The evaluation of effective healthcare delivery in China using electronic medical records for 10 years in 0.5M participants in the China Kadoorie Biobank (360G-Wellcome-208126_Z_17_Z)

This DPhil project will assess the social determinants and equality in hospital care delivery and use, in 0.5 million participants who have been followed up for 10 years in the China Kadoorie Biobank. The first goal of this research is to evaluate differences in the annual rates of people hospitalised, the annual rates of hospital admissions per person, and the average length of stay (ALOS) overall and for 10 of the most frequent causes of hospitalisation (5 mostly unavoidable and 5 mostly avoidable causes) over the last 10 years and by region, hospital-tier, type of health insurance (HI) package and socioeconomic characteristics. Another goal is to study the variation in hospital care costs in China, considering LOS, and use of specialised procedures and major treatments, overall and for the 10 most frequent causes of hospitalisation over the last 10 years, by region, hospital-tier, HI package, and socioeconomic characteristics. Finally, the inequalities behind the variation in use and costs of hospital care will be investigated across regions, HI package and socioeconomic characteristics. This will provide the reliable quantitative evidence to evaluate operational defects and plan initiatives to improve healthcare delivery by individual hospitals, HI organisations and the wider community in China.