A comparison of hospital and critical-care activity.
When compared with changes in hospital activity, corresponding fluctuations in critical-care activity are not clear. Therefore, trends in hospital activity were compared with those of the critical-care services and simple patient demographic details. The results suggest that while the size of hospitals remained static, hospital admissions and outpatient attendances increased by 5% each year. During the same period, the number of critical-care beds increased by 21.4%. Despite this increase in capacity, the activity of the critical-care services continued to increase by a similar 5% per annum, indicating a huge surge in critical-care workload. The results indicate that the increase in the rate of activity in hospitals and critical-care services is similar but the workload of the critical-care services is increasing much faster. This suggests that the demand for critical care may be generated from within hospitals.
Ridley
S A
SA
Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Norfolk & Norwich Hospital, Brunswick Rd, Norwich NR1 3SR, UK.
Burchett
K
K
Burns
A
A
Gunning
K
K
D000367:Age Factors; D001509:Bed Occupancy / Q000639:trends; D003422:Critical Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D006767:Hospitals, District / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006769:Hospitals, General / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data