Patients aged 60 and over account for more than half of the income hospitals receive under the payment-by-results tariff, the Health and Social Care Information Centre has reported.

A new analysis by the centre found that the age group accounted for 43 per cent of the 13.3 million hospital admissions in 2010-11 with a mandatory tariff price.

Hospitals received tariff payments for those admissions totalling £10.9bn, or 51 per cent of their £21.3bn PbR income for that year.   

The centre announced that it would include a breakdown of admissions and spend by age group as a “special topic” in forthcoming monthly publications of hospital episode statistics, for the months April 2011 to January 2012.

Its analysis of the 2010-11 figures also showed that hospitals received 10 per cent of their PbR income for treating 1 per cent of the patients paid for at tariff. Around 10 per cent of patients accounted for 40 per cent of PbR income.

Hospitals’ average income-per-patient under PbR was £2,708. Average income for the most-expensive 10 per cent of patients was £11,150. Average income for the most-expensive 1 per cent was £26,180.

People in their seventies accounted for more of the money paid out under PbR than any other age group – 17 per cent, or £3.7bn.

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