NHS ‘could save on emergency care through better performance’

The NHS could eliminate the need for 7,000 emergency hospital beds by improving the performance of all hospitals to match the standard reached by the top achievers.

A report from The King's Fund has suggested that if all hospitals in England performed as strongly as the top-ranked 25 percent in terms of rates of admission and length of stay among over-65s, the number of overnight stays could be reduced by 2.3 million annually.

This will allow 462 million pounds to be reinvested in community and primary care services each year, while helping patients to avoid the distress associated with emergency admissions.

According to the thinktank, measures that could drive improvements in this area include ensuring senior physicians are present at the admission stage, as well as carrying out more frequent medical reviews and improving coordination.

Candace Imison, deputy director of policy at The King's Fund, said: "Not only would this minimise exposure to psychological and clinical risk, but would provide a model of care that is far more clinically and financially sustainable."

A report from the organisation earlier this year revealed that accident and emergency waiting times reached an eight-year high during the final two quarters of 2011/12.