Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (quarterly)
Quarter ending 31 December 2019

A National Statistics publication for Scotland

Published: 26 May 2020
Type: Statistical report
Author: Public Health Scotland

Hospital care

Trend data

The charts below provide an overview of outpatient attendances by NHS Board, and inpatient and day case admissions by hospital and NHS Board. Available beds and bed occupancy levels by NHS Board (acute specialties only) are also presented. The Data explorer contains more detailed information such as total and average length of stay, specialty groupings and cross boundary flow.

When using this section please take the following factors into consideration:

Data files used to populate the charts and tables on this page are available on the Data files page.
There are known issues with the quality of data presented which are summarised within the Data quality section. In addition, NHS Board specific issues are listed in this section under the charts.
The data for the most recent quarter are provisional. Provisional data are subject to change in future publications as submissions may be updated to reflect a more accurate and complete set of data from NHS Boards.
Missing data points within charts/missing rows of data within the tables means no data/activity.
Disclosure control methods have been applied to the data in order to protect patient confidentiality; therefore figures may not be additive.

Outpatient activity

Number of new and return outpatient attendances

Outpatient appointments involve treatment or assessment that only take a short time to complete. There are two types of outpatient attendance: new and return. New attendances are the number of attendances at an outpatient service for a new case. Return attendances are the number of attendances to an outpatient service which are related to an original case.

New

There were new outpatient attendances in during quarter ending .
There was a in new outpatient appointments compared to the same quarter the previous year for LOCATION.

Return

There were return outpatient attendances in during quarter ending .
There was a in return outpatient appointments compared to the same quarter the previous year for LOCATION.

All Attendances

There were attendances in during quarter ending .
There was a in all outpatient appointments compared to the same quarter the previous year for LOCATION.

Percentage of patients who did not attend an outpatient appointment

There are people who do not attend their outpatient appointment, they are known as Did Not Attends (DNA's). The number of new patients who do not attend is presented as a percentage of the total number of outpatient appointments.

of patients did not attend new outpatient appointments in during quarter ending .

Inpatient and daycase activity

All inpatients and daycases

The total number of inpatient and daycase admissions, including emergencies, elective admissions, and transfers

There were inpatient and daycase admissions to acute services in during quarter ending .
There was a . in inpatient and daycase admissions to acute services compared to the same quarter the previous year for .

Number of elective and emergency admissions

Elective admissions are when patients have been admitted for expected care. Emergency admissions are when patients have been admitted unexpectedly.

Number of transfers

Transfers are when patients are moved between different services, hospitals or NHS Boards. The number of transfers is driven by the changes in recording practices and service redesign to the emergency care services.

Number of daycases

Daycases are when a patient is admitted for a day because they need to be assessed after a procedure or treatment. They may need to be admitted as an inpatient if they are not fit to be discharged. The change in the number of day cases shows how the service is changing as a result of new methods of treatment.

Show:

Emergency-Elective Transfers Daycases All

Emergencies

There were X emergency admissions to acute services in during quarter ending .
There was a X in emergency admissions to acute services compared to same quarter the previous year for .

Elective

There were elective admissions to acute services in during quarter ending .
There was a X in elective admissions to acute services compared to the same quarter the previous year for .

Transfers

There were transfers to acute services in during quarter ending .
There was a in transfers to acute services compared to the same quarter the previous year for .

Daycases

There were daycase admissions to acute services in during quarter ending .
There was a . in daycase admissions to acute services compared to the same quarter the previous year for .

NHS Beds

Average number of available staffed beds for acute services

This is the average daily number of beds, which are staffed and available for the reception of patients for acute specialties. The number has been going down for many years in line with evolving models of healthcare provision which aims to reduce the frequency and duration of hospital admissions. The number of available staffed beds in a ward or specialty can vary due to factors such as demand or seasonality.

There were on average available staffed beds in during quarter ending .
This is a in the number of average available staffed beds compared to the same quarter the previous year .

Percentage occupancy of available staffed beds for hospital services

The percentage occupancy of available staffed beds is calculated using the number of average available staffed beds and the number of patients admitted to hospital services during that quarter.

There were of available staffed beds in use in during quarter ending .