Has the acuity and/or dependency of patients on general wards increased over time?
Has the acuity and/or dependency of patients on general wards increased over time?
Health services need to respond to changing clinical demands, but it is unclear whether hospitalised medical and surgical patients have more complex needs than in previous years. This Evidence Brief summarises the key findings from a rapid review of available empirical evidence assessing whether there have been changes in patient acuity and dependency over recent decades, both within the UK and internationally.
patient acuity, patient dependency, wards, Health workforce planning
University of Southampton
Turner, Lesley
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Emmanuel, Talia
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Griffiths, Peter
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Dall'ora, Chiara
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Saville, Christina
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Ejebu, Ourega-Zoé
4f545ae3-4823-44ab-8d59-185d30929ada
8 January 2026
Turner, Lesley
7c4a1fe5-21a1-4634-a1cc-0230322603d1
Emmanuel, Talia
06983873-ba1f-485a-afcb-a07c587a34bd
Griffiths, Peter
ac7afec1-7d72-4b83-b016-3a43e245265b
Dall'ora, Chiara
4501b172-005c-4fad-86da-2d63978ffdfd
Saville, Christina
2c726abd-1604-458c-bc0b-daeef1b084bd
Ejebu, Ourega-Zoé
4f545ae3-4823-44ab-8d59-185d30929ada
Turner, Lesley, Emmanuel, Talia, Griffiths, Peter, Dall'ora, Chiara and Saville, Christina
,
Ejebu, Ourega-Zoé
(ed.)
(2026)
Has the acuity and/or dependency of patients on general wards increased over time?
(Evidence Brief, 32)
University of Southampton
2pp.
Record type:
Monograph
(Project Report)
Abstract
Health services need to respond to changing clinical demands, but it is unclear whether hospitalised medical and surgical patients have more complex needs than in previous years. This Evidence Brief summarises the key findings from a rapid review of available empirical evidence assessing whether there have been changes in patient acuity and dependency over recent decades, both within the UK and internationally.
Text
26_01_Acuity Dependency of Patients on Wards_Eprints
- Version of Record
More information
Published date: 8 January 2026
Keywords:
patient acuity, patient dependency, wards, Health workforce planning
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 509285
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/509285
PURE UUID: fef7ad26-7256-41b4-8c84-57c5cbb96972
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Date deposited: 18 Feb 2026 17:32
Last modified: 21 Feb 2026 03:26
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Contributors
Author:
Talia Emmanuel
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