Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (quarterly)
Quarter ending 31 December 2023
Accredited official statistics
- Published
- 28 May 2024
- Type
- Statistical report
- Author
- Public Health Scotland
Trend data
The charts below provide an overview of outpatient attendances by NHS Board of treatment alongside inpatient and day case admissions by NHS Board and location of treatment. Available beds and bed occupancy levels by NHS Board of treatment (acute specialties only) are also presented. The Data explorer section 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:
- please note the volume of hospital activity and trends observed continue to be impacted post-pandemic and during the recovery phase
- NHS Louisa Jordan hospital has been included within this publication: outpatient activity across several specialties was undertaken from July 2020 and day case activity across several specialties from January 2021 before NHS Louisa Jordan closed at the end of March 2021
- this release does not include specific COVID-19 information: visit our COVID-19 webpages for PHS COVID-19 information or visit the Scottish Government website (external website) for information on COVID-19 in Scotland
- this release includes the NHS Fife and NHS Highland National Treatment Centre (NTC) (external website) locations. As not all NTCs have a unique location code, and may be an expansion of an existing location, it is not currently possible to accurately differentiate between NTC activity and additional activity carried out within an NHS Board. Therefore, NTC figures reported may not be reflective of all NTC activity
- data files used to populate the charts and tables on this page are available in the Data files section
- there are known issues with the quality of data presented, which are summarised within the Data quality section, while NHS Board-specific issues are also listed below the charts in this section. Please note that the focus is on new and outstanding data issues. Resolved issues are listed in previous publication releases
- data for the most recent quarter are provisional and 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 or missing rows of data within the tables indicate 'no data' or 'no 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 that 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
People who do not attend their outpatient appointment are known as ‘Did Not Attends’ (DNAs). 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 day case activity
All inpatients and day cases
The total number of inpatient and day case admissions, including emergency and elective admissions alongside day case admissions.
- There were inpatient and day case admissions to acute services in during quarter ending .
- There was a . in inpatient and day case 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 day cases
A day case is when a patient makes a planned attendance for one day to a specialty for clinical care and requires the use of a bed (or trolley in lieu of a bed). Although a day case is usually completed on the same day, the patient may need to be admitted as an inpatient if they are not fit to be discharged.
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 .
Day cases
- There were day case admissions to acute services in during quarter ending .
- There was a . in day case 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 that are staffed and available for the reception of patients for acute specialties. 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 for the previous year for .
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 .