NEW FIGURES RELEASED by the Economic & Social Research Institute (ESRI) show that there was a slight increase in people discharged from Irish hospitals last year.

The Activity in Acute Public Hospitals in Ireland, 2011 Annual Report has been released by the health research and information division of the  ESRI this morning.

It has information on discharges from 57 Irish acute public hospitals participating in the Hospital In-Patient Enquiry (HIPE) scheme last year. The HIPE data can inform policy decisions and developments in areas such as hospital budgeting and service planning.

Hospitals

The data shows that there were over 1.47 million discharges reported compared to 1.45 million discharges in 2010 – an increase of 1.6 per cent.

Day patients accounted for 60 per cent of total discharges in 2011, an increase of 3 per cent since 2010. This compares with 55 per cent of total discharges in 2007; the average annual increase over the period 2007-2010 was 5 oer cent.

In 2011, in-patients accounted for 40 per cent of total discharges, of which:

• 61 per cent were emergency in-patients
• 18 per cent were elective in-patients
• 21 per cent were maternity in-patients.

Age

Almost one-third of total discharges were aged 65 years and older, an increase of 1.5 per cent between 2010 and 2011 and an average annual increase of 5 per cent between 2007 and 2011.

Other findings were:

• Females accounted for 54 per cent of total discharges.
• Medical card holders accounted for 53 per cent of total discharges.
• Public patients accounted for 83 per cent of total discharges, with the remainder accounted for by private patients.

Maternity discharges

In 2011, 71,231 women gave birth in acute public hospitals reporting to HIPE.

• Normal (non-instrumental) deliveries accounted for almost 60 per cent of total deliveries, followed by Caesarean section at 27 per cent. Instrumental deliveries accounted for the remainder.
• Some 25 per cent of women who delivered and who were treated on a public basis had a Caesarean section. Of these Caesarean section deliveries, 46 per cent were elective.
• Some 36 per cent of women who delivered and who were treated on a private basis had a Caesarean section. Of these Caesarean section deliveries, 62 per cent were elective.

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