Abstract
The cost of emergency assessment unit activities is shown to lie in the region of an outpatient attendance or the higher end of an A&E attendance. Significant economy of scale in cost is demonstrated with the larger units having lower average costs. Acute Trusts make an average profit margin of greater than £300 per zero day (or same day) stay admission. This equates to an overpayment of greater than £300M for these ‘admissions’ and this then creates £300M of compensating errors and distortions across NHS finances. Part two of the series will demonstrate that assessment costs must be added back into the residual A&E costs in order to arrive at a true picture for the overall emergency department costs, whereas part three looks specifically at the costs for paediatric emergency assessment. Both parts will discuss the additional flaws and complexities behind the tariff process relating to the wider emergency department functions.
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