Media Release

New analysis from the health insurance comparison service iSelect reveals hand hygiene compliance has declined across Australian public hospitals since 2020, with student dentists recording the biggest drop among healthcare worker groups. 

iSelect’s analysis of public data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reveals the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) recorded the largest drop in compliance among states and territories. 

The analysis, examining hand hygiene audit results from July to October 2020 and the same period in 2025, found national compliance fell from 86.9% to 86.4%. 

ACT records biggest decline in hand hygiene compliance 

The ACT recorded the largest decline in hand hygiene compliance across states and territories, falling from 85.2% in 2020 to 81.4% in 2025, a drop of 3.8 percentage points. 

The Northern Territory recorded the lowest compliance rate in 2025, at 80.6%, down from 83.6% in 2020. 

Western Australia also recorded a notable decline, with compliance falling by 2 percentage points, from 86.1% to 84.1%. 

The analysis also revealed significant differences in compliance across healthcare worker groups.  

Hand hygiene compliance by healthcare worker type 

Student dentists recorded the largest decline among the listed healthcare worker groups, with compliance falling from 91.8% in 2020 to 83.8% in 2025, a drop of 8 percentage points. 

Domestic staff and student dental therapists both recorded declines of 4.5 percentage points, making them the groups with the second largest decline. Domestic staff compliance fell from 78.2% to 73.7%, while student dental therapists fell from 94.2% to 89.7%. 

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Methodology: This dataset analyses hand hygiene compliance across Australian public hospitals, comparing audit results from July to October 2020 with the same period in 2025. The analysis compares compliance rates across states and territories and healthcare worker groups to identify where compliance has declined or improved over time, highlighting the largest changes in percentage points. 

Data source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) hand hygiene audit data. 

Audit periods: 

• 1 July–31 October 2020 

• 1 July–31 October 2025 

Changes in compliance are expressed in percentage points (pp), calculated by subtracting the 2020 compliance rate from the 2025 compliance rate.