Emergency admissions: changes in the pattern of length of stay

This interactive chart shows the number of emergency admissions categorised by emergency bed-days (EBDs) used in spell, excluding spells in mental health and undefined Healthcare Resource Groups (HRGs), between 2001 and 2009. Hover over the time points for details of individual measures, and click on the key below the x axis to remove individual lines from the chart.

The chart illustrates that:

• There has been a large increase in the number of people who are admitted to hospital as an emergency and stay for less than one day, or for one day;
• The numbers of admissions for patients staying longer in hospital have either remained constant or fallen. A short length of stay in hospital implies patients with less severe conditions are being admitted.
• Emergency admissions with patients staying less than one day in hospital (so-called zero bed-day admissions) accounted for 20.7 per cent of all emergency admissions in 2004/05, and had risen to 27.2 per cent by 2008/09.

The chart also shows the trend in short-stay admissions relative to the introduction of Payment by Results (PbR). While the increase in short-stay admissions tallies with the introduction of PbR, the increase had occurred for at least two years before PbR was extended to cover emergency admissions.

This analysis was published in July 2010 in the Nuffield Trust report: Trends in emergency admissions in England 2004-2009: is greater efficiency breeding inefficiency? The report examined in detail the rise in emergency admissions in England from 2004/05 to 2008/09. It revealed the number of emergency admissions across England had risen by approximately 11.8 per cent – or by around 1.35million extra admissions.

For further information about our work in this area, visit the Understanding trends in emergency care project page.