Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were admitted to hospital for (a) alcohol-specific and (b) alcohol-related reasons in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

The following table contains the sum of the estimated alcohol attributable fractions for patients admitted to hospital for alcohol-specific and alcohol-related admissions for years 2008-09 to 2012-13.

The number of alcohol-related admissions is based on the methodology developed by the North West Public Health Observatory (NWPHO), which uses 48 indicators for alcohol-related illnesses, determining the proportion of a wide range of diseases and injuries that can be partly attributed to alcohol as well as those that are, by definition, wholly attributable to alcohol. Further information on these proportions can be found at:

http://www.nwph.net/nwpho/publications/AlcoholAttributableFractions.pdf

Alcohol attributable fractions do not provide a count of episodes with an alcohol related diagnosis or cause code but rather an estimate of the numbers. In addition, partial alcohol attributable fractions are not applicable to children aged under 16 years therefore figures for this age group relate only to wholly-attributable admissions.

Sum of alcohol attributable fractions¹ of finished admission episodes² (FAEs) for (a) alcohol specific and (b) alcohol related admissions for years 2008-09 to 2012-13³

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

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

Notes:

1. Alcohol–related admissions

The alcohol attributable fraction is set to 1 (100%) where the admission is considered to be entirely due to alcohol, e.g. in the case of alcoholic liver disease - these records are described as wholly alcohol attributable.

The alcohol attributable fraction is set to a value greater than 0 but less than 1 according to the NWPHO definition, e.g. the alcohol fraction of an admission with a primary diagnosis of C00 - malignant neoplasm of lip, where the patient is male and between 65 and 74 is 0.44 - these records are described as partly alcohol attributable.

These wholly and partly attributable fractions can be aggregated to supply an estimate of activity which can be considered wholly or partly attributable to alcohol.

2. Finished admission episodes

A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.

3. Assessing growth through time (admitted patient care)

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, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Conversely, apparent increases in activity may be due to improved recording of diagnosis or procedure information.

Note that HES include activity ending in the year in question and run from April to March, e.g. 2012-13 includes activity ending between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013.