Emergency department visits not quite back to normal
Hospital admissions for A&E patients have not yet returned to their pre-Covid levels in Western Europe, despite significant increases in attendance since January this year.
Intelligence users can click here to see our cross-national report on the hospital sector.
The infographic above – an update of one we did last year – shows the change in monthly A&E attendances relative to 2019 levels for March 2020 through to May 2021 in England, France, Germany and Portugal. The data covers all A&E attendances including those for COVID-19, although methodology may differ slightly by source.
A&E attendance in England and France is almost back to normal, with admissions in May 2021 just 4.3% (for England) and 6% (for France) below what it was in May 2019. For England, May 2021 admissions rates were closer to pre-Covid levels than at any other time since March 2020.
In Germany and Portugal, admissions rates were still significantly below their pre-Covid levels in May 2021, by 14.6% and 15% respectively.
Note: The Robert Koch Institute has not published national figures but has instead used figures for a handful of selected hospital emergency departments.
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