Summary
The following report from the Health Foundation and Nuffield Trust examines changes in the distance travelled from home to receive emergency care, over the last decade. It has been conducted in the context of NHS England’s / Professor Sir Bruce Keogh’s proposals for a two-tier accident and emergency service.
People in some rural areas have to travel over ten times more than those in urban areas. On balance, however:
“ …despite the total number of emergency admissions rising by over a third in ten years, the average distance from home to hospital has only increased by 0.2 miles. In most cases these distances are not large: in 70 per cent of cases, emergency admissions happened within 6.2 miles (10km) of a patient’s home, and only 3 per cent of people were admitted to a hospital more than 18.6 miles (30km) from home”.
Reference
Roberts, A. Blunt, I. [and] Bardsley, M. (2014). Focus On: Distance from home to emergency care. London: Health Foundation and Nuffield Trust, February 2014. ISBN: 978-1-905030-73-6.
