Update 2 March 2023: Following the merger of NHS Digital and NHS England on 1st February 2023 we are reviewing the future presentation of the NHS Outcomes Framework indicators. As part of this review, the annual publication which was due to be released in March 2023 has been delayed. Further announcements about this dataset will be made on this page in due course.
The indicator measures the number of emergency admissions to hospital in England for acute conditions such as ear/nose/throat infections, kidney/urinary tract infections and angina, among others, that could potentially have been avoided if the patient had been better managed in primary care.
This indicator aims to measure the reduction in emergency admissions for conditions that should usually be managed outside hospital. Where an individual has been admitted for one of these conditions, it may indicate that they have deteriorated more than should have been allowed by the adequate provision of healthcare in primary care or as a hospital outpatient.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic began to have an impact on Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data late in the 2019/20 financial year, which continued into the 2020/21 financial year. This means we are seeing different patterns in the submitted data, for example, fewer patients being admitted to hospital, and therefore statistics which contain data from this period should be interpreted with care.
Legacy unique identifier: P01757