Avoidable Admission Strategy - NSW Health

There is a growing demand for health care in NSW; this is partly due to our growing and ageing population¹. We need to ensure that we continue to redesign processes within our health system to respond to the changing needs of our population.

In investigating and understanding the way health care is delivered in NSW, the Acute Care Taskforce (ACT) in partnership with the NSW Health, Health Services Performance Improvement Branch (HSPIB) has developed the avoidable admissions strategy.

The Avoidable Admissions strategy has been developed as a result of extensive research and consultation with key clinicians. The strategy identifies that it may be appropriate for many patients with some specific low complexity medical conditions, to be treated in alternative settings to in-patient hospital care. Patients’ care delivered through alternative models of care has been associated with greater patient satisfaction when compared to hospital care and has been shown to have similar health outcomes to hospital care in selected patients^2,3. Using alternative models will also enable health teams and patient beds to be available for patients with more complex conditions.

The “Avoidable Admissions” Preamble ( 68KB) summarises the background, methodology and implementation process for the Avoidable Admission Strategy. NSW Health recommends both the Community Acute/Post Acute Care (CAPAC) model and the APAC/GP Shared Care model as preferred non-inpatient models of care.

Engagement of GPs and all key stakeholders in the development of alternative models to in-patient hospital care is vital. Local data analysis of patient admissions for each of the medical DRGs listed in Avoidable Admissions Strategy is recommended to determine appropriateness and priority of implementation

This web site has been designed for health professionals and provides a range of resources to provide information relating to the development and implementation of the avoidable admission strategy. Please "click" on the medical conditions highlighted on the diagram below for specific resources for non-inpatient models of care for that low complexity medical condition.

The links on the Treatment conditions are to PDF documents. To view these files, you may need Adobe Acrobat which can be downloaded by clicking the button below:

1. NSW Department of Health (2007) Future Directions for Health in NSW - Towards 2025
2. Wilson A, Wynn A & Parker H (2002) Patient and carer satisfaction with 'hospital at home': quantitative and qualitative results from a randomised controlled trial. British Journal of General Practice. 52(474):9-13
3. Sheppard S, Iliffe S. Hospital at home versus inpatient hospital care. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2005, Issue 3. Art. No:CD000356.pub 2.

For further information please contact the Health Services Performance Improvement Branch, NSW Health on 9391 9833.

Avoidable Admission Model of Care: July 2007