Summary
This publication of the Seven-day Services indicators relates to activity in the period April 2018 to March 2019.
The indicators 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:
• Emergency readmissions within seven days of discharge from hospital by day of discharge
• Mortality within 30 days of admission by week-part of admission to hospital
• 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.
• The national results are broadly similar to those for previous reporting periods.
• Patients who were discharged on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday had an increased likelihood of an emergency readmission within seven days of discharge compared to those who were discharged on a Wednesday.
• Patients who were admitted at the weekend had an increased likelihood of mortality within 30 days of admission compared to those who were admitted midweek.
• Patients who were admitted in an emergency stayed slightly longer in hospital if they were admitted on a Saturday.
There are many possible explanations for this variation including differences in the case-mix of patients (over and above that accounted for in the analysis), patient behaviour and provision of services both in and outside of the hospital (including social care), but this analysis is unable to determine the causes of the observed variation.
Notes:
1. A large proportion of records for East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (trust code RXC) have missing information for the condition the patient was in hospital for and other conditions the patient suffers from, and this will have affected the calculation of the mortality and emergency readmissions indicators. Values for this trust should therefore be interpreted with caution.
2. There is a shortfall in the number of records in the reporting period for the following trusts: Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RV3), Devon Partnership NHS Trust (trust code RWV), Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RW5), Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RP7) and Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RMP). Results for these trusts are based on incomplete data and should therefore be interpreted with caution.
3. South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RE9) merged with City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RLN) on 1st April 2019. The new trust is called South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (trust code R0B). Results are presented to reflect the updated organisational structure from this publication onwards.
4. The following mergers took place on 1st October 2019: Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RNN) merged with North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust (trust code RNL). The new trust is called North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RNN). Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (trust code REM) merged with Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust (trust code RQ6). The new trust is called Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (trust code REM). 2Gether NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RTQ) merged with Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust (trust code RJ1). The new trust is called Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (trust code RTQ). However, as we received notification of these changes after data processing for this publication began, separate indicator values have been produced for this publication. The next publication in this series will reflect the updated organisation structures.
5. Further information on data quality can be found in the Seven-day Services background quality report, which can be downloaded from the ‘Resources’ section of this page. Further guidance on the interpretation of the indicators is also available to download from this page.
Last edited: 8 July 2021 5:40 pm