Joint Replacements

(asked on 11th September 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) knee, (b) hip and (c) shoulder replacements have been undertaken by the NHS in each of the last five years; and how many people aged (i) 30 to 40, (ii) 41 to 50, (iii) 51 and 60 and (iv) over 60 had such replacements.


Answered by
Philip Dunne Portrait
Philip Dunne
This question was answered on 18th September 2017

A count of finished consultant episodes (FCEs)1 with a main or secondary procedure2 for 'joint replacement surgery'3 which includes shoulder, hip and knee4 in total and for selected age groups in England from 2011/12 to 2015/165 is provided in the tables below.

Knee replacements

Year

Total

30-40 years

41-50 years

51-60 years

Over 60 years

2011-12

83,312

263

2,713

12,155

68,089

2012-13

82,976

271

2,838

12,558

67,200

2013-14

85,934

237

2,894

13,199

69,493

2014-15

91,542

228

2,964

14,076

74,148

2015-16

92,735

229

2,964

14,157

75,272

Hip replacements

Year

Total

30-40 years

41-50 years

51-60 years

Over 60 years

2011-12

104,434

1,126

3,895

11,245

87,683

2012-13

105,499

1,145

4,239

11,369

88,249

2013-14

110,635

1,099

4,228

12,113

92,686

2014-15

113,111

1,157

4,386

12,796

94,227

2015-16

112,625

1,075

4,339

12,669

94,010

Year

Shoulder replacements

Total

30-40 years

41-50 years

51-60 years

Over 60 years

2011-12

5,852

61

222

518

5,010

2012-13

6,210

60

216

624

5,281

2013-14

6,827

78

219

676

5,809

2014-15

7,174

62

198

617

6,252

2015-16

7,343

71

229

687

6,326

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 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 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.

3 Included in the codes are for both partial and total joint replacements as well as conversion and revision codes. The ‘Conversion to’ codes provided in this resolution (e.g. W40.2) are assigned when the procedure has converted to the specified type of joint replacement from a different type of joint replacement. Examples could include conversion to a cemented total shoulder replacement following previous partial shoulder replacement or conversion to a total shoulder replacement following a previous uncemented shoulder replacement. This principle would apply to all ‘Conversion to’ prosthetic joint procedures provided. The ‘Conversion to’ codes could be considered ‘revisions’ in clinical terms, and you may wish to include these codes in your data search.

4 A range of OPCS codes covering knee replacements, hemiarthroplasty knees, unicomparmental knee replacements, hip replacements, hemiarthroplasty hips, shoulder replacements and hemiarthroplasty shoulder have been included.

5 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 National Health Service 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. It should be noted 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.

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