Average length of hospital stay 4.8 days

The average length of stay for acute in-patients in Irish hospitals in 2006 was 4.8 days. Close to 1.25 million discharges were reported by Irish hospitals and over half of total discharges were day patients (53.2%); the remainder were in-patients (46.8%). These discharges used over 4.3 million bed days.
Acute in-patients (length of stay <= 30 days) accounted for 45.5% of total discharges and 62.2% of total bed days. Extended stay in-patients (length of stay >30 days) accounted for 1.3% of total discharges and 22.6% of total bed days. Day patients accounted for 15.2% of total bed days.

The ESRI’s Annual Report on Activity in Acute Public Hospitals for 2006 presents information on discharges from 57 Irish acute public hospitals participating in the Hospital In-Patient Enquiry (HIPE) scheme in 2006. It presents the number of day and in-patient discharges, together with their geographical distribution and demographic characteristics; as well as the number and type of diagnoses and procedures reported for discharges and their case mix.
This varied by hospital type. Voluntary hospitals recorded an average length of stay of 6.1 days for acute in-patient discharges, compared to 4.7 days reported for regional hospitals and 4.4 days reported for county hospitals. Almost 14% of total discharges were treated in special hospitals with the remainder treated in general hospitals.
Close to 70% of total in-patient discharges were admitted as emergencies with the remainder admitted on a planned basis. For every 1,000 members of the population resident in the HSE West area there were 325.0 total discharges. In contrast, in the HSE Dublin Mid Leinster area there were 270.1 total discharges for every 1,000 members of the population, which was the lowest of all the health areas.
Day patient activity peaked in November. Planned in-patient admissions peaked in May and emergency in-patient admissions peaked in March. There were differences in the daily patterns of admission and discharge activity. In-patient admissions were highest at the beginning of the week, while over one-fifth of all in-patient discharges were discharged on a Friday.
Of all age groups, the 75 to 84 year age group had the highest discharge rate for in-patients (420.7 discharges per 1,000 members of the population in this age group compared to 137.5 per 1,000 members of the population for total in-patient discharges). Over one-fifth of in-patient (21.5%) bed days were used by discharges in this age group, even though they accounted for only 11.4% of total in-patient discharges.
Medical card holders accounted for less than half (45.9%) of in-patient discharges. In-patient discharges with a medical card stayed an average of 8.3 days in hospital, which was 3.8 days longer than in-patient discharges without a medical card.
Public discharges accounted for 73.5% of in-patient discharges and the remainder were private. The total in-patient average length of stay was slightly longer for public discharges (6.5 days) compared to private discharges (5.8 days). Almost 81% of day patient discharges were public discharges.
Almost 63% of total in-patient discharges underwent a principal procedure, with an average of 2.6 procedures performed on each discharge. The most common principal diagnosis for day patients was ‘care involving dialysis’, accounting for 22.2% of total day patient discharges. For in-patients, the most common principal diagnosis related to obstetrics (‘perineal laceration during delivery’) and accounted for 2.8% of total in-patient activity.
Activity in Acute Public Hospitals in Ireland, 2006 Annual Report, by the Health Research and Information Division, ESRI, will be published online on Thursday 18th December 2008. The HIPE Scheme, established in 1971, is a computer-based health information system designed to collect clinical and administrative data on discharges from, and deaths in, acute hospitals in Ireland.The ESRI has been responsible for managing, and reporting on the HIPE Scheme on behalf of the Department of Health and Children and the Health Service Executive since 1990.
In 2006, HIPE captured 96.7% of activity from public hospitals. There were a number of enhancements to the process for collecting HIPE data in 2006, including the capture of day patient haemodialysis and radiotherapy activity. For historical reasons, a small number of long stay hospitals report to HIPE.