Reducing Avoidable Admissions in Acute Hospital Care: The role and impact of Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) services

DC0018

Our hospitals are getting busier and busier leading to long waits in A&E departments for assessment and for a hospital bed. This leads to difficulties for hospitals and staff in delivering good patient care which can have a serious impact on safety of care and long term health.

Work Package 1

We will analyse NHS data on A&E attendances, hosptial admissions, outpatient attendances and deaths from the whole of England to report which patient are being admitted to hospital, and of these, which are suitable for Same Day Emergency Care. We will describe differences in patterns of admissions across time, between different geographical areas, different populations and across seasons.

Work Package 2

We will use the NHS data for further in-depth analysis of 6-8 hospitals, selected using the results of WP1, to describe how each Same Day Emergency Care services is helping to reduce hospital admissions and improve A&E performance. We will describe the costs of introducing Same Day Emergency Care Services to the NHS.

Patient and Public Involvement (PPI)

We have talked to patients and public in planning this research. We will keep engaging patients and public through our PPI panel in each stage of the study. This will involve getting the group to review and comment on the findings and then working with the research team to find ways of getting our study out to a wide audience.

Dissemination

Our results will be produced in different formats, including scientific papers, short reports, social media posts, cartoons, visual presentations. We will consult our PPI panel, policy makers and relevant medical colleges/societies to make sure we target findings to have the most impact.

16 September 2025

In progress

This study has significant policy, service and patient relevance given that reducing avoidable hospital admissions is a key challenge and priority for the government and NHS England (NHSE). The development of effective SDEC services is one of 10 high impact interventions that NHSE are currently advocating in order to address winter pressures. Understanding current service provision nationally and the contribution to reducing hospital admissions is vitally important and is of key relevance to the NHSE SDEC programme. Identifying key criteria for success as well as defining use, cost-effectiveness, and patient outcomes will inform future strategies for reducing hospital admissions and will ensure SDEC service delivery is supported by strong evidence.

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Yes

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