This publication reports on Admitted Patient Care activity in England for the financial year 2024-25 This report includes but is not limited to analysis of hospital episodes by patient demographics, diagnoses, external causes/injuries, operations, bed days, admission method, time waited, specialty, provider level analysis and Adult Critical Care (ACC). It describes NHS Admitted Patient Care Activity, Adult Critical Care activity and performance in hospitals in England. The purpose of this publication is to inform and support strategic and policy-led processes for the benefit of patient care and may also be of interest to researchers, journalists and members of the public interested in NHS hospital activity in England. The data source for this publication is Hospital Episode Statistics (HES). It contains final data and replaces the provisional data that are released each month. HES contains records of all admissions, appointments and attendances at NHS-commissioned hospital services in England. The HES data used in this publication are called 'Finished Consultant Episodes', and each episode relates to a period of care for a patient under a single consultant at a single hospital. Therefore, this report counts the number of episodes of care for admitted patients rather than the number of patients. This publication shows the number of episodes during the period, with breakdowns including by patient's age, gender, diagnosis, procedure involved and by provider. Please send queries or feedback via email to enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk. Author: Secondary Care Open Data and Publications, NHS England. Lead Analyst: Karl Eichler

The number of admissions has increased year-on-year from 2000 to 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital admission dropped in 2020/21. In 2024/25 there were around **** million admissions* to NHS hospitals in England, showing that admission numbers have reached and exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Of these, *** million were emergency admissions.

This is a report on admitted patient care activity in English NHS hospitals and English NHS-commissioned activity in the independent sector. This annual publication covers the financial year ending March 2022. It contains final data and replaces the provisional data that are released each month. The data are taken from the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) data warehouse. HES contains records of all admissions, appointments and attendances for patients at NHS hospitals in England. The HES data used in this publication are called 'Finished Consultant Episodes', and each episode relates to a period of care for a patient under a single consultant at a single hospital. Therefore this report counts the number of episodes of care for admitted patients rather than the number of patients. This publication shows the number of episodes during the period, with a number of breakdowns including by patient's age, gender, diagnosis, procedure involved and by provider. Hospital Adult Critical Care (ACC) data are now included within this report, following the discontinuation of the 'Hospital Adult Critical Care Activity' publication. The ACC data tables are not a designated National Statistic and they remain separate from the APC data tables. The ACC data used in this publication draws on records submitted by providers as an attachment to the admitted patient care record. These data show the number of adult critical care records during the period, with a number of breakdowns including admission details, discharge details, patient demographics and clinical information. The purpose of this publication is to inform and support strategic and policy-led processes for the benefit of patient care. This document will also be of interest to researchers, journalists and members of the public interested in NHS hospital activity in England. Supplementary analysis has been produced, by NHS Digital, containing experimental statistics using the Paediatric Critical Care Minimum Data Set (PCCMDS) data, collected by NHS Digital, against activity published in NHS Reference Costs. This analysis seeks to assist users of the data in understanding the data quality of reported paediatric critical care data. Also included within this release, is supplementary analysis that has been produced in addition to the Retrospective Review of Surgery for Urogynaecological Prolapse and Stress Urinary Incontinence using Tape or Mesh: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Experimental Statistics, April 2008 - March 2017. It contains a count of Finished Consultant Episodes (FCEs) where a procedure for urogynaecological prolapse or stress urinary incontinence using tape or mesh has been recorded during the April 2021 to March 2022 period. Please Note: A summary of information relating to procedures for the treatment of Stress Urinary Incontinence is published here for transparency and scrutiny. Follow up is taking place with individual Trusts to confirm that specific treatment is as described for activity occurring since April 2021. This will lead to more accurate information on these procedures that occurred since April 2021 being being available in the future. In collating this information, it has already become clear that some Trusts mis-coded these procedures in Commissioning Data Set return used to produce these statistics. Alongside this the clinical coding guidance has been refined to enable more accurate identification of specific treatments. The data published here has been published for transparency purposes. However, for these reasons small numbers reported on treatments for this condition should be used as a starting point for further investigation rather than a definitive view.

The number of admissions to NHS hospitals in England, both elective and emergency, increased year-on-year from 2014 to 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital admissions dropped in 2020/21, especially elective admissions. By 2024/25 there were nearly ** million elective admissions and *** million emergency admissions. Numbers have therefore returned to and exceeded pre-pandemic amounts. A total of **** million admissions were recorded in 2024/25, including other methods of admission.

This statistic displays the number of admissions to an NHS (National Health Service) hospital with a primary diagnosis of drug related mental health and behavioral disorders in England in 2019/20, by age. In this period there were 2,152 hospital admissions for individuals aged between 25 and 34 years old for primary drug related disorders.

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) is a database containing details of all admissions, A and E attendances and outpatient appointments at NHS hospitals in England.

Initially this data is collected during a patient's time at hospital as part of the Commissioning Data Set (CDS). This is submitted to NHS Digital for processing and is returned to healthcare providers as the Secondary Uses Service (SUS) data set and includes information relating to payment for activity undertaken. It allows hospitals to be paid for the care they deliver.

This same data can also be processed and used for non-clinical purposes, such as research and planning health services. Because these uses are not to do with direct patient care, they are called 'secondary uses'. This is the HES data set.

HES data covers all NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England, including:

• private patients treated in NHS hospitals
• patients resident outside of England
• care delivered by treatment centres (including those in the independent sector) funded by the NHS

Each HES record contains a wide range of information about an individual patient admitted to an NHS hospital, including:

• clinical information about diagnoses and operations
• patient information, such as age group, gender and ethnicity
• administrative information, such as dates and methods of admission and discharge
• geographical information such as where patients are treated and the area where they live

We apply a strict statistical disclosure control in accordance with the NHS Digital protocol, to all published HES data. This suppresses small numbers to stop people identifying themselves and others, to ensure that patient confidentiality is maintained.

Timescales for dissemination can be found under 'Our Service Levels' at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/services/data-access-request-service-dars/data-access-request-service-dars-process

This statistic shows the monthly number of elective general and acute admissions to NHS hospitals in England from ************* to *************. The number of hospital admissions fluctuated over the period, amounting to approximately ***** thousand in *************.

This statistic displays the number of admissions to an NHS (National Health Service) hospital with a primary diagnosis of poisoning by drug misuse in England in 2019/20, by gender and region. In this period, 1.6 thousand men and 1.7 thousand women in the North West of England were admitted to hospital for drug poisoning.

In 2024/25, individuals in the most deprived decile had approximately **** admissions per 100 population, compared to an admission rate of approximately **** per 100 population for those in the least deprived decile. This statistic shows the rate of admissions per 100,000 population to NHS hospitals in England in 2024/25, by deprivation decile.

Linked Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care (HES APC) data contains details of all admissions to, or attendances at English NHS healthcare providers. This includes private patients treated in NHS hospitals, patients resident outside of England and care delivered by treatment centres (including those in the independent sector) funded by the NHS. All NHS healthcare providers in England, including acute hospital trusts, primary care trusts and mental health trusts provide data. HES APC data includes the complete set of hospital episode information (admission and discharge dates, diagnoses (identifying primary diagnosis), specialists seen under and procedures undertaken) for each linked patient with a hospitalisation record. In addition, Augmented care data (intensive and/or high dependency levels of care) and Maternity data are available.

This statistic displays the number of admissions to an NHS (National Health Service) hospital with a primary diagnosis of poisoning by illicit drugs in England from 2007/08 to 2019/20. In 2019/20, there were nearly 17 thousand hospital admissions for poisoning by drug misuse.

This statistic displays the number of admissions to an NHS (National Health Service) hospital with a primary diagnosis of drug related mental health and behavioral disorders in England, in 2019/20, by gender and region. In this period, 965 men and 350 women in the North West of England were admitted to hospital for drug related mental health and behavioral disorders.

This statistic displays the number of admissions to an NHS (National Health Service) hospital with a primary diagnosis of poisoning by drug misuse in England in 2019/20, by age. In this period, there were over 3.7 thousand hospital admissions of individuals aged 25 to 34 years for poisoning by drug misuse.

Crude rate of cost of admissions for alcohol-related conditions (Broad definition) per head of population.

Rationale Alcohol misuse across the UK is a significant public health problem with major health, social, and economic consequences. This indicator aims to highlight the impact of alcohol-related conditions on inpatient hospital services in England. High costs of alcohol-related admissions are indicative of poor population health and high alcohol consumption. This indicator highlights the resource implications of alcohol-related conditions and supports the arguments for local health promotion initiatives. Publication of this indicator will allow national and local cost estimates to be updated and consistently monitored going forward. This measure accounts for just one aspect of the cost of alcohol to society, but there are others such as primary care, crime, ambulatory services, and specialist treatment services as well as broader costs such as unemployment and loss of productivity.

The Government has said that everyone has a role to play in reducing the harmful use of alcohol. This indicator is one of the key contributions by the Government (and the Department of Health and Social Care) to promote measurable, evidence-based prevention activities at a local level, and supports the national ambitions to reduce harm set out in the Government's Alcohol Strategy. This ambition is part of the monitoring arrangements for the Responsibility Deal Alcohol Network. Alcohol-related admissions can be reduced through local interventions to reduce alcohol misuse and harm.

References: (1) PHE (2020) The Burden of Disease in England compared with 22 peer countries https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/global-burden-of-disease-for-england-international-comparisons/the-burden-of-disease-in-england-compared-with-22-peer-countries-executive-summary

Definition of numerator The total cost (£s) of alcohol-related admissions (Broad). Admissions to hospital where the primary diagnosis is an alcohol-related condition, or a secondary diagnosis is an alcohol-related external cause.

More specifically, hospital admissions records are identified where the admission is a finished episode [epistat = 3]; the admission is an ordinary admission, day case or maternity [classpat = 1, 2 or 5]; it is an admission episode [epiorder = 1]; the sex of the patient is valid [sex = 1 or 2]; there is a valid age at start of episode [startage between 0 and 150 or between 7001 and 7007]; the region of residence is one of the English regions, no fixed abode or unknown [resgor <= K or U or Y]; the episode end date [epiend] falls within the financial year, and an alcohol-attributable ICD10 code appears in the primary diagnosis field [diag_01] or an alcohol-related external cause code appears in any diagnosis field [diag_nn].

For each episode identified, an alcohol-attributable fraction is applied to the primary diagnosis field or an alcohol-attributable external cause code appears in one of the secondary codes based on the diagnostic codes, age group, and sex of the patient. Where there is more than one alcohol-related ICD10 code among the 20 possible diagnostic codes, the code with the largest alcohol-attributable fraction is selected; in the event of there being two or more codes with the same alcohol-attributable fraction within the same episode, the one from the lowest diagnostic position is selected. For a detailed list of all alcohol-attributable diseases, including ICD 10 codes and relative risks, see ‘Alcohol-attributable fractions for England: an update’ (2). Alcohol-related hospital admission episodes were extracted from HES according to the Broad definition and admissions flagged as either elective or non-elective based on the admission method field.

The cost of each admission episode was calculated using the National Cost Collection (published by NHS England) main schedule dataset for the corresponding financial year applied to elective and non-elective admission episodes. The healthcare resource group (HRG) was identified using the HES field SUSHRG [SUS Generated HRG], which is the SUS PbR derived HRG code at episode level. Healthcare Resource Groups (HRGs) are standard groupings of clinically similar treatments which use common levels of healthcare resource. The elective admissions were assigned an average of the elective and day-case costs. The non-electives were assigned an average of the non-elective long stay and non-elective short stay costs. Where the HRG was not available or did not match the National Reference Costs look-up table, an average elective or non-elective cost was imputed. This may result in the cost of these admissions being underestimated. For each record, the AAF was multiplied by the reference cost and the resulting values were aggregated by the required output geographies to provide numerators for the cost per capita indicator.

References: (2) PHE (2020) Alcohol-attributable fractions for England: an update https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alcohol-attributable-fractions-for-england-an-update

Definition of denominator Mid-year population estimates.

Caveats Not all alcohol-related conditions require inpatient services, so this indicator is only one measure of the alcohol-related health problems in each local area. However, inpatient admissions are easily monitored, and this indicator provides local authorities with a routine method of monitoring the health impacts of alcohol in their local populations.

The Healthcare Resource Group cost assigned to each hospital admission is for the initial admission episode only and doesn’t include costs related to alcohol in any subsequent episodes in the hospital spell. Where the HRG was not available or did not match the National Reference Costs look-up table, an average elective or non-elective cost was imputed. This may result in the cost of these admissions being underestimated. It must be noted that the numerator is based on the financial year and the denominator on calendar mid-year population estimates, e.g., 2019/20 admission rates are constructed from admission counts for the 2019/20 financial year and mid-year population estimates for the 2020 calendar year. Data for England includes records with geography 'No fixed abode'. Alcohol-attributable fractions were not available for children. Conditions where low levels of alcohol consumption are protective (have a negative alcohol-attributable fraction) are not included in the calculation of the indicator. This does not include attendance at Accident and Emergency departments. Hospital Episode Statistics overall is well completed. However, year-on-year variations exist due to poor completion from a proportion of trusts.

Analysis has revealed significant differences across the country in the coding of cancer patients in the Hospital Episode Statistics. In particular, in some areas, regular attenders at hospital for treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy are being incorrectly recorded as ordinary or day-case admissions. Since cancer admissions form part of the overarching alcohol-related admission national indicators, the inconsistent recording across the country for cancer patients has some implication for these headline measures.

Cancer admissions make up approximately a quarter of the total number of alcohol-related admissions. Analysis suggests that, although most Local Authorities would remain within the same RAG group compared with the England average if cancer admissions were removed, the ranking of Local Authorities within RAG groups would be altered. We are continuing to monitor the impact of this issue and to consider ways of improving the consistency between areas. The COVID-19 pandemic had a large impact on hospital activity with a reduction in admissions in 2020 to 2021. Because of this, NHS Digital has been unable to analyse coverage (measured as the difference between expected and actual records submitted by NHS Trusts) in the normal way. There may have been issues around coverage in some areas which were not identified as a result.

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) is a database containing details of all admissions, A and E attendances and outpatient appointments at NHS hospitals in England.

Initially this data is collected during a patient's time at hospital as part of the Commissioning Data Set (CDS). This is submitted to NHS Digital for processing and is returned to healthcare providers as the Secondary Uses Service (SUS) data set and includes information relating to payment for activity undertaken. It allows hospitals to be paid for the care they deliver.

This same data can also be processed and used for non-clinical purposes, such as research and planning health services. Because these uses are not to do with direct patient care, they are called 'secondary uses'. This is the HES data set.

• HES data covers all NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England, including:
• private patients treated in NHS hospitals
• patients resident outside of England care delivered by treatment centres (including those in the independent sector) funded by the NHS

Each HES record contains a wide range of information about an individual patient admitted to an NHS hospital, including:

clinical information about diagnoses and operations

patient information, such as age group, gender and ethnicity

administrative information, such as dates and methods of admission and discharge

geographical information such as where patients are treated and the area where they live

We apply a strict statistical disclosure control in accordance with the NHS Digital protocol, to all published HES data. This suppresses small numbers to stop people identifying themselves and others, to ensure that patient confidentiality is maintained. https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/hospital-accident--emergency-activity

This publication reports on Outpatient activity in England for the financial year 2024-25. This report includes but is not limited to analysis of hospital outpatient appointments by patient demographics, diagnoses, attendance type, operations, specialty and provider level analysis. It describes NHS outpatient appointments in England, rather than the number of patients. The purpose of this publication is to inform and support strategic and policy-led processes for the benefit of patient care and may also be of interest to researchers, journalists and members of the public interested in NHS hospital activity in England. The data source for this publication is Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), which come from the HES data warehouse containing details of all admissions and outpatient appointments at National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in England. It includes private patients treated in NHS hospitals, patients who were resident outside of England and care delivered by treatment centres (including those in the independent sector) funded by the NHS. Please send queries or feedback via email to enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk. Author: Secondary Care Open Data and Publications, NHS England. Lead Analyst: Karl Eichler.

This dataset contains estimated age-specific standardized hospitalization rates due to alcohol-specific (wholly attributable) conditions by England regions, counties and unitary authorities, and the level of multiple deprivations. Data about rates level compared to England and region-level are also available in the dataset.

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) is a curated data product containing details about admissions, outpatient appointments and historical accident and emergency attendances at NHS hospitals in England. Source: https://digital.nhs.uk/services/hospital-episode-statistics#analytical-technical-output-specification-and-data-dictionary

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Licence: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Primary Dataset: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) – (free from NHS Digital) Admitted Patient Care (APC) data Accident & Emergency (A&E) data Outpatients data

Supporting Data: NHS Trust performance ratings Staff numbers by trust Financial data from NHS foundation trusts

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) is a database containing details of all admissions, A and E attendances and outpatient appointments at NHS hospitals in England. Adult Critical Care (ACC) is a subset of APC data. An Intensive Care Unit (ICU) or High Dependency Unit (HDU) ward in a hospital, known as a critical care unit, provides support, monitoring and treatment for critically ill patients requiring constant support and monitoring to maintain function in at least one organ, and often in multiple organs. Medical equipment is used to take the place of patients’ organs during their recovery. Some critical care units are attached to condition-specific treatment units, such as heart, kidney, liver, breathing, circulation or nervous disorders. Others specialise in neonatal care (babies), paediatric care (children) or patients with severe injury or trauma. Initially this data is collected during a patient's time at hospital as part of the Commissioning Data Set (CDS). This is submitted to NHS Digital for processing and is returned to healthcare providers as the Secondary Uses Service (SUS) data set and includes information relating to payment for activity undertaken. It allows hospitals to be paid for the care they deliver. This same data can also be processed and used for non-clinical purposes, such as research and planning health services. Because these uses are not to do with direct patient care, they are called 'secondary uses'. This is the HES data set. HES data covers all NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England, including: private patients treated in NHS hospitals patients resident outside of England care delivered by treatment centres (including those in the independent sector) funded by the NHS Each HES record contains a wide range of information about an individual patient admitted to an NHS hospital, including: clinical information about diagnoses and operations patient information, such as age group, gender and ethnicity administrative information, such as dates and methods of admission and discharge geographical information such as where patients are treated and the area where they live We apply a strict statistical disclosure control in accordance with the NHS Digital protocol, to all published HES data. This suppresses small numbers to stop people identifying themselves and others, to ensure that patient confidentiality is maintained. https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/hospital-admitted-patient-care-activity

Public Health England (PHE) has published the Local Alcohol Profiles for England (LAPE) data update for May 2016.

The LAPE interactive tool presents data for 25 alcohol-related indicators and allows users to view and analyse data in a user-friendly format. The http://www.lape.org.uk">LAPE website also provides links to further supporting and relevant information to aid understanding of alcohol-related harm in a local population.

http://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/local-alcohol-profiles">View the Local Alcohol Profiles for England data tool

This latest data release includes:

• the addition of 2014 to 2015 data to the alcohol-related hospital admission indicators
• 3 new indicators showing alcohol-related admissions by age
• a new indicator relating to alcohol-related cancer incidence