Emergency admissions increase by almost half in a decade

The Health Foundation has argued that the number of patients admitted urgently to hospital has increased by 42 per cent, with those attending A&E departments rising by 13 per cent over the same period.

Additionally, the health body finds that one in three patients admitted to hospital in England as an emergency in 2015-16 had five or more health conditions, compared to one in ten admitted patients having five or more conditions in 2006-7. Looking at financial implications, the cost of emergency admissions in 2016-17 was £17 billion, up £5.5 billion in ten years.

Looking at an average over the last decade, emergency admissions have increased by 3.2 per cent each year. However, the number of beds dedicated to these patients has grown only by 0.3 per cent per year meaning that, with so little spare capacity available, hospitals are increasingly being forced to cancel or postpone planned treatment.

Approximately 26 per cent of all unplanned A&E attendances in England were preceded by the patient being unable to obtain a general practice appointment that was convenient to them, while 14 per cent of all emergency admissions were for ‘ambulatory sensitive’ conditions, where timely and effective ambulatory care would have reduced the risk of admission.

Jennifer Dixon, chief executive of the Health Foundation said: “Hospital staff have been saying for some time that they are admitting higher numbers of much sicker patients and these new findings show they are right. Staff have worked incredibly hard under pressure to provide emergency treatment for rising numbers of older patients with multiple conditions.

“Some of the increase is because the NHS is able to keep older and sicker patients alive for longer who then return to hospital. However, it could also suggest that health and care support in the community is not as good as it could be. The Prime Minister recently announced both a ten-year funding settlement for the NHS and a green paper on the future of social care, which is in urgent need of revival. Longer-term investment in both the NHS and social care system is critical to meet the needs of a growing and more frail ageing population.”