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Investigating the widely held belief that men and women with learning disabilities receive poor quality healthcare when admitted to hospital: a single‐site study of 30‐day readmission rates
Author(s) -
Kelly C. L.,
Thomson K.,
Wagner A. P.,
Waters J. P.,
Thompson A.,
Jones S.,
Holland A. J.,
Redley M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of intellectual disability research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1365-2788
pISSN - 0964-2633
DOI - 10.1111/jir.12193
Subject(s) - medicine , emergency department , audit , medical record , health care , emergency medicine , population , presumption , retrospective cohort study , acute care , pediatrics , psychiatry , management , environmental health , political science , law , economics , economic growth
Background This study aims to use 30‐day readmission rates to investigate the presumption that men and women with learning disabilities ( LDs , known internationally as intellectual disabilities) receive poorer quality hospital care than their non‐disabled peers. Method A 12‐month retrospective audit was conducted using H ospital E pisode S tatistics ( HES ) at a single acute hospital in the East of England. This identified all in‐patient admissions; admissions where the person concerned was recognised as having a LD ; and all emergency readmissions within 30 days of discharge. Additionally, the healthcare records of all patients identified as having a LD and readmitted within 30 days as a medical emergency were examined in order to determine whether or not these readmissions were potentially preventable. Results Over the study period, a total of 66 870 adults were admitted as in‐patients, among whom 7408 were readmitted as medical emergencies within 30 days of discharge: a readmission rate of 11%. Of these 66 870 patients, 256 were identified as having a LD , with 32 of them experiencing at least one emergency readmission within 30 days: a readmission rate of 13%. When examined, the healthcare records pertaining to these 32 patients who had a total of 39 unique 30‐day readmissions revealed that 69% ( n = 26) of these readmissions were potentially preventable. Conclusion Although overall readmission rates were similar for patients with LDs and those from the general population, patients with LDs had a much higher rate of potentially preventable readmissions when compared to a general population estimate from van W alraven et al . This suggests that there is still work to be done to ensure that this patient population receives hospital care that is both safe and of high quality.