Please note: Figures 1 and 3 are the same. Figure 3 - Relative trends in numbers of hospital separations by treatment choice.  The source is the AHS data for all hospitals for 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09. The X-axis shows month and year, starting at June 2007 and ending at June 2009. The Y-axis is named 2006-07 year = 100.
There are three lines of data for patient separations by treatment choice. They represent public patients, private patients in public hospitals, and private patients in private hospitals. All lines commence at a baseline of 100 at June 2007. “Surcharge changes” is marked on each line at October 2008. 
The trend for public patient separations is almost flat leading up to January 2008. From there to March 2009, it grows to 105. From March 2009 to June 2009,it remains steady around 105.The trends for private patients in public hospitals and private patients in private hospitals are similar to each other. They show consistent growth over time, with higher growth for private patients in public hospitals. The growth for private patients in private hospitals and private patients in public hospitals are both consistently higher than for public patients. In June 2009, private patients in public hospitals is approximately 115, and private patients in private hospitals is approximately 106.