Patient Level Activity and Costing, 2020-21

A total cost of £4.4 billion was reported for EC activity, of which £2.1 billion (47%) related to females and £2 billion (45%) related to males.  Gender was unknown or unspecified for £378 million (9%) of reported cost.

The distribution of total cost by age is broadly similar for each gender, with higher costs for males than females in the under 15 age groups, and higher costs for females than males in the age groups between 15 and 39 years, and above 75 years.

For ages 5 and over, the ratio of total cost to count of attendances tends to increase with patient age, indicating that the average cost of attendances increases with patient age.

A total cost of £35 billion was reported for APC activity, of which £17.8 billion (51%) related to females and £15.2 billion (43%) related to males.  Gender was unknown or unspecified for £2.1 billion (6%) of reported cost.

The higher total cost and count of episodes for females in the age groups between 15 and 49 compared to males are likely to reflect maternity related admissions.

A total cost of £12.7 billion was reported for OP activity, of which £6.6 billion (52%) related to females and £4.8 billion (38%) related to males.  Gender was unknown or unspecified for £1.2 billion (10%) of reported cost.

The total cost and count of appointments are markedly higher for females in the age groups from 15 to 64 compared to males in the same age groups.

It has not been possible to undertake Gender and Age analysis for SWC and SI, however additional analysis can be found in the Diagnosis section.