Emergency Department and Admissions Statistics
Accident & Emergency
Data from Emergency Departments and Minor Injuries Units are submitted on a monthly basis to ISD Scotland and are used for several purposes including:-
- Monitoring the 4-hour waiting time standard see the Waiting Times Programme
- HEAT T10 target to reduce attendances at A&E by Shifting the Balance of Care
- Information is used to support Winter Pressures
- Identifying the times of the year where activity increases
Background
The A&E data mart was setup in mid 2007 to monitor the performance of hospitals in Scotland against the 4 hour waiting time target. The data submitted were fairly minimal with items such as arrival time, departure time and reason for wait. Further work has been carried out to expand the data items submitted to ISD and now Phase 2 is underway to enhance the data mart even more; the data submitted will continue to support national information requirements for NHS Boards and the Scottish Government which includes the Emergency Access Delivery Team (reducing attendances at A&E HEAT T10) and Public Health/Community Safety (to capture data on patients who attend A&E with an injury - see below).
Guidance for Users Submitting Data
- A&E User Guide
[1.4MB] - This document details the file format and specification, how to transfer files to the data mart and how to access the error reports to identify issues with files. - A&E2: Codes and Values
[110KB] - This document details the accepted codes for the submission files and the associated descriptions and definitions. - ICD10 and Postcode Reference Files
Open the National Reference Files webpage and go to the 1st table titled 'SMR Validation Reference Files';
ICD10 -3rd link down (e.g. RF0710B.EXE; dated for relevant month & year)
Postcode -last 3 links (e.g. RF0710D.EXE, RF0710E.EXE & RF0710F.EXE; dated for relevant month & year)
To view a file, click and run the link and this will extract the reference file to your desktop. Open the file in WordPad or Notepad.
Current Data Coverage and Quality
Emergency Department and Minor Injury Units are classified as either core or non-core sites for national reporting purposes. Core sites include all Emergency Departments and Minor Injury Units within district general and teaching hospitals. Non-core sites include Minor Injury Units, small hospitals with manual systems and health centre's in rural areas that carry out Emergency Department/Minor Injury Unit type activity. In NHS Highland for example, approximately 60% of total attendances take place in non-core sites.
Core sites collect detailed episode level data. Non-core sites do not generally collect such detailed data and submit only monthly aggregate figures to ISD identifying the hospital, number of attendances and compliance with the 4 hour standard.
ISD is working closely with colleagues to improve the validation and accuracy of the data and to ensure that the appropriate data standards are understood and applied by all sites.
Areas of Work
A&E 4-hour waiting time
For more information about this area of work please look at the waiting times section of our website.
Winter Pressures Work
ISD provides information to the Scottish Government to review the performance of the NHS which includes information from Emergency Departments.
Emergency Access Delivery Team
The Programme provides information support and guidance to the Emergency Access Delivery team which has responsibility for the HEAT T10 target reducing attendances at A&E through Shifting the Balance of Care
A&E Publication Consultation
The Unscheduled Care Information Programme has completed its consultation on the publication of Emergency Department information. This consultation was sent out to colleagues across Health, Social Care and Government and received vast positive feedback. The respondents ranged from Senior Nurses to EM Consultants and from Analysts to Directors.
The consultation finished on 5th November 2010. The findings of the consultation [490KB].
The full consultation document is here Consultation on Emergency Department Statistics Final Oct 2010 [250KB]
The findings show that there is great demand and interest in Emergency Department statistics in Scotland. It is planned to take a variety of steps to address this gap including making more statistics available as management information via A&E SHIS, inclusion of comparative data in ISD Navigator tool and investigating adding information to the existing A&E 4 hour wait publication.
If you would like any more information or have any queries please contact Ken Nicholson (email: Kenneth.Nicholson@nhs.net).
A&E Injuries Surveillance project
ISD have been commissioned by Scottish Government to improve on the data collection and recording of patients who attend A&E with an injury. Nationally in the NHS we currently only know details about the more serious injuries i.e. those that are admitted to hospital (see below). A number of A&E departments have agreed to provide additional data (that they already collect) and others have agreed to start collecting data (once the IT is in place). The information submitted will be used to inform injury prevention and analysis will be provided back to the departments, Scottish Government and other agencies e.g. ROSPA.
If you would like more information or would like to discuss participation please contact Fiona MacKenzie (email: f.mackenzie@nhs.net).
Injuries publication
Unintentional injury is one of the main causes of death and is one of the common causes of emergency hospital admissions in children. Unintentional injuries are also a common cause for emergency hospital admissions among adults. The term "unintentional injury" is preferred to "accidents" as the latter implies events are inevitable and unavoidable whereas a high proportion of these incidents are now regarded as being preventable. Unintentional injuries can occur in any age group, but children and the elderly are more vulnerable.
The latest statistical release was published on the 14th December and can be found on the Emergency Care Publications page.
This release updates information on:
- emergency hospital admissions as a result of an unintentional injury up to financial year ending 31 March 2010
- deaths caused by unintentional injury up to year ending 31 December 2009
Emergency Hospital Admissions
General information on all Emergency hospital admissions can be found here.
