Statistics » Discharge delays (Acute)

Acute Discharge SitRep

Daily returns are collected from acute trusts through the COVID-19 acute daily discharge situation report (SitRep) and include data on daily discharges from acute settings.

Note that daily data are collected on discharges from acute hospitals, and a weekly snapshot is collected for information on patients who have remained in hospital since no longer meeting the criteria to reside decision was made.

The publication contains management data which has been set up for COVID-19 incident management and collected on a rapid turn-round basis from the NHS. The speed of the collection only permits minimal validation to be undertaken but the data is considered ‘fit-for-purpose’ as NHS management information.

Background and Scope

The published monthly data file includes daily numbers of patients:

Who no longer meet the criteria to reside;
Discharged;
Not discharged by the end of the day

Monthly totals for

Discharge destinations

Monthly averages for

Delay reasons for patients with 14+ days length of stay

And a weekly snapshot of:

Number of additional days in total patients have remained in hospital since no longer meeting the criteria to reside decision was made (7+ days, 14+ days, and 21+ days length of stay);

Data are shown at regional, system and provider organisation level.

The published monthly time series file shows the metrics above at national level only.

This SitRep collects data for all inpatients 18 and over including critical care and COVID-19 positive patients but excluding paediatrics, maternity, and deceased patients. This includes data for acute trusts with a type 1 A&E department. Mental Health Trusts, specialised Trusts (including Children’s and Women’s Trusts) are not in scope of this collection.

Discharge Ready Date

The UEC Recovery Plan (30/01/2023) committed to publishing, by the start of winter 2023, a metric or suite of metrics based on the time from a patient’s discharge-ready date to their actual date of discharge.

This publication will be classed as an Official Statistic in Development and include only those trusts providing acceptable data throughout the reporting period.

Background and Scope

The suite of metrics report on the percentage of discharges within certain thresholds and the total bed days after Discharge Ready Date for patients discharged within certain thresholds.

Data are shown at national and provider organisation level.

This dataset is for all acute trusts and more information on the metrics and exclusions can be found in the Technical Guidance file further down.

Other collections

Weekly timeseries discharge delays data for the 22/23 winter period can be found here –

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/uec-sitrep/urgent-and-emergency-care-daily-situation-reports-2022-23/

Please note the monthly publication and weekly timeseries figures are likely to differ.

Monthly publications data can be revised prior to publication where as weekly publications data do not undergo a revisions process.

Other information relating to delays is available in the Delayed Transfer of Care (DTOC) page here –

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/delayed-transfers-of-care/

The DTOC metric is no longer being collected and publication has therefore ceased. The last publication of these data was for delays occurring in February 2020, published on 9th April 2020.

The DTOC data is not comparable with acute discharge delays data published on this page but does offer historic data on patients and days delayed at provider organisation level.