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.
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
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.