Statistics release

Acute activity and waiting times

ISD Scotland of NHS National Services Scotland, has today published updated statistics at: http://www.isdscotland.org/Acute_Hospital_Care_Home_Page . The latest information on waiting lists and waiting times can be accessed here: http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/files/treatment.xls

This section of our website provides the latest information about acute hospital care in Scotland based on nationally available information routinely drawn from hospital administrative systems across the country. Note that 'acute' hospital care excludes obstetric, psychiatric and long stay care services that are covered elsewhere on our website. The information presented on these pages is obtained from a variety of sources:-

Activity during the previous quarter - ISD(S)1 quarterly aggregate information for monitoring activity in hospitals, and activity carried out in health centres and clinics in NHSScotland.

Waiting times of patients seen during the previous quarter  - SMR00 collects patient based data on first attendances at outpatient clinics in all specialties and SMR01 collects patient based data on inpatient and day cases admitted to general and acute wards.

Patients on the waiting list at the end of the quarter - The Outpatient Waiting List (OPWL) reports the numbers of patients waiting for outpatient services and how long they have waited at the end of the previous quarter. The SMR3 waiting list census reports similarly on the inpatient and day case waiting lists within NHSScotland.

The SMR00, OPWL and SMR3 statistics exclude patients with Availability Status Codes (ASCs) because, for example, they refused a reasonable offer of appointment, were under social constraints that affected their ability to attend or failed to attend a previous appointment. For technical reasons SMR01 statistics include patients with ASCs.

KEY POINTS - MAY 2006

Inpatients and day cases - patients on the waiting list

• The current national waiting time standard is that patients should wait no longer than 6 months for admission to hospital for treatment. No patient without an ASC had been waiting more than 6 months on 31 March 2006.  At 31 December 2005 there had been 2 patients waiting more than 6 months and at 31 March 2005 there had been 1,596.
• The future target (for the end of 2007) is that patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks.   The number of patients waiting over 18 weeks without an ASC at 31 March 2006 was 6,117, a reduction of 589 compared to the end of December 2005, and 5,180 down from the position at the end of March 2005.
• The total number on waiting lists for inpatient and day case treatment on 31 March 2006 was 106,497, a reduction of around 6,000 from March 2005. Of the patients on the waiting list 33,858 were exempt from waiting time guarantees because they had an ASC. This accounts for 32% of all patients on the waiting list but is around 1,600 fewer than one year ago and continues the downward trend seen during the last year.

Inpatients and day cases - Patients admitted

• The statistics on the website enable a retrospective look at how long patients, who had been admitted in the last quarter, were recorded as having waited. These statistics include patients who had ASCs. The provisional median wait of 49 days for the quarter ending 31 March 2006 is one day greater than the same period last year but the percentage of patients seen within 6 months is the highest recorded figure of 92.5%.

Outpatients -   Patients on the waiting list

• The current national waiting time standard is that patients should wait no longer than 6 months to attend a consultant led first outpatient clinic after being referred by their doctor or dentist.  No patient without an ASC had been waiting more than 6 months on 31 March 2006.  At 31 December 2005 there had been 2 patients waiting more than 6 months and at 31 March 2005 there had been 21,385. 
• The future target (for the end of 2007) is that patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks.   The number of patients waiting over 18 weeks without an ASC at 31 March 2006 was 13,161, a reduction of 2,246 compared to the end of December 2005, and 29,663 down from the position at the end of March 2005.

Outpatients - Patients seen

• It is not possible from a census to state with certainty that the waiting time target has been achieved for all patients. The statistics on the website enable a retrospective look at how long patients who have been seen in the last quarter were recorded as having waited.  Such statistics exclude patients with ASCs. The statistics can therefore both ascertain the general trend in recorded waiting times and also attempt, retrospectively, to verify that national waiting time targets have been met. 
• The provisional median wait of 50 days to the quarter ending 31 March 2006 is 12 days lower than the same period last year. The records show that 97.7% of all outpatients without an ASC waited less than the current national waiting time target of 6 months during the quarter ended 31 March 2006. All administrative data sources are subject to coding errors, and spot checks of those recorded as waiting over 6 months (estimated at approximately 5,000 out of more that 300,000 new outpatient attendances) suggest a number are the result of date coding errors and return outpatients wrongly recorded as first outpatients.  Improvements to validation processes are being made.

Activity

• The volume of consultant inpatient, day case and outpatient activity in NHSScotland is little changed from the previous recent quarters.  Provisional figures show that for the quarter ending 31 March 2006 312,684 new outpatients were seen at consultant clinics, 119,782 inpatients were admitted as emergencies, 50,984 inpatients were admitted electively (planned) and 99,084 day cases procedures were performed.
• The site includes for the first time information about multiple emergency admissions, one of the main issues described in the report Delivering for Health published in November 2005. This establishes a base line for the reporting of future trends.

For further information contact:

Stephen Young
Healthcare Information Group
Tel: 0131 275 6911
email: stephen.young@isd.csa.scot.nhs.uk

David Murphy
Healthcare Information Group
Tel: 0131 275 6624
email: david.murphy@isd.csa.scot.nhs.uk

Main contact: Stephen Young

 Printer friendly version