Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many amputations were performed by the NHS in each year from 2014 to 2018.

The following table shows a count of finished consultant episodes (FCEs)¹ with a main or secondary procedures² of amputation for the years 2014/15 to 2017/18.

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS Digital

Notes:

1. A 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. Number of episodes with a main or secondary procedure:

The number of episodes where the procedure (or intervention) was recorded in any of the 24 (12 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and four prior to 2002-03) procedure fields in a 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. It should be noted that more procedures are carried out than episodes with a main or secondary procedure. For example, patients undergoing a ‘cataract operation’ would tend to have at least two procedures – removal of the faulty lens and the fitting of a new one – counted in a single episode.