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Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Volume 494: debated on Monday 15 June 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in each strategic health authority area were admitted to hospital with (a) primary and (b) secondary diagnosis of alcohol-related disease in each year from 1997-98 to 2007-08. (278486)

The number in the following tables relate to admissions, rather than people.

There are two columns for each year—admissions with a primary alcohol-related diagnosis and all alcohol-related admissions. The information is normally published in this way. The information in the second column is intended as a meaningful estimate of the total impact on hospital admissions from alcohol consumption.

Because of a change of methodology, information is only available from 2002-03 to 2007-08.

Number of finished admissions of patients with an alcohol-related condition

2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

Residents in England

With alcohol-related primary diagnosis

Total (with primary or secondary diagnosis)

With alcohol-related primary diagnosis

Total (with primary or secondary diagnosis)

With alcohol-related primary diagnosis

Total (with primary or secondary diagnosis)

North East

9,559

34,013

10,086

38,284

10,491

43,919

Northwest

23,731

92,339

25,331

102,841

26,329

114,946

Yorkshire and The Humber

15,236

56,131

15,759

61,421

16,057

66,684

East Midlands

12,081

47,789

12,767

51,871

13,467

56,928

West Midlands

15,896

46,610

17,392

53,562

19,113

63,692

East of England

12,496

49,754

13,596

56,430

14,538

63,472

London

18,298

56,852

19,616

64,140

21,162

74,522

South East Coast SHA

10,197

38,509

10,269

41,722

11,303

46,802

South Central SHA

8,352

27,338

8,898

31,513

9,732

36,032

Southwest

13,943

55,559

15,043

62,269

15,736

70,278

No fixed abode/unknown

1,930

5,279

1,823

5,364

2,314

6,908

Total

141,718

510,173

150,580

569,417

160,241

644,185

2005-062006-072007-08

Residents in England

With alcohol-related primary diagnosis

Total (with primary or secondary diagnosis)

With alcohol-related primary diagnosis

Total (with primary or secondary diagnosis)

With alcohol-related primary diagnosis

Total (with primary or secondary diagnosis)

North East

10,731

50,579

10,983

55,510

10,674

60,755

Northwest

29,172

129,919

30,376

141,493

31,335

151,428

Yorkshire and The Humber

17,255

72,870

17,271

77,454

17,987

83,443

East Midlands

14,800

62,722

15,451

67,710

15,390

74,340

West Midlands

20,645

76,778

22,590

88,490

20,101

91,537

East of England

15,530

72,622

15,836

77,808

16,435

84,712

London

23,050

87,428

24,154

96,194

23,836

102,029

South East Coast SHA

12,022

54,833

12,603

60,074

13,274

66,025

South Central SHA

10,503

41,219

9,972

41,889

10,588

48,201

Southwest

16,851

77,755

17,384

83,415

17,920

88,394

No fixed abode/unknown

3,074

8,787

3,062

9,082

3,805

12,400

Total

173,633

735.512

179,681

799,120

181,345

863,264

Notes:

Includes activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector.

Small numbers

To protect patient confidentiality, figures between 1 and 5 have been suppressed and replaced with “*” (an asterisk). Where it was possible to identify numbers from the total due to a single suppressed number in a row or column, an additional number (the next smallest) has been suppressed.

Alcohol-related admissions

The number of alcohol-related admissions is based on the methodology developed by the North West Public Health Observatory. Figures for under 16s only include admissions where one or more of the following alcohol-specific conditions were listed:

Alcoholic cardiomyopathy (142.6)

Alcoholic gastritis (K29.2)

Alcoholic liver disease (K70)

Alcoholic myopathy (G72.1)

Alcoholic polyneuropathy (G62.1)

Alcohol-induced pseudo-Cushing’s syndrome (E24.4)

Chronic pancreatitis (alcohol induced) (K86.0)

Degeneration of nervous system due to alcohol (G31.2)

Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol (F10)

Accidental poisoning by and exposure to alcohol (X45)

Ethanol poisoning (T51.0)

Methanol poisoning (T51.1)

Toxic effect of alcohol, unspecified (T51.9)

Number of episodes in which the patient had an alcohol-related primary or secondary diagnosis

These figures represent the number of episodes where an alcohol-related diagnosis was recorded in any of the 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) primary and secondary diagnosis fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) record. Each episode is only counted once in each count, even if an alcohol-related diagnosis is recorded in more than one diagnosis field of the record.

Ungrossed data

Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed).

Finished admission episodes

A finished admission episode is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Finished admission episodes are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.

Primary diagnosis

The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital.

Secondary diagnosis

As well as the primary diagnosis, there are up to 19 (13 from 2002-03 to 2007-08 and six prior to 2002-03) secondary diagnosis fields in HES that show other diagnoses relevant to the episode of care.

Data quality

HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts in England. Data is also received from a number of independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain.

Assessing growth through time

HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. The quality and coverage of the data have improved over time. 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.

Some of the increase in figures for later years (particularly 2006-07 onwards) may be due to the improvement in the coverage of independent sector activity.

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 for in the HES data. This may account for any reductions in activity over time.

Assignment of Episodes to Years

Years are assigned by the end of the first period of care in a patient’s hospital stay.

Source:

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care.