figure 6.10).
Between 2009–10 and 2018–19, in the six jurisdictions with adequate Indigenous identification (NSW, Vic, Qld, WA, SA and NT), the age-standardised proportion of hospitalisations where a procedure was recorded increased by 14% for Indigenous Australians, with no significant change for non-Indigenous Australians (Figure 6.10).
Figure 6.10: Proportion of hospitalisations that included a procedure, for Indigenous Australians by remoteness area (crude proportion, July 2017 to June 2019), and by Indigenous status (age-standardised, 2009–10 to 2016–17)
Note: Graph showing trend over time (right hand side) includes data from NSW, Vic, Qld, WA, SA and NT combined. The graph by remoteness includes data for all states and territories.
Sources: Measure 3.06, Table D3.06.1 and Table D3.06.11 – AIHW analysis of National Hospital Morbidity Database.
For further information, see: