Characteristics of patient audits, by intervention and control groups at T0, T1 and T2
| Time | Characteristic | Intervention | Control | P value |
| Time 0 | Number of audits | 1716 | 1654 | – |
| Male audits, N (%) | 933 (49) | 962 (51) | 0.022 | |
| Emergency admissions audits*, N (%) | 1476 (86) | 1363 (82) | 0.005 | |
| Surgical procedures, N (%) | 375 (39) | 329 (36) | 0.352 | |
| Mean age, years (SD) | 65.6 (18.8) | 65.5 (18.0) | 0.872 | |
| Mean DRG† weight (SD) | 4.18 (8.69) | 4.62 (8.48) | 0.218 | |
| Time 1 | Number of audits | 1778 | 1757 | – |
| Male audits, N (%) | 928 (49) | 984 (51) | 0.048 | |
| Emergency admissions audits, N (%) | 1543 (84) | 1433 (82) | <0.001 | |
| Surgical procedures, N (%) | 414 (38) | 388 (38) | 0.832 | |
| Mean age, years (SD) | 64.7 (19.6) | 66.2 (17.6) | 0.002 | |
| Mean DRG† weight (SD) | 3.40 (5.09) | 3.89 (6.28) | 0.051 | |
| Time 2 | Number of audits | 1747 | 1731 | – |
| Male audits, N (%) | 914 (48) | 989 (52) | 0.005 | |
| Emergency admissions audits, N (%) | 1521 (87) | 1449 (84) | 0.004 | |
| Surgical procedures, N (%) | 390 (38) | 359 (36) | 0.802 | |
| Mean age, years (SD) | 63.7 (20.4) | 66.2 (18.5) | <0.001 | |
| Mean DRG† weight (SD) | 3.39 (5.26) | 4.40 (8.23) | 0.001 |
*Elective admissions are the alternative to emergency admissions.
†Diagnosis-related group (DRG) weight represents an estimate of the relative resource intensity of each DRG.