Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many shoulder replacements there were in each of the last five years.

In the following table, we have provided information concerning the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs)¹ with a main or secondary procedure² of shoulder replacement (not including revision procedures)³ in England, for the years 2008-09 to 2012-13⁴.

Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector

Notes:

1. A finished consultant episode (FCE) is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.

2. The number of episodes where the procedure (or intervention) was recorded in any of the 24 (12 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and 4 prior to 2002-03) procedure fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) record. A record is only included once in each count, even if the procedure is recorded in more than one procedure field of the record. Note that more procedures are carried out than episodes with a main or secondary procedure.

3. Numerous codes for shoulder replacement have been used. Shoulder replacement conversions and revisions have been excluded.

4. HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, changes in activity may be due to changes in the provision of care.

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre