This publication of the Seven-day Services indicators relates to activity in the period October 2015 to September 2016.
In July 2015 the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, delivered a speech 'Making healthcare more human-centred and not system-centred' (link provided in Related Links). In this speech, he outlined his commitment to seven-day care and highlighted variation in outcomes associated with weekend hospitalisation.
The experimental statistics presented in this report are being published to provide information on how we can effectively measure both improvement and variation in care provision across the week. This report includes indicators on the following topics:
• Mortality within 30 days of admission by week-part of admission to hospital
• Emergency readmissions within seven days of discharge from hospital by day of discharge
• Length of stay following an emergency admission to hospital by day of admission
If variation exists across the week for a particular hospital trust, it should be examined in more detail to understand the causes. The indicators require careful interpretation and should be used in conjunction with other indicators and information from other sources that together form a holistic view of trust outcomes.
Users of these experimental statistics are invited to comment on these findings. In particular, we invite users to consider how they can use this information to improve care, and how NHS Digital can develop these statistics to provide better information to drive improvements in care.
The Department of Health and Social Care (who own and sponsor the Seven-day Services Indicators) are planning to convene a Technical Advisory Group, which will include both academic and clinical experts. The group will provide expert advice to the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS Digital on the further development of the indicator methodologies.