Our response to The Nuffield Trust's briefing on emergency readmissions

The Nuffield Trust has today published a new QualityWatch briefing looking at the number of emergency readmissions to hospital. The report found there was a 41.3% rise in the number of people returning to hospital for "potentially preventable" conditions.

The new findings from QualityWatch, a major research programme from the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation, also looked at the reasons why people were returning to hospital between 2010/11 and 2016/17. It aims to highlight where improved quality of care in hospital or in the community might prevent people being readmitted to hospital.

Responding to the report, Healthwatch England’s National Director Imelda Redmond said:

“We know that keeping people in hospital for longer than medically necessary is bad both for them and the NHS. We also know how vital it is that, when people leave hospital, the right support and care is in place to make sure they don’t immediately return. 

“Our work last year identified that worrying numbers of people are being readmitted to hospital within 48 hours of leaving. I am pleased to see QualityWatch build on and expand our findings, especially in their analysis of the major reasons why people are being readmitted. 

“This work, along with the National Audit Office’s report, adds to the growing body of evidence in this area. This will help the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and NHS Digital shape their revised methodology for collecting emergency readmission statistics, so we look forward to seeing this data being used to help prevent unnecessary readmissions and improve people’s experiences when leaving hospital.”