Why are there long waits at English emergency departments?

Gaughan, James, Kasteridis, Panagiotis, Mason, Anne and Street, Andrew ORCID: 0000-0002-2540-0364 (2020) Why are there long waits at English emergency departments? European Journal of Health Economics, 21 (2). 209 - 218. ISSN 1618-7598

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Abstract

A core performance target for the English National Health Service (NHS) concerns waiting times at Emergency Departments (EDs), with the aim of minimising long waits. We investigate the drivers of long waits. We analyse weekly data for all major EDs in England from April 2011 to March 2016. A Poisson model with ED fixed effects is used to explore the impact on long (> 4 h) waits of variations in demand (population need and patient case-mix) and supply (emergency physicians, introduction of a Minor Injury Unit (MIU), inpatient bed occupancy, delayed discharges and long-term care). We assess overall ED waits and waits on a trolley (gurney) before admission. We also investigate variation in performance among EDs. The rate of long overall waits is higher in EDs serving older patients (4.2%), where a higher proportion of attendees leave without being treated (15.1%), in EDs with a higher death rate (3.3%) and in those located in hospitals with greater bed occupancy (1.5%). These factors are also significantly associated with higher rates of long trolley waits. The introduction of a co-located MIU is significantly and positively associated with long overall waits, but not with trolley waits. There is substantial variation in waits among EDs that cannot be explained by observed demand and supply characteristics. The drivers of long waits are only partially understood but addressing them is likely to require a multi-faceted approach. EDs with high rates of unexplained long waits would repay further investigation to ascertain how they might improve.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.springer.com/journal/10198
Additional Information:	© 2019 The Authors
Divisions:	Health Policy
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine
JEL classification:	I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I10 - General
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2019 13:36
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 01:58
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/102571

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