Emergency admissions fell 25% in capital’s A&Es at height of pandemic

EMERGENCY admissions to London hospitals slumped by a quarter during 10 months last year, a study into the impact of Covid-19 revealed today.

It also highlighted that people from black and Asian communities were more likely to have stayed away from the NHS between March and December.

Overall, elective hospital admissions dropped by a third last year, while outpatient appointments and non-Covid emergency admissions fell by a fifth.

The analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Harvard University and Imperial College London showed there were 2.9 million fewer planned admissions, 1.2 million fewer non-Covid-19 emergency inpatient admissions and 17.1 million fewer outpatient appointments between March and December 2020 compared with the same period in 2019.

The report’s key findings:

⬤ London suffered the biggest fall in emergency admissions, a quarter. By contrast, there was a fall of 16 per cent in the South West.

⬤ The most deprived fifth of local areas of the country had 23 per cent fewer emergency admissions in March to December compared with a 20 per cent reduction in the least deprived fifth.

⬤ The North and Midlands experienced bigger reductions in hospital activity than the South and East of England. Elective admissions fell by nearly 40 per cent in Yorkshire.

⬤ There were 2.9 million (34.4 per cent) fewer elective inpatient admissions, 1.2 million (21.4 per cent) fewer non-Covid emergency inpatient admissions and 17.1 million (21.8 per cent) fewer outpatient appointments.

⬤ White individuals had a 37 per cent reduction in elective admissions, compared with 36 per cent for Asian and 24 per cent for black individuals.

⬤ For emergency admissions, white individuals saw a 21 per cent decline, compared with 32 per cent for Asian and 28 per cent for black individuals.

⬤ Paediatrics saw the largest reduction in emergency admissions, 41 per cent (242,000).

The report’s author Max Warner said: “There are striking differences by ethnicity... This risks exacerbating health inequalities that existed before the pandemic and ethnic disparities in the impact of Covid.”