The new report released from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare entitled Australian hospital statistics 2011–12, gives Australians a closer look at the rate of hospital admissions nation wide.

An alarming 9.3 million Australians were admitted into hospital from 2011 to 2012. This accounts for public, private and emergency hospitals. The report also highlights the increase numbers of elderly patients in Australia being admitted. Individuals over the age of 85 increased by 9 percent in the last year, compared to 4 percent of the previous year.

“What we found in 2011-12 was that people aged 85 and over made up about 7 per cent of all hospital admissions and 13 per cent of days spent by patients in hospital,” -Jenny Hargreaves

Jenny Hargreaves, the spokeswoman for the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare commented stating that 592,000 of the total 9.3 million admissions were of Australians 85 and over. This is a overwhelming number considering that the people aged 85 and over only make 2 percent of the total Australian population.