Poisoning: Accident and Emergency Departments

(asked on 19th October 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients were admitted via accident and emergency departments with a primary diagnosis of poisoning, including overdose, in each month of financial year (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14, (e) 2014-15, (f) 2015-16 and (g) 2016-17.


Answered by
Philip Dunne Portrait
Philip Dunne
This question was answered on 27th October 2017

A count of unplanned accident and emergency (A&E) attendances1 resulting in an admission2 and a primary diagnosis of poisoning (including overdose)3, for the financial years between 2010-11 and 2016-174 is provided in the table below. This is a count of hospital attendances resulting in admissions, not individual patients as the same person may have been admitted into a National Health Service hospital on more than one occasion.

Month

Year

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

2014-15

2015-16

2016-17

April

4,888

5,020

5,183

5,466

5,937

6,160

5,870

May

5,758

5,536

5,499

6,267

6,252

6,456

6,567

June

5,285

5,514

5,544

6,485

6,213

6,537

6,477

July

5,642

5,803

5,746

6,788

6,045

6,729

6,404

August

5,140

5,685

5,568

6,293

5,933

6,485

6,080

September

5,157

5,654

5,417

5,748

5,940

5,980

5,955

October

5,350

5,825

5,634

6,151

5,741

6,356

5,811

November

5,000

5,266

5,427

5,944

5,526

6,044

5,132

December

4,056

5,314

4,934

5,692

4,459

5,320

4,783

January

4,720

5,538

5,322

6,286

5,212

5,638

5,062

February

4,534

4,939

4,989

5,742

4,927

5,404

4,949

March

5,074

5,535

5,420

6,487

5,431

5,242

5,936

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS Digital

1The following attendance category codes identify unplanned A&E attendances:

1 = First A&E attendance

3 = Follow-up A&E attendance - unplanned

9 = Not known

2Attendance disposal 01 = Admitted to hospital bed / become a lodged patient of the same health care provider.

3The recording of the diagnosis field within the A&E data set is not mandatory. It is not known to what extent changes over time are as a result of improvements in recording practice.

14 = Poisoning (including overdose)

4HES figures are available from 2007-08 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage and changes in NHS practice. For example, changes in activity may be due to changes in the provision of care. Note that HES include activity ending in the year in question and run from April to March, e.g. 2012-13 includes activity occurring between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013.

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