Readmission in children's emergency care: an analysis of hospital episode statistics

Aim: To compare rates of emergency readmission following discharge for common paediatric conditions from a range of hospital services. Design: Retrospective analysis of hospital episode statistics (HES) and telephone survey of service provision. Setting: Twelve hospitals serving a metropolitan area in the North West of England. Outcome measures: Emergency admissions to hospital within 7 days of discharge for breathing difficulty, feverish illness and/or diarrhoea. Results: HES were obtained for all children under 15 years of age discharged following emergency admission for breathing difficulty, feverish illness and/or diarrhoea during 2005/2006 (n=20 354) or 2006/2007 (n=23 018). The readmission rate for all hospitals in 2006/2007 was 5.5%. The percentage of same day discharges was associated with readmission (Kendall’s taub correlation=0.61, p=0.007). Readmissions were also associated with the proportion of same day discharges for breathing difficulty (Kendall’s taub=0.83,