National health service trusts self-report the number of accident and emergency (A&E) departments they provide against definitions provided by the Department for each type of A&E on a quarterly basis. The information available is provided in the following table:
2000-01 2006-07 Number of type one (major) A&E departments 201 204 Number of type two (single specialty) A&E departments 34 68 Number of type three A&E departments (minor injury and illness services, including minor injury units and walk-in centres) 207 287 Notes: QMAE dataset used for 2006-07 figures. KH03 dataset and walk-in centre monthly report used for 2000-01 figures Position is at end of March for 2000-01, but end December for 2006-07 Source: Department of Health QMAE dataset, KH03 dataset and walk-in centre monthly service report.
Prior to 2000-01, trusts submitted written information on whether or not they provided any A&E services. They did not provide a count of the number of services provided. This pre-2000-01 trust data are available at:
www.performance.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity.
It is a matter for the local NHS to ensure that there is appropriate provision of urgent and emergency care services, including A&E facilities, that are responsive to people’s needs. As the number of services required is not centrally determined, no forecast of numbers for 2008 and 2010 are available.