Accident and Emergency Departments: Discharges

(asked on 14th September 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an estimate of the number of patients who presented at accident and emergency departments and returned within 24 hours of being discharged in the last 12 months.


Answered by
Philip Dunne Portrait
Philip Dunne
This question was answered on 11th October 2017

The latest available figures for the number of patients who present at an accident and emergency (A&E) service and subsequently attend an accident and emergency service within 24 hours in 2015-16 is given in the table below. This figure includes the number of attendances at type 3 and 4 facilities, such as minor injury units, that are appropriately redirected to type 1 and 2 departments, such as major trauma centres. For this reason the figure is also given separately for attendances at type 1 or 2 departments that are followed by another attendance within 24 hours.

A count of the number of unplanned A&E attendances1 recorded by A&E department type2 and re-attendances3 within 24 hours, 2015-16:

Activity in English National Health Service Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector

A&E department type

All attendances

Re-attendances within 24 hours

All A&E

20,168,071

896,817

Type 1 and 2 A&E

15,654,790

455,976

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS Digital

Notes:

1The following codes were used to identify unplanned A&E attendances:

1 = First Accident and Emergency attendance

3 = Follow-up Accident and Emergency attendance - unplanned

9 = Not known

2A&E department type:

01 = Emergency departments are a consultant led 24-hour service with full resuscitation facilities and designated accommodation for the reception of accident and emergency patients

02 = Consultant-led mono specialty accident and emergency service (eg ophthalmology, dental) with designated accommodation for the reception of patients

03 = Other type of A&E/minor injury activity with designated accommodation for the reception of accident and emergency patients. The department may be doctor led or nurse led and treats at least minor injuries and illnesses and can be routinely accessed without appointment. A service mainly or entirely appointment based (for example a GP practice or outpatient clinic) is excluded even though it may treat a number of patients with minor illness or injury. Excludes NHS walk-in centres

04 = NHS walk-in centres

99 = Not known

3This is the number of re-attendances to any A&E department within 24 hours of a previous attendance at A&E. Transfers between hospitals within a provider will be counted as a re-attendance unless they are recorded as planned attendances. Also note that duplicate records inflate the number of re-attendances. Please note we have included type 1 and 2 A&E departments separately because a large number of attendances at type 3 and 4 A&E departments were being directed to type 1 and 2 A&E departments, where they were being re-booked and would be classified as a re-attendance within 24 hours.

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