Hospital transfers from Australian residential aged care are rising. In April to June 2026, 16.3% of residents had at least one emergency department (ED) presentation or hospital admission, up from 14.2% in the same quarter of 2023. In the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) trend analysis, hospitalisation is the only quality indicator tracking harm or adverse outcomes with a statistically significant upward trend.
For the board of a provider running several homes, the national figure matters less than the spread underneath it. The middle half of homes ranged from 10.7% to 20.7% of residents transferred in the quarter, and a group average can hide both ends.
What does the latest QI Program data show?
The QI Program requires every subsidised residential care home to report quality indicator (QI) data each quarter. The AIHW released the April to June 2026 results on 16 October 2026, covering 2,564 homes.
Hospitalisation is measured two ways. In April to June 2026, 13.7% of residents had at least one ED presentation, or 31,042 residents. A further measure counts ED presentations or hospital admissions together: 16.3% of residents, or 36,849 people, had at least one.
The ED presentation rate is the highest of the 13 quarters reported since hospitalisation reporting began in April to June 2023.
Is the rise a seasonal effect?
Comparing the same quarter each year removes seasonal swings. The share of residents with an ED presentation or hospital admission in the April to June quarter was 14.2% in 2023, 15.3% in 2024, 15.7% in 2025, and 16.3% in 2026. It has risen every year.
How does hospitalisation compare with other quality indicators?
The AIHW trend analysis covers 20 quarters, from July to September 2021 to April to June 2026. Over that period, pressure injuries fell from 5.9% to 4.6% of residents, falls with major injury from 2.1% to 1.7%, and antipsychotic use from 21.6% to 17.5%. Polypharmacy and unplanned weight loss also fell to a statistically significant degree.
Hospitalisation is the exception. Both of its measures show a statistically significant increase.
Does a higher transfer rate mean poorer care?
Not on its own. Some residents need hospital care, and no home should delay a transfer a resident needs. The AIHW describes ED presentations and hospital admissions as potentially preventable if residents have timely access to appropriate healthcare services.
A home’s transfer rate reflects several things at once: after-hours access to a general practitioner, how early a change in condition is escalated, whether advance care plans travel with the resident, resident care needs, and distance to hospital. The QI figures are not risk-adjusted for differences in care needs between homes. A rate tells a board where to look. It does not tell the board what it will find.
How much do transfer rates vary between homes?
Widely. In April to June 2026, a home at the 25th percentile had 10.7% of residents with an ED presentation or hospital admission. The median home had 15.5%, and a home at the 75th percentile had 20.7%. That is nearly twice the share of the home at the 25th percentile.
Rates also differ by location. By state, the rate ran from 13.4% in Tasmania to 18.6% in Queensland, with the Northern Territory at 27.2%. Regional centres recorded 17.3%, against 16.1% in metropolitan areas.
For a group running homes across different areas, a single blended rate can sit near the national median while one home runs well above it.
What do the Strengthened Quality Standards require?
Under Standard 7 (The Residential Community), Outcome 7.2 (Transitions) requires providers to ensure residents experience a well-coordinated transition to or from a provider, planned or unplanned. Its actions expect use of hospitals and emergency departments to be recorded and monitored.
Under Standard 2 (The Organisation), Outcome 2.3 makes the governing body accountable for oversight of all aspects of the provider’s operations. Its actions name Quality Indicator data as an input to the governing body’s monitoring of performance.
Outcome 5.7 (Palliative care and end-of-life care) expects providers to minimise unnecessary transfer to hospital in the last days of life, in line with the resident’s preferences. The obligation is to understand transfers, not to reduce them by rule.
What should the board of a multi-home provider ask?
Three questions test whether a board can see transfers home by home.
- Which home sits furthest from the group transfer rate, in either direction?
- For that home, what were the main reasons for transfer last quarter?
- For residents receiving end-of-life care, were transfers in line with their recorded preferences?
If the answers take days to assemble from separate records, the board is seeing a count, not a pattern.
Download the board briefing
Hospital Transfers: The One Quality Indicator Moving the Wrong Way sets out the April to June 2026 data, the Standards obligations, an escalation path for transfers, and six questions for your next board meeting. Download the briefing.
Want to work through it for your own homes? Book a 20-minute conversation
Sources: AIHW, Residential Aged Care Quality Indicators, April to June 2026, released 16 October 2026, QI data extracted 11 August 2026. Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards, November 2025.
