Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (quarterly)
Quarter ending 30 September 2023
Accredited official statistics
- Published
- 27 February 2024 (Latest release)
- Type
- Statistical report
- Author
- Public Health Scotland
Data files
This publication contains the following data files for a rolling five-year trend, broken down into quarters.
- Only acute hospitals are included in the data files.
- Only acute specialties are included in the inpatient and day case files.
Find out more in the methods used to produce this data release.
Outpatient activity to September 2023
These data files contain information on new and return outpatient attendances and 'Did Not Attend (DNA)' appointments for consultant-led activity only.
These data files are split by:
- location (NHS Board of treatment/residence, hospital and council area)
- specialty
- age and sex
- Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintile
NHS Board of residence files only contain data for new outpatient appointments, as the ISD(S)1 data source for return outpatient appointments does not contain residence information.
ISD(S)1 also does not record information on the age or sex of patients, or the deprivation of the area in which they live.
| Data covered | File name | |
|---|---|---|
| All attendances by specialty | Outpatients by NHS Board of treatment and specialty to September 2023 CSV | 14.3MB | |
| All attendances totals | Outpatients by NHS Board of treatment to September 2023 CSV | 516.5KB | |
| New attendances and DNAs by age and sex | Outpatients by NHS Board of treatment age and sex to September 2023 CSV | 5.3MB | |
| New attendances and DNAs by SIMD | Outpatients by NHS Board of treatment and SMID to September 2023 CSV | 1.4MB |
| Data covered | File name | |
|---|---|---|
| New attendances and DNAs by age and sex | Outpatients by NHS Board of residence age and sex to September 2023 CSV | 4.8MB | |
| New attendances and DNAs by SIMD | Outpatients by NHS Board of residence and SIMD to September 2023 CSV | 1012.5KB | |
| New attendances and DNAs by specialty | Outpatients by NHS Board of residence and speciality to September 2023 CSV | 10.7MB | |
| New attendances and DNAs totals | Outpatients by NHS Board of residence to September 2023 CSV | 229.1KB |
| Data covered | File name | |
|---|---|---|
| New attendances | Outpatients cross-boundary flow to September 2023 CSV | 370.6KB |
| Variable name | Definition | Format | Missing value |
|---|---|---|---|
| appt_type | Outpatient appointment type: ‘New’, ‘Return’, ‘All’ (total of ‘New’ + ‘Return’) or ‘DNA’ | Text | NA |
| count | Number of appointments | Number | NA |
| rate | Only available for DNAs. DNA rates are calculated from new appointments only and are presented as a percentage of the total number of outpatient appointments. | Number | NA |
Inpatient and day case activity to September 2023
These data files report figures for both episodes and stays and are split by:
- location (NHS Board of treatment/residence, hospital and council area)
- age and sex
- Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintile
- specialty
Specialty breakdowns are reported by episodes and spells, rather than stays.
Information is included for:
- emergency admissions
- elective admissions
- total inpatients
- day cases
- total inpatients and day cases
- transfers
- not specified
| Data covered | File name | |
|---|---|---|
| Episodes by age and sex | Inpatient and day case episodes by NHS Board of residence age and sex to September 2023 CSV | 14.9MB | |
| Episodes by SIMD | Inpatient and day case episodes by NHS Board of residence and SIMD to September 2023 CSV | 3.2MB | |
| Episodes by specialty | Inpatient and day case episodes by NHS Board of residence and speciality to September 2023 CSV | 18.1MB | |
| Episodes totals | Inpatient and daycase episodes by NHS Board of residence to September 2023 CSV | 750.4KB | |
| Spells by specialty | Inpatient and daycase spells by NHS Board of residence and specialty to September 2023 CSV | 17.0MB | |
| Stays by age and sex | Inpatient and daycase stays by NHS Board of residence age and sex to September 2023 CSV | 13.8MB | |
| Stays by SIMD | Inpatient and daycase stays by NHS Board of residence and SIMD to September 2023 CSV | 3.3MB | |
| Stays totals | Inpatient and daycase stays by NHS Board of residence to September 2023 CSV | 741.5KB |
| Data covered | File name | |
|---|---|---|
| Episodes and stays | Inpatient and day case cross-boundary flow to September 2023 CSV | 408.7KB |
| Variable name | Definition | Format | Missing value |
|---|---|---|---|
| measure | Inpatient/admissions type: 'Elective Inpatients', 'Emergency Inpatients', 'Transfers', 'Not Specified', 'All Day cases', 'All Inpatients', 'All Inpatients' and 'Day cases' | Text | NA |
| eps | Number of episodes | Number | NA |
| spells | Number of specialty spells | Number | NA |
| stays | Number of stays | Number | NA |
| los | Total length of stay/spell | Number | NA |
| avlos | Average length of stay/spell | Number | NA |
Hospital beds to September 2023
Data for beds are only available by NHS Board of treatment, as the ISD(S)1 data source does not contain residence information.
ISD(S)1 also does not record information on age or sex of patients, or on deprivation of the area in which they live.
These data files are split by:
- location (NHS Board of treatment and hospital)
- specialty
Information is included for:
- number of available staffed bed days
- total number of occupied bed days
- average number of available staffed beds per day
- average number of occupied beds per day
- percentage (%) occupancy
| Data covered | File name | |
|---|---|---|
| Bed numbers and occupancy | Beds by NHS Board of treatment and specialty to September 2023 CSV | 4.5MB |
| Variable name | Definition | Format | Missing value |
|---|---|---|---|
| aasb | Quarterly available staffed bed days (number of available staffed bed days over the quarter) | Number | NA |
| tobd | Quarterly occupied bed days (total number of occupied bed days over the quarter) | Number | NA |
| asb | Daily average available staffed beds (average number of available staffed beds per day) | Number | NA |
| aob | Daily average occupied beds (average number of occupied beds per day) | Number | NA |
| p_occ | Percentage (%) occupancy | Number | NA |
Estimating the total number of beds available for use by different services and/or departments
Due to the way specialties are recorded for beds data, it is not possible to use the PHS beds statistics to estimate the total number of beds available for use by different services and/or departments.
For example, selecting the paediatric specialty grouping will only provide a partial picture of the staffed beds that are used for children’s services. This is because many beds used for children are not recorded under paediatric specialties and are instead recorded under more specific specialties, such as Haematology, Neurology and Respiratory Medicine.
In addition, the specialty recorded for a bed depends partly on what the patient is being treated for. This means that the mix of specialties may change over time for some wards.
Similarly, analysis of the A&E specialty bed usage will only provide inpatient and day case information on beds within the A&E specialty, for example A&E ward beds and observation beds staffed overnight.
It will not provide information on the services or capacity within A&E departments as a whole.
| Variable name | Definition | Format | Missing value |
|---|---|---|---|
| quarter_date | Final date of the quarter | Date (dd/mm/yy) | NA |
| quarter_name | Quarter period in text format | Text (mmm – mmm-yy) | NA |
| hb_code | NHS Board code: either the nine-digit NHS Board code or 'scot' for Scotland. For the residence data files, the NHS Board code and name refers to the NHS Board of residence. For the treatment data files, the NHS Board code and name refers to the NHS Board of treatment. | Text | NA |
| hb_name | NHS Board name | Text | NA |
| loc_code | Location code: either the five-digit hospital code, nine-digit NHS Board or council code, or 'scot' for Scotland | Text | NA |
| loc_name | Location name | Text | NA |
| specialty | Two-digit specialty code | Text | NA |
| spec_name | Specialty name | Text | NA |
| sex_age | Sex (male or female) and ten-year age bands combined | Text | NA |
| simd | Quintiles of Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (1 = most deprived, 5 = least deprived) | Number | NA |
| hbtreat_currentdate | NHS Board of treatment code | Text | NA |
| hbtreat_name | NHS Board of treatment name | Text | NA |
| hbres_currentdate | NHS Board of residence code | Text | NA |
| hbres_name | NHS Board of residence name | Text | NA |
| attendances | Number of attendances | Number | NA |
| boundary_ind | Indicates whether the NHS Board of treatment is the same as the NHS Board of residence (0 = yes, 1 = no) | Number | NA |