Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to reduce the number of avoidable emergency admissions in England.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are implementing a number of national programmes to transform National Health Service services so that, where clinically appropriate, a patient’s care is managed without the need for a stay in hospital. This is being achieved through services becoming better integrated across health and social care as well as managing hospital care differently so that more patients are treated as same day emergency care or streamed to see a primary care professional.

Readmission rates are a complex issue and rates may not always be an indicator of poor care. In some cases patients who are seriously ill may require readmission to manage their condition and avoid worsening outcomes. Recent research has shown that improvements in survival rates may also account for an increase in emergency readmissions.