On 17 December 2015 the NSW Acting Auditor-General, Tony Whitfield, released a report on the care that is provided to mental health patients in the first seven days after they are discharged from acute mental health units.
 
The audit examined models of care provided by five Local Health Districts: Northern NSW, Sydney, Western Sydney, Central Coast, and Murrumbidgee. The audit looked at how well these Local Health Districts implemented the Ministry of Health’s policy directive on the transfer of mental health patients from hospitals to the community.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #263 - released 17 December 2015

NSW Health has achieved considerable success over recent years in reducing average length of stay despite increasing pressure on hospital admissions by older and chronically ill patients. This success has been driven by changes in the way health services are delivered, such as the increasing use of same day care for treatments that previously required overnight hospital stays. 
 
There is a good level of length of stay information available and this information is actively used to manage the time patients spend in hospital.
 
Available data suggest that the rate of unplanned readmissions has not reduced in NSW despite various statewide and local strategies. NSW Health is undertaking research to better understand unplanned readmissions, their causes and the best ways to address them.
 
There are many local and statewide initiatives that aim to reduce length of stay and unplanned readmissions. However, the impact of some local and statewide initiatives on length of stay and unplanned readmissions are not well understood and quantified due to the lack of evaluations conducted.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #250 - released 23 April 2015