Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (quarterly)
Quarter ending 31 December 2023

Accredited official statistics

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Published

28 May 2024 (Latest release)

Type

Statistical report

Author

Public Health Scotland

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• Hospital care

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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 December 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.

Inpatient and day case activity to December 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

Hospital beds to December 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

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.