Hotel NHS and the acute abdomen - admit first, investigate later

To determine the financial consequences of a policy of admission first, followed by definitive investigation for patients with an admission diagnosis of suspected acute abdomen.

Over a 1-month period, 122 patients were admitted with a suspected surgical diagnosis of acute abdomen (55 men, 67 women); age range 16-95 years (median: 56.5). Based on surgical operation required (n = 36), death after admission (n = 6, three postoperative deaths) and/or severe surgical illness (n = 17), 56 required surgical inpatient admission, while 66 did not. The patients who did not require admission spent significantly shorter time in hospital than those who required admission (median: 5 days vs. 8.5 days; p = 0.0000). Total hospital hotel and investigation cost (not including ITU or theatre costs) for all 122 patients was 330,468 pounds. Overall, 205,468 pounds was consumed by these 56 patients who required admission, while 125,000 pounds was spent on 66 patients whose clinical course did not justify admission; 92% of which was spent on hospital hotel costs and 8% on the cost of imaging and/or endoscopy.

On a national basis, emergency General Surgery admissions account for 1000 Finished Consultant Episodes per 100,000 population. The findings of this study suggest that this equates to a national NHS spend of 650 million pounds each year, for the hotel costs of patients that could arguably avoid surgical admission altogether. Continuing to admit patients with a suspected acute abdomen first and then requesting definitive investigation makes neither clinical nor economic sense.