• Health, Standard 01/03/2005

For public psychiatric hospitals and alcohol and drug hospitals, all states have either an annual census or admission tracking that would enable a statistical census. The Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing is able to carry out a statistical census from its residential aged care service databases.

A headcount snapshot could be achieved either by census or by the admission/discharge derivation approach.

There are difficulties with the snapshot in view of both seasonal and day of the week fluctuations. Most of the traffic occurs in a small number of beds.

Any headcount should avoid the problems associated with using 31 December or 1 January. The end of the normal financial year is probably more sensible (the Wednesday before the end of the financial year was suggested, but probably not necessary). This should be qualified by indicating that the data does not form a time series in its own right.

The number of separations and bed days for individual long-stay establishments is often a poor indication of the services provided. This is because of the relatively small number of separations in a given institution. Experience has shown that the number of patients/clients in residence can often give a more reliable picture of the levels of services being provided.

Morbidity working party