Plans to investigate re-admission to hospital
In November last year research by Healthwatch England identified a significant spike in people having to return to hospital for unplanned further treatment within 30 days of being discharged.
The issue of emergency readmissions is not a new one. In 2015 Healthwatch ran extensive research on people’s experiences of leaving hospital, where we heard from over 3,000 people.
Our findings
From the 70 of the 125 hospitals across England that provided us with data we found:
- 484,609 emergency readmissions in 2017-18. This is 22% higher than five years ago.
- When this is broken down by the number of days between discharge and readmission, the research found that the numbers returning within just 24 hours rose by 33%.
- The number of overall admissions to the same 70 hospitals between 2013-14 and 2017-18 fell by 0.42%.
What we know
Over the last three years readmissions have continued to be a strong theme in the feedback we hear.
People have told us how distressing the process of repeatedly going in and out of hospital can be and the impact it can have on someone’s health and wellbeing. We also found that people with the most complex or acute needs are often the worst affected, including older people and people receiving end of life care.
In November last year research by Healthwatch England identified a significant spike in people having to return to hospital for unplanned further treatment within 30 days of being discharged.
The issue of emergency readmissions is not a new one. In 2015 Healthwatch ran extensive research on people’s experiences of leaving hospital, where we heard from over 3,000 people.
Our findings
From the 70 of the 125 hospitals across England that provided us with data we found:
- 484,609 emergency readmissions in 2017-18. This is 22% higher than five years ago.
- When this is broken down by the number of days between discharge and readmission, the research found that the numbers returning within just 24 hours rose by 33%.
- The number of overall admissions to the same 70 hospitals between 2013-14 and 2017-18 fell by 0.42%.
What we know
Over the last three years readmissions have continued to be a strong theme in the feedback we hear.
People have told us how distressing the process of repeatedly going in and out of hospital can be and the impact it can have on someone’s health and wellbeing. We also found that people with the most complex or acute needs are often the worst affected, including older people and people receiving end of life care.
