Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) young people under 18 and (b) children under five have been admitted to hospital after ingesting methadone or buprenorphine in the last five years; and how many such ingestions were fatal.

The following table provides data on finished admission episodes (FAEs), finished discharge episodes (FDEs) and FDEs where the patient died, where there is a primary or secondary diagnosis of methadone poisoning, by the requested age groups for the last five years for which data is available.

Please note that:

- data for buprenorphine ingestion has not been given as it is not possible to identify buprenorphine ingestion from the ICD10 diagnosis scheme available in the Hospital Episode Statistic s (HES) database,

- both FAE and FDE are given as the question asks about both admissions and the outcome of the admissions,

- admissions, discharges and discharges ending in death are not directly comparable because FAEs and FDEs do not represent the number of patients; as it is possible for an individual to have one or more episodes of care in any given period, while a death record can appear only once,

- hospital stays can span year-end so that the numbers of FAEs and FDEs do not necessarily match within any given year,

- any person who died without being admitted to hospital would not be counted, and

- the ICD-10 codes were used to define 'methadone poisoning' is T40.3 Poisoning by narcotic and psychodysleptics [hallucinogens], methadone

Count of (a) finished admission episodes (FAEs)¹, (b) finished discharge episodes (FDEs)² and (c) FDEs where the patient died³, with a primary or secondary diagnosis⁴ of methadone poisoning⁵, by the age groups (i) 0-4 and (ii) 0-17 years, 2008-09 to 2012-13⁶

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

The following table provides data on the number of deaths due to ingesting methadone or buprenorphine in persons aged (a) under 5 and (b) under 18 for the last five years for which data is available. The data has been divided into deaths in hospital and all deaths so as to capture those persons who were admitted to hospital due to ingesting methadone or buprenorphine, but later died at home.

All deaths and deaths that occurred in a hospital where the underlying cause was poisoning by methadone or buprenorphine, for persons aged (a) under 5 and (b) under 18, England and Wales, deaths registered between 2009-2013 ^1,2,3

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Notes:

1. Cause of death was defined using the following International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes:

F11–F16, F18–F19: Mental and behavioural disorders due to drug use (excluding alcohol and tobacco),

X40–X44: Accidental poisoning by drugs, medicaments and biological substances, X60–X64: Intentional self-poisoning by drugs, medicaments and biological substances,

X85: Assault by drugs, medicaments and biological substances, and

Y10–Y14: Poisoning by drugs, medicaments and biological substances, undetermined intent

Deaths were included where the underlying cause was due to drug poisoning and where buprenorphine or methadone was mentioned on the death certificate.

2. Figures for England and Wales include deaths of non-residents.

3. Figures are for deaths registered, rather than deaths occurring in each calendar year. Due to the length of time it takes to complete a coroner’s inquest, it can take months or even years for a drug-related death to be registered. More details can be found in the 'deaths related to drug poisoning' statistical bulletin: www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/subnational-health3/deaths-related-to-drug-poisoning/england-and-wales---2013/stb---deaths-related-to-drug-poisoning-in-england-and-wales--2013.html#tab-Impact-of-Registration-Delays-on-Drug-Related-Deaths