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NHS inpatient and outpatient waiting events, quarter ended 30 June 2008


  • Document type:
    Statistics
  • Author:
    Department of Health
  • Published date:
    29 August 2008
  • Gateway reference:
    not required
  • Copyright holder:
    Crown
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The latest quarterly national statistics on NHS inpatient and outpatient waiting events produced by the Department of health were released on 29th August 2008 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

NHS inpatient and outpatient waiting events figures for the quarter ending 30th June 2008 include data for England, Strategic Health Authorities, and NHS Trusts and PCTs.

The key points from the latest release are:

Inpatient events

  • The number of decisions to admit has increased b 71,700 (6.5%) from last quarter and by 142,800 (13.9%) since the equivalent quarter last year. Similarly, the number of admissions from the list has increased by 11,700 (1.1%) from last quarter and by 119,400 (12.8%) since the equivalent quarter last year.

Outpatient referrals and attendances, in quarter 1 of 2008-09

  • First attendances at consultant outpatient clinics have increased by 441,800 (13.85) to 3.6 million and total attendances increased by 1,092,400 (10.5%) to 11.5 million compared to the equivalent quarter of 2007-08.
  • Did not attend (DNA) rates have increased this quarter compared to the equivalent quarter of 2007-08. This quarter, the percentage of patients who did not attend for their first outpatient attendance is 9.5%, a rise of 0.6% against the equivalent quarter of 2007-08.
  • The number of GP referrals made has increased by 358,600 (15.6%) against the same period last year. The number of other referrals made has increased by 111,600 (8.3%) against Q1 2007-08)

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