Although its budget was protected in the 2010 Spending Review, the NHS faces the tightest financial settlement in its history. To avoid reducing quality and making significant cuts to services, it needs to find £20 billion in productivity improvements by 2015. Reductions in the prices paid to hospitals for treating ...
This paper explores factors that might be driving the significant variation in use of hospital beds by patients over 65 admitted as an emergency. It considers the contribution made by patient-based (demand-side) factors, hospital (supply-side) factors, the availability of community services and resources, and broader system relationships (how care systems ...