13 Map layers
For additional context, the Australian Cancer Atlas contains maps showing locations of all hospitals (public and private), services provided (oncology services for public hospitals only), Public Health Networks and Local Government Areas.
13.1 Location of hospitals
Locations of three overlapping categories of hospitals across Australia are available within the Australian Cancer Atlas. Locational Information about hospitals and the services they provide were sourced from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2024a) and are provided as a general guide only. Given the potential for some omissions or errors in this information, users should contact a hospital directly for the latest advice on services available.
Locational information for all three hospital categories given below were based on the latest release of the “My hospitals mapping details” data file. (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2024b)
All hospitals includes all public and private hospitals in Australia.
Principal referral hospitals (tertiary hospitals) are public acute hospitals that provide a very broad range of services, have a range of highly specialised service units, and have very large patient volumes. The term ‘referral’ recognises that these hospitals have specialist facilities not typically found in smaller hospitals. Information about which hospitals are principal referral hospitals was based on the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Hospital Peer Groups. (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2015)
Public Oncology services Information regarding which public hospitals had a specialised oncology unit (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2024c) was filtered by the latest year of data available and marked as open.
13.2 Primary Health Networks (PHNs)
Primary Health Networks (PHNs) are independent organisations that were established by the Australian Government in 2015 to enhance patient care and healthcare efficiency. Australia has 31 Primary Health Networks working to improve medical services, allocate funds effectively, and strengthen connections between local health services and hospitals. (Department of Health and Aged Care, 2023)
13.3 Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Australia are regions that handle community needs within their boundaries, ensuring essential services such as waste collection and town planning for residents. (Parliamentary Education Office, 2023) Examples include the City of Sydney in New South Wales and the City of Melbourne in Victoria.
The Australian Cancer Atlas uses the 2016 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Local Government Areas, (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016c) which are an Australian Bureau of Statistics approximation of officially gazetted Local Government Areas as defined by local governing bodies for each state and territory. There were 563 such Local Government Areas in 2016.