Emergency admissions

Emergency hospital admissions - all conditions

The purpose of this indicator is to help monitor NHS success in prevention and treatment outside hospital. This is National Indicator 134. Emergency admissions to hospital can be avoided if local systems are put in place to identify those at risk and target services, particularly primary care. There was a 'Putting People First' target for 2002/03 for emergency admissions to grow at less than 2%. The majority of patients admitted to hospital as an emergency are older people. In order to avoid perverse incentives that might keep older people out of hospital when it is legitimate for them to be admitted, the indicator is presented as a rate for patients of all ages. This indicator also acts as a proxy for the delivery of services for older people generally.