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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework - Summary report 2023

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework - Summary report 2023
Last updated:
31/01/2023
Suggested citation:
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2023. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework: summary report 2023. Canberra: AIHW. Viewed [insert date].
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework summary report summarises the latest information on how Indigenous Australians are faring, drawing from the Health Performance Framework (HPF) performance measures. A pdf copy of the web report is available for download below (version released on 31 January 2023). Please check the online version for any available updates.
Download Report (3 MB)
Main reasons for hospitalisation

Between July 2017 and June 2019, the top reasons for hospitalisation among Indigenous Australians was care involving dialysis (44%), followed by injury and poisoning (6.8%)

Improvements in school retention

Between 2012 and 2021, the apparent retention rate in secondary school (Year 7/8 to Year 12) for Indigenous Australian students increased by 7.9 percentage points to 59%

Decline in youth justice supervision

The rate of Indigenous young people aged 10–17 years under youth justice supervision fell from 186 to 117 per 10,000 population between 2011–12 to 2020–21, with a 30% decline in community supervision and a 25% decline in detention

Decline in kidney disease deaths

The age-standardised rate of deaths from kidney disease among Indigenous Australians decreased by 36% over the decade from 2010 to 2019

Increased use of Indigenous-specific health checks

From 2009–10 to 2018–19, there was a fourfold increase in the rate of Indigenous-specific health checks for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, from 68 checks per 1,000 population to 297 per 1,000

Discharge from hospital against medical advice

From 2009–10 to 2018–19, the age-standardised proportion of hospitalisations for Indigenous Australians where the patient was discharged at own risk decreased from 4.4% to 3.8% of all hospitalisations

Increase in deaths from cancer

The age-standardised rate of cancer deaths among Indigenous Australians increased by 12% over the period from 2010 to 2019

Assault hospitalisations highest in remote areas

In 2017–19, for Indigenous Australians, the hospitalisation rate due to assault was highest for those living in Remote and Very remote areas (2,353 and 2,458 per 100,000 population)

Barriers to health care access

In 2018–19, 3 in 10 Indigenous Australians who needed to go to a health provider did not go – the same proportion as in 2012–13. Barriers included cost, and health services being unavailable, far away or with long waiting times