Summary

Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) is a data warehouse containing records of all patients admitted to NHS hospitals in England. It contains details of more than 16 million episodes of patient care (finished consultant episodes) per year.

The Kennedy report recommended that HES should be "supported as a major national resource for the monitoring of a range of healthcare outcomes".

Key facts

• Average (mean) length of stay remains at 5.7 days in 2008-09 as in 2007-08.

• Common procedures in 2008-09 include:

  • 344,591 cataract operations - 5.9 per cent more than 2007-08
  • 100,581 hip replacement operations - 3.7 per cent more than 2007-08
  • 22,966 coronary artery bypass grafts (CABGs) - 2.2 per cent less than 2007-08
  • 62,104 percutaneous transluminal operations on the coronary artery (PTCAs) - 4.9 per cent more than 2007-08
• the average (mean) time waited decreased between 2007-08 and 2008-09 from 60 days to 48 days, and the median time waited decreased from 42 to 35 days.

The report findings can be found on the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) website, where you will now be redirected.