Six monthly antimicrobial utilisation reports


In addition to the six monthly reports below, National Antimicrobial Utilisation Surveillance Program (NAUSP) also produces detailed annual reports showing usage of an expanded number of antimicrobials both nationally and in individual Australian public and private hospitals in a de-identified manner.

NAUSP definitions

Prior to January 2021, total-hospital acute usage rates included usage in the emergency department and operating theatres. Usage in these areas will now be reported separately relative to patient presentations (replacing occupied bed days as a measure of patient activity), and are not included in total-hospital (or non-Critical Care) from January 2021.

National aggregated reports

Dec 2023 to Dec 2025

This 2-year longitudinal report includes aggregated usage by all contributors for both total hospital use and Critical Care (including Intensive Care and High Dependency Units) use.  

All contributing hospitals national aggregated report (PDF 1.2MB)

Benchmarking reports by state/territory (total acute usage rates, excluding emergency and theatre)

Jul 2025 to Dec 2025

These six-monthly reports allow contributors to compare their usage of each antibacterial class with other hospitals within their state or territory.

Benchmarking reports by state/territory (Emergency Department)

Jul 2025 to Dec 2025

For hospitals able to submit Emergency Department (ED) usage data, these reports allow contributors to benchmark their ED usage rates with other hospitals in their state/territory.

Benchmarking reports by peer group (Critical Care Unit)

Jul 2025 to Dec 2025

For hospitals able to submit usage data for their Critical Care Unit, these reports allow contributors to benchmark their Critical Care usage rates (Intensive Care and/or High Dependency Units) with other hospitals in their AIHW peer group.

Antifungal benchmarking reports by state/territory

Jul 2025 to Dec 2025

These six-monthly reports allow contributors to compare their antifungal usage rates with other hospitals within their state or territory. Usage rates of antifungals are highly dependent on the casemix (e.g. haematology/oncology or transplant services) and acuity of the hospital.

Contributor reports from the NAUSP portal

Hospitals contributing to NAUSP can download reports directly from the NAUSP portal showing longitudinal usage rates for their individual hospitals. These contain charts comparing the individual hospital’s usage compared to the average usage at similarly peered hospitals. Hospitals that contribute usage data for particular specialties/locations can access usage reports for critical care, haematology/oncology, respiratory and obstetrics/gynaecology. 

Disclaimer

Usage rates reported in previously published NAUSP reports may differ from current reports. The Defined Daily Dose (DDD) values for some commonly used antimicrobials were changed by the WHO in January 2019. Due to these changes, usage rates in more recently published reports may not be directly comparable with prior reports that utilised the former DDD values for the analysis. In addition to amendments to WHO DDDs, rates may differ as a result of retrospective data adjustments or varying numbers of hospitals contributing to aggregated data.

Acknowledgement

The Australian Department of Health provides funding for the administration of NAUSP and the analyses of NAUSP data and related reports for the AURA Surveillance System.

Citation

Unless otherwise stated within a report, please attribute the reports found on this webpage (and any material sourced from them) using the following citation:

National Antimicrobial Utilisation Surveillance Program. [insert report title]. Adelaide: SA Health; [insert year of publication].

Further reading

Further information

For further information on National Antimicrobial Utilisation Surveillance Program, contact the Program Coordinator.