Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many admissions to hospital through accident and emergency departments with an alcohol-related diagnosis there were in (a) Suffolk, (b) Norfolk and (c) Essex in each of the last four years.

Information is not available in the format or for the period requested.

Information on the sum of alcohol attributable fractions for admissions to hospital through accident and emergency departments in Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex from 2009-10 to 2012-13 is shown in the table below:

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

Note:

1. It should be noted that this is not a count of patients as the same patient may have been admitted more than once in a year.

2. 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 based on the proportion of diseases and injuries that can be wholly or partially attributed to alcohol. In addition, partial alcohol attributable fractions are not applicable to children aged under 16 years.

3. The following trusts have been used to define activity in each of the referenced counties:

- West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (FT) (Suffolk);

- Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust (Suffolk);

- James Paget University Hospitals NHS FT (Norfolk);

- Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS FT (Norfolk);

- Queen Elizabeth Hospitals King's Lynn NHS Trust (Norfolk);

- Mid Essex Hospitals Services NHS Trust (Essex);

- Colchester Hospital University NHS FT (Essex);

- Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS FT (Essex);

- Southend University Hospital NHS FT (Essex); and

- The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (Essex).

4. 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

5. The application of the NWPHO methodology has recently been updated but is not currently available from HES.

6. The attributable fractions have recently been updated, but this analysis uses the fractions defined in 2008 pending update of the underlying database from which this analysis was produced.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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. 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.

11. Note that HES include activity ending in the year in question and run from April to March.