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NHS: Private Patients

Question for Department of Health and Social Care

UIN 141193, tabled on 16 March 2022

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2022 to Question 118533, and with reference to the Answer of 6 February 2014 to Question 186278, if he will publish the count of finished admission episodes for NHS providers where the source of admission was a non-NHS run hospital for the years 2016-17 to 2021-22.

Answered on

21 March 2022

The following table shows a count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) to National Health Service hospitals, where the source of admission was from a non-NHS hospital provider, in each month between April 2016 to March 2021, the last month for which finalised data is available.

Year

Month

FAEs

2016

April

629

2016

May

592

2016

June

579

2016

July

648

2016

August

657

2016

September

738

2016

October

775

2016

November

581

2016

December

544

2017

January

494

2017

February

497

2017

March

613

2017

April

454

2017

May

579

2017

June

643

2017

July

668

2017

August

657

2017

September

714

2017

October

721

2017

November

755

2017

December

643

2018

January

840

2018

February

609

2018

March

669

2018

April

732

2018

May

781

2018

June

813

2018

July

971

2018

August

792

2018

September

1004

2018

October

1009

2018

November

854

2018

December

726

2019

January

699

2019

February

525

2019

March

507

2019

April

389

2019

May

408

2019

June

388

2019

July

416

2019

August

437

2019

September

494

2019

October

664

2019

November

566

2019

December

411

2020

January

412

2020

February

431

2020

March

353

2020

April

377

2020

May

371

2020

June

448

2020

July

674

2020

August

760

2020

September

668

2020

October

602

2020

November

570

2020

December

482

2021

January

321

2021

February

429

2021

March

582

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS Digital

Notes:

  1. A FAE is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are usually counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. However, for the purposes of this analysis, we have recorded episodes by the month and year in which the admission started. This may lead to a shortfall in the most recent provisional months, as some patients admitted in these months, may still be in hospital at the time the data was collected and therefore not be included in the final figures. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.
  2. 'NHS hospitals' was defined by 'Care trust', 'NHS foundation trust' and 'NHS trust'.
  3. A code which identifies where the patient was immediately prior to admission. Most patients are admitted from home, but there are some significant exceptions. In particular, this field differentiates between patients admitted from home and patients transferred from another hospital provider or institution. For the purposes of this tabulation, records have been limited to those with an ADMISORC (Admission Source) of 87 - Non-NHS run hospital.
  4. HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time should be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Conversely, apparent increases in activity may be due to improved recording of diagnosis or procedure information. It should be noted that HES include activity ending in the year in question and run from April to March, for example, 2012-13 includes activity ending between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013

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