A snapshot of the SMHS community

The catchment for the South Metropolitan Health Service (SMHS) has a population of more than 659,000 people. Of these:

An older female patient lays in a hospital bed, with two nurses by her beside.

life expectancy is 81.8 years of age for a male and 86.1 years for a female
44 per cent of all potentially preventable hospitalisations were due to chronic conditions
206,075 people, including 7,142 Aboriginal people, were diagnosed with cancer in 2017–18
more than 69 per cent of adults are overweight or obese

A female dietitan shows a a man and a women healthy food portion sizes.

close to 65 per cent of children do not undertake sufficient physical activity
53.6 per cent of adults do not eat 2 serves of fruit and 90.5 per cent do not eat 5 serves of vegetables daily
17 per cent of adults aged 25 years and over have high cholesterol or are taking medication for high cholesterol
25.6 per cent^* (aged 16 years and over) consume alcohol at levels deemed high-risk for long-term harm

An older man sits on a hospital bed while a female nurses measures his blood pressure.

18.8 per cent^*of adults aged 25 years and over have high blood pressure or are taking medication for high blood pressure
9.6 per cent^*of adults smoke.

Note: The asterisk ^* represents 2016 data.

Learn more about our community, our activities and significant areas of achievement in our 2017–2018 annual report.