WIREDGOV

Statistics on all NHS admissions into hospitals in England in 2019-20 were yesterday published by NHS Digital.

The Hospital Admitted Patient Care Activity, 2019-20 report records a range of information around Finished Consultant Episodes (FCEs)¹ and Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs)².

Data is recorded from NHS hospitals in England, as well as work commissioned by the NHS to independent providers in England.

Data in the report includes information on:

• Causes of admissions
• Diagnoses on admission
• Procedures carried out
• Patient demographics
• Regional or organisational breakdowns
• Changes over time

These totals are not a count of individual people or patients, as the same person could be admitted on multiple occasions or seen by multiple consultants.

The report uses data from the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES)³, a valuable national data asset used for purposes such as health service planning.

Each record in HES includes key information including details of the patient (age, gender, geographic details), when they were treated and what they were treated for. All published figures are aggregated and anonymous.

This data is useful for the NHS to understand frontline demand and forward planning and also supports research into disease and new treatments.

Read the full report

Hospital Admitted Patient Care Activity 2019/20

NHS Digital also publish provisional monthly figures for both inpatient and outpatient activity in NHS hospitals as an interactive data dashboard:

Provisional Monthly Statistics for Admitted Patient Care and Outpatients, April 2020 - July 2020     

Notes to Editors

1. Finished consultant episode (FCE) is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.
2. Finished admission episodes (FAE) is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.
3. Hospital Episode Statistics are compiled from data sent by more than 210 NHS trusts in England and approximately 250 independent providers for activity commissioned by the NHS.