The report presents state and territory performance results for public hospital capacity, emergency department waiting times and planned surgery waiting times; as well as public hospital expenditure. It shows Australia’s public hospitals are continuing to struggle under sustained pressure. The report also outlines the expected impact of additional federal government funding in the new National Health Reform Agreement (NHRA).

Key findings

• Overall performance remains significantly worse than it was ten years ago, reflecting the impact of growing demand.
• The report shows modest improvements in some areas, including a small reduction in the median wait time for planned surgery and an increase in the total number of public hospital beds. 
• The proportion of patients completing their emergency department visit within four hours has fallen again to the lowest level on record.
• A persistent capacity shortfall is at the heart of declining performance. Although more beds have been added in recent years, population growth has offset these gains. 
• It is unclear whether additional federal government funding in the NHRA would be enough to reverse the decline in performance.