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Monthly A&E Activity and Waiting Times

On 2 May 2023, this release was updated to include additional data for demographics, referral and when people attend. Please note that discharge destination is now in a separate file and that some of the variable names in the monthly attendance and waiting times data have changed to better align them between data releases. Weekly A&E open data can now be found here.

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS), provides a monthly update of key statistics on attendances at Accident & Emergency Departments (A&E) across Scotland. The information includes trends in the number of attendances and proportion waiting over 4, 8 and 12 hours, and from May 2023 this release was expanded to include data on demographics, when patients attend, referral source, discharge destination and multiple attenders. Further information on A&E services across Scotland can be found here.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Source PHS A&E datamart
Author PHS Unscheduled Care Team
Last Updated April 2, 2024, 09:33 (BST)
Created December 6, 2018, 11:31 (GMT)
Contact Address Unscheduled Care Team, Public Health Scotland, Gyle Square, 1 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9EB
Subject Monthly Accident and Emergency Activity
Frequency Monthly
Time frame of data and timeliness 2 months in arrears
Coverage Covers Accident and Emergency activity since June 2007 for overall attendances, and since January 2018 for further breakdowns into demographics, when patients attend, referral source, discharge destination and multiple attenders.
Completeness The statistics in the monthly release cover all A&E sites. Emergency departments cover the majority (over 80%) of total A&E activity, but they do not reflect the full range of A&E services and activity. Data completeness varies by data item and further information can be found in the completeness tables (https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Emergency-Care/Emergency-Department-Activity/Data-Collection/)
Accuracy In addition to any local data quality checks, the data submitted to PHS is subject to automated validation procedures. For more information about this, see Appendix A of the A&E user guide (https://www.ndc.scot.nhs.uk/docs/AE2-User-Guide_V1.3.pdf) and the A&E data recording manual (https://www.ndc.scot.nhs.uk/docs/AE%20Data%20Manual%20V2.3%20Nov%202021%20Final.pdf). Overall, the data quality and completeness is variable. Information on the date and time of arrival and discharge is of consistently high quality. Information on reasons why people attend and clinical diagnosis is less complete and less robust in terms of nationally consistent data quality. PHS works closely with colleagues in the NHS boards to improve the validation and accuracy of the data and to ensure that the appropriate data standards are understood and applied by all sites. This takes place on a continuous basis, as queries or potential issues arise. Annual review meetings are held between PHS and each NHS Board to take stock and discuss any outstanding or emerging issues. In addition, data quality is monitored through the range of regular management information reports that PHS produces for NHS Boards and the Scottish Government. Aggregate returns are subject to only basic quality assurance checks. NHS Boards are required to confirm to PHS that the statistics are accurate.
Continuity of data Trend data showing number of attendances and length of time people spend in A&E departments is robust at a national level. At site level, some hospitals which previously submitted aggregate data have moved to submitting episode level data. Those affected are flagged in the list of sites (https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Emergency-Care/Emergency-Department-Activity/Hospital-Site-List/). Please bear this in mind when looking at trends in tables that are based on episode level data only (for example, the breakdowns by age, sex and deprivation); an increase in the number of attendances or population rate may be the result of additional sites submitting episode level information rather than a true increase. The Redesign of Urgent Care (RUC) programme was implemented in December 2020. One of the main aims of the programme was to change the way people access A&E (https://www.gov.scot/policies/healthcare-standards/unscheduled-care/) and convert some unscheduled activity into planned activity to help people get the right care in the right place. This planned activity primarily follows contacts with Flow Navigation Centres that were set up as part of the RUC programme. In order to help measure the impact of the RUC programme PHS introduced a new planned code for attendances at A&E scheduled following contact with Flow Navigation Centres. PHS is aware that some NHS Boards are not recording planned A&E activity as expected. The planned attendances are currently excluded from both the weekly and monthly publication, and they are excluded from the 4 hour standard. PHS intend to publish information on planned attendances when the completeness and data quality have been improved.
Concepts and definitions View details of data items collected and validation process in out A&E User Guide (https://www.ndc.scot.nhs.uk/docs/AE2-User-Guide_V1.3.pdf). View data item codes, descriptions and definitions in our A&E: Data Recording Manual (https://www.ndc.scot.nhs.uk/docs/AE%20Data%20Manual%20V2.3%20Nov%202021%20Final.pdf).
Disclosure The PHS protocol on Statistical Disclosure Protocol (https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/statistical-disclosure-protocol/statistical-disclosure-protocol/) is followed.
Revision statement Minor amendments to historic data in the latest weekly and monthly release are noted in a monthly revisions log and weekly revisions log in the publication metadata (https://publichealthscotland.scot/data-and-intelligence/ae-activity/#section-7-4). This data is only available for overall attendance numbers and waiting times
Official statistics designation Previously, monthly and weekly figures were released as separate publications. The monthly data release was designated as National Statistics in 2013 based on assessment by the UK Statistics Authority. The weekly release was originally based on aggregate data returns and was designated as Official Statistics. Weekly submissions have improved over time and PHS now receive episode level data for all emergency departments, but this has not yet been assessed by the UK Statistics Authority. Since these pages present both weekly and monthly figures, the suite is labelled Official Statistics. This does not signify an updated designation or reduction in the quality of monthly figures reported. Data by demographics, when patients attend, referral source, discharge destination and multiple attenders are not classified as Official Statistics.
Relevance and key uses of the statistics Statistics on A&E activity are important to patients and are a measure of how the NHS is responding to demand for urgent and emergency care services. Measuring and regular reporting of waiting times and attendances highlight where there are delays in the system and enable monitoring of the effectiveness of NHS performance throughout the country.
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Language English
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Further information about this data can be found here.
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