While we do collect figures on the number of people treated for mesothelioma, we do collect figures on finished consultant episodes where the primary diagnosis was mesothelioma.
The requested information is detailed in the following table, these figures relate only to admitted patients and do not include any patients who are treated for mesothelioma in accident and emergency but not admitted, patients treated in an out-patient setting or patients treated in the community. The figures are not for patients, as one patient may have had more than one episode.
Finished consultant episodes North east strategic health authorities South Tyneside primary care trust (5KG) as PCT of residence Northumberland, Tyne and Wear strategic health authority (Q09) as SHA of residence County Durham and Tees Valley strategic health authority (Q10) as SHA of residence England 2005-06 40 316 303 6,436 2004-05 28 348 242 5,671 2003-04 56 443 230 5,697 2002-03 53 267 173 4,685 2001-02 59 321 129 4,663 2000-01 57 315 122 4,442 1999-2000 58 401 121 4,155 1998-99 39 373 98 3,773 1997-98 11 186 69 3,075 1 The ICD-10 codes used in this analysis were as follows: C45 Mesothelioma D19 Benign neoplasm of mesothelial tissue Notes: 1. Finished Consultant Episode (FCE): An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. Please note that the figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year. 2. Ungrossed Data: Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed). 3. Diagnosis (primary diagnosis): The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital. 4. Assessing growth through time: HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. During the years that these records have been collected the NHS there have been ongoing improvements in quality and coverage. These improvements in information submitted by the NHS have been particularly marked in the earlier years and need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. Changes in NHS practice also need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. For example a number of procedures may now be undertaken in out-patient settings and may no longer be accounted in the HES data. This may account for any reductions in activity over time. 5. PCT and SHA data quality: PCT and SHA data were added to historic data-years in the HES database using 2002-03 boundaries, as a one-off exercise in 2004. The quality of the data on PCT of treatment and SHA of treatment is poor in 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99, with over a third of all finished episodes having missing values in these years. Data quality of PCT of general practitioners practice and SHA of GP practice in 1997-98 and 1998-99 is also poor, with a high proportion missing values where practices changed or ceased to exist. There is less change in completeness of the residence-based fields over time, where the majority of unknown values are due to missing postcodes on birth episodes. Users of time series analysis including these years need to be aware of these issues in their interpretation of the data. Source: HES, The Information Centre for health and social care