Our response to National Audit Office report on emergency readmission to hospital
The National Audit Office has today published a report on emergency admissions to hospital. The report examines progress that the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, NHS Improvement and others are making to reduce the impact of emergency admissions on acute hospitals.
The report looks at the issue from across all health and social care services rather than focusing on A&E departments alone. In the report, the National Audit Office recommends that the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England should establish an evidence base for what works in reducing emergency admissions and use this to inform future national programmes.
In response to the report, our National Director, Imelda Redmond said:
“Today’s report adds further weight to our call for national bodies to rapidly improve the data they collect to understand what’s happening on the ground and how to fix the problems they find.
“In all our work on hospital discharge we have made the point about needing better data on admissions, discharge and particularly people’s experience of the process to better track how well services are joining up around the people that use them.
“Getting people into, and out of, hospital safely is an ongoing process that requires thought, planning and communication at all stages in the process. Healthwatch will continue to play its part, working with the NHS, social care teams and the public to improve people’s experience when going into hospital and in getting the right care when they leave.”
