HSCIC, 29 January 2016
- This analysis uses Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data to look at emergency readmission rates split by day of their previous discharge.
- The report concludes that "it is not possible to determine whether this variation is due to differences in quality of care and/or service provision, or due to differences in the case-mix of patients."
- Key findings
- Emergency readmissions within seven days of discharge from hospital
- The rate of emergency readmissions within seven days of discharge increased over the week from a low of 3.2 per cent for discharges on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays to a high of 4.9 per cent for discharges on Sundays.
- The overall rate of emergency readmissions within seven days of discharge from hospital on a weekend was 4.4 per cent, 1.1 percentage points higher than the corresponding rate for discharges during the rest of the week (3.3 per cent).
- Due to changes in the methodology used for the calculation of the emergency readmissions indicator, these results are not comparable to those included in the previous edition of this publication.
- Length of stay following an emergency admission to hospital
- Nationally, there is a small amount of variation in the distribution of length of stay by day of admission, ranging from 47 per cent of discharges following an emergency admission on a Saturday having a length of stay of 0 or 1 days to 52 per cent of discharges following an emergency admission on a Thursday having a length of stay of 0 or 1 days, a range of 4 percentage points.
- See commentary in BMJ 2016;352:i621 (Available with NHS OpenAthens ID)
