Pressure index

The impact of Covid-19 on health services is substantial. Sadly people have died, although more have had their lives saved by health professionals. 

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The pressure index has been developed by Edge Health to help identify hospitals (Trusts) and regions that are facing particularly severe pressures so that resources can be targeted where they are needed most.

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It does this by looking at reported deaths after controlling for demographics and pre-Covid-19 (January) critical care capacity. Many hospitals have increased the number of critical care beds that they have over the last few weeks, but ​having the capacity ("not filling up") does not mean avoiding pressure. 

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A higher index value means that there is relatively more demand (proxied by the number of reported deaths) for pre-Covid-19 capacity. The change in this index over the past few days is also reported. When this is high relative to others, it may mean that the hospital has experienced a recent surge. 

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Last updated: 11 April 2020.

Note: (1) Critical care bed number data are from January 2020. (2) Data on reported deaths are from 10th April 2020. Data from the 6th to the 10th of April are subject to some change as deaths as there is often a lag in a death being reported - delays often show up as 0 on the slope index. 

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Download underlying data here.

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Some caution should be taken in interpreting these results. Some trusts may record Covid-19 deaths even when this was not the primary reason for death. It is also hard to say at present how well trusts prepared for Covid-19 and are therefore able to meet the increase in demand.

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If you have any questions or concerns with the pressure index, or the data used to create it, please contact George.

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Further details of the pressure index can be found here. 

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More on our recent work below.