It is widely believed that homeless people place considerable demands on emergency hospital services, but quantifying this in a systematic way has proved difficult. The primary purpose of this paper is to develop a better empirical understanding of the nature and extent of unplanned admissions to acute hospitals in London ...
The paper summarises recent literature giving an economic perspective on acute hospitals. The issues discussed include: the optimal size of a hospital; the role of the hospital in relation to other suppliers; cost containment and productivity; and the scope for cost reduction.