NHS Trust Benchmarking
NHS England discharge, bed and A&E data, Apr 2022 – Aug 2026 · IMPOWER Health INDEX (v0.1)
NHS England describes this as a new, experimental collection with minimal validation, and says its guidance may not yet be applied the same way by every Trust. Read small differences between Trusts with care.
Every metric on the dashboard, where it appears and how it is calculated. "÷" means divided by. Medians and ranks are worked out in the dashboard from the Trust figures; everything else comes from the NHS England source named in the last column.
| Metric | Where it appears | How it is calculated | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Used on every tab | |||
| Peer group | Compare against control; Peer group KPI card | Same-type peers: Trusts of the same NHS England acute Trust type (Small, Medium, Large, Teaching or Multi-Service). Region peers: Trusts in the same NHS England region. | NHS England, Acute trust league table Q4 2025/26 |
| Peer median | Every chart and KPI | The middle value across the selected Trust's peers for that month. The selected Trust itself is left out, and so are peers with no figure that month. | Calculated in the dashboard |
| England median | Every chart and KPI | The middle value across all 117 acute Trusts in the dashboard for that month, including the selected Trust. It is a median of Trusts, not an England total. | Calculated in the dashboard |
| Rank in peer group | KPI card on each tab | The selected Trust's position among itself and its peers in the month shown, where 1 is best. Trusts with no figure that month are left out. Each tab's row below says which measure it ranks on. | Calculated in the dashboard |
| G&A beds (bed base) | Every "per 100 beds" measure | General & Acute beds available overnight, adult and paediatric (maternity, mental illness and learning disability beds are not included). Q1 2026-27 only, the one quarter of that year published so far, held static over time. | NHS England, KH03 Beds Open Overnight |
| Merged Trusts | Every tab | For months before a merger, the predecessor Trusts' figures are added together under the surviving Trust, so each trend covers the same footprint throughout. Mergers included: Yeovil District Hospital into Somerset (Apr 2023); Southport and Ormskirk Hospital into Mersey and West Lancashire (Jul 2023); North Middlesex University Hospital into Royal Free London (Jan 2025); North Bristol into Bristol (Jul 2026). | Applied when the datasets are built |
| Date range | Every tab | Trend charts show every month in the selected range. Bar charts, the scatter and KPI cards show the last month of the range; KPI cards also show the month before, in pink. | Dashboard setting |
| Discharge delays | |||
| Patients not discharged | Trend hover; basis of the delay measures | Patients who no longer meet the criteria to reside (medically ready to leave) but are still in hospital at the end of the day. Daily counts averaged over the month. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report |
| Delayed per 100 beds | Headline KPI; "Delayed discharges per 100 beds over time" | Patients not discharged ÷ G&A beds × 100. Lower is better. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report NHS England, KH03 Beds Open Overnight |
| Delayed as % of occupied beds | KPI; solid lines on "Delayed discharges as % of occupied beds" | Patients not discharged ÷ G&A beds occupied that month × 100. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report NHS England, UEC Daily Situation Report (G&A beds) |
| Bed occupancy | KPI; dashed lines on the same chart | G&A beds occupied ÷ G&A beds available, monthly averages, adult and paediatric. The KPI flags above 92% (NHS operational maximum), above 85% (safety level) or within the safe level. | NHS England, UEC Daily Situation Report (G&A beds) |
| Rank in peer group | KPI | Ranked on delayed per 100 beds. Lower is better. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report NHS England, KH03 Beds Open Overnight |
| Biggest delay reason | KPI | The reason group with the largest share of the Trust's delayed patients who have been in hospital 14+ days, in the month shown. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report |
| Hospital size vs delayed discharges | Scatter chart | Each Trust in the peer group plotted by G&A beds (across) and delayed per 100 beds (up). | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report NHS England, KH03 Beds Open Overnight |
| Additional bed days per 100 beds (7+, 14+, 21+ days) | Trend and bar chart | Bed days used by patients who no longer meet the criteria to reside, split by length of stay: 7+, 14+ and 21+ days (each group includes the longer ones). Weekly snapshots averaged over the month, then ÷ G&A beds × 100. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report NHS England, KH03 Beds Open Overnight |
| Long-stay concentration | Bar chart | 14+ day and 21+ day additional bed days, each as a % of 7+ day additional bed days. Higher means delays lean towards very long stays. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report |
| Why patients are delayed | Bar chart | Each reason group's share of delayed patients in hospital 14+ days: the group's average patients per day ÷ the total across the five groups × 100. Groups: Hospital process, Interface process, Capacity, Care transfer hub, Wellbeing concerns. Weekly snapshots averaged over the month. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report |
| Why patients are delayed, month by month | Stacked bar chart | Average patients delayed per day in each reason group (14+ day stays), with each group's % share of the month's total on the bar. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report |
| Top delay reasons | Bar chart and table | The ten individual reasons with the most patients delayed per day on average (14+ day stays) in the last month of the range. The table below the chart lists every reason. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report |
| Discharges by pathway | |||
| Pathways (P0 to P3) | Every chart on the tab | P0: home with no new or extra support. P1: home with new or extra support or rehab. P2: short-term rehab or recovery bed. P3: new care home placement, including end of life. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report |
| Discharges per 100 beds | Headline KPI; "Discharges per 100 beds over time" | Monthly total discharges ÷ G&A beds × 100. The KPI uses all four pathways; the trend uses the pathways ticked above it. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report NHS England, KH03 Beds Open Overnight |
| Total discharges | KPI | P0 + P1 + P2 + P3 discharges in the month. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report |
| P0 (straight home) | KPI | P0 discharges ÷ total discharges × 100. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report |
| P2 + P3 (bed or care home) | KPI | (P2 + P3 discharges) ÷ total discharges × 100. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report |
| Discharges per 100 beds by pathway | Bar chart | P1, P2 and P3 discharges, each ÷ G&A beds × 100. P0 is left out because it dwarfs the rest. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report NHS England, KH03 Beds Open Overnight |
| Share of all discharges by pathway | Bar chart; "Discharge pathway mix over time" | P1, P2 and P3 discharges, each ÷ total discharges (including P0) × 100. The trend shows the same for the selected Trust, month by month. | NHS England, Acute discharge situation report |
| Emergency care | |||
| Type 1 attendances | KPI; hovers | Attendances at Type 1 A&E departments (major, consultant-led, open 24 hours) in the month, including booked appointments. | NHS England, A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions |
| Type 1 4-hour % | Headline KPI; trend; peer bar chart | Type 1 attendances admitted, transferred or discharged within 4 hours of arrival ÷ all Type 1 attendances × 100, including booked appointments. Higher is better. | NHS England, A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions |
| 12+ hour waits | KPI; hovers | Patients waiting more than 12 hours from the decision to admit until admission. The clock starts at the decision, not at arrival. Reported for the whole Trust, not by department type. | NHS England, A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions |
| Emergency admissions via A&E | Denominator for 12-hour waits | Emergency admissions through Type 1, Type 2 and other A&E departments. | NHS England, A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions |
| 12-hour waits per 1,000 admissions | KPI; trend; peer bar chart | 12+ hour waits ÷ emergency admissions via A&E × 1,000. Lower is better. | NHS England, A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions |
| Rank in peer group | KPI | Ranked on Type 1 4-hour %. Higher is better. | NHS England, A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions |
| ED corridor care per 1,000 attendances | Corridor care KPI; trend; peer bar chart | Patients cared for in a corridor or other unsuitable space in the ED for more than 45 minutes in the 24-hour day. The daily average (over the days the Trust submitted) × days in the month ÷ Type 1 attendances × 1,000. Lower is better. Experimental data. | NHS England, Corridor Care (UEC Daily Situation Reports) NHS England, A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions |
| Inpatient corridor beds per 100 beds | Corridor care KPI; trend; peer bar chart | Adult and paediatric corridor care beds occupied at 8am. The daily average (over the days the Trust submitted) ÷ G&A beds × 100. Lower is better. Experimental data. | NHS England, Corridor Care (UEC Daily Situation Reports) NHS England, KH03 Beds Open Overnight |