By Vanessa Chalmers Health Reporter For Mailonline
Published: 15:33 GMT, 21 March 2019 | Updated: 15:33 GMT, 21 March 2019
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The number of people being readmitted to hospital in emergency have hit a record high, NHS figures show.
Patients are being sent home to care for themselves too soon in order to free up beds for others, experts warned.
The provisional data, published for the first time in five years, show more burden on an already-stretched health force.
Hundreds of thousands of patients were readmitted to hospital as an emergency last year within 30 days of being discharged.
The number of people being readmitted to hospital in emergency 30 days after being discharged have hit a record high, NHS figures show
There were 865,625 emergency readmissions in 2017/18, up from 756,020 in 2013/14, an increase of 1.3 per cent.
The provisional data from NHS Digital looks at emergency readmissions for hospitals in England, and showed some differences geographically.
Emergency readmissions range from 14.9 per cent in the most deprived areas to 12.7 per cent in the least deprived areas.
Nationally, readmissions have increased from 12.5 per cent of all admissions in 2013/14 to 13.8 per cent in 2017/18.
Dr Taj Hassan, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: 'These figures show the impact that a lack of beds and social