Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were recorded as having (a) an admission and (b) a discharge episode with a (i) primary and (ii) secondary diagnosis of (A) malnutrition, (B) nutritional anaemias and (C) other nutritional deficiencies in the NHS in each year since 2010-11.

The identification of adults in hospital and the community who are at risk of malnutrition or who have become malnourished has improved since The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published guidance in 2012 which included quality standard 24 ‘Nutrition support in adults’. The guidance advises that individuals should be screened for the risk of malnutrition in care settings using a validated screening tool, to enable early and effective interventions. The use of the ‘Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool’ (MUST) or an equivalent screening tool is now a mandatory requirement for all hospitals providing National Health Service funded care. The guidance is also intended to help health care professionals deliver the best possible care and give people the most effective treatments.

Finished admission episodes (FAE) with secondary diagnoses are not published in a disaggregated form and are therefore not available in the format requested. Finished discharge episodes (FDEs) are not published in any form by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).

FAE data is published on the HSCIC website. These data are only available for primary diagnoses and aggregated primary and secondary diagnoses for people of all ages.

It is not possible to use combinations of the tables to subtract primary diagnosis from all diagnosis to obtain the number of episodes with a secondary diagnosis of malnutrition, as a single code may appear more than once on any given record.

Data on Primary Diagnosis is published in the following tables:

2010/11

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB02570/hosp-epis-stat-admi-prim-diag-3cha-10-11-tab.xls

and

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB02570/hosp-epis-stat-admi-prim-diag-4cha-10-11-tab.xls

2011/12

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB08288/hosp-epis-stat-admi-prim-diag-3cha-11-12-tab.xls

and

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB08288/hosp-epis-stat-admi-prim-diag-4cha-11-12-tab.xls

2012/13

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB12566/hosp-epis-stat-admi-diag-2012-13-tab.xlsx

2013/14

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB16719/hosp-epis-stat-admi-diag-2013-14-tab.xlsx

2014/15

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB19124/hosp-epis-stat-admi-diag-2014-15-tab.xlsx

Data on Secondary Diagnosis is not available for 2010-11 and 2011-12, however it is available from 2012-13 onwards in:

2012/13

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB12566/hosp-epis-stat-admi-diag-2012-13-tab.xlsx

2013/14

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB16719/hosp-epis-stat-admi-diag-2013-14-tab.xlsx

2014/15

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB19124/hosp-epis-stat-admi-diag-2014-15-tab.xlsx

Most patients with malnutrition have other serious health problems, and malnutrition usually arises long before admission to hospital.

We are taking action to help people improve their diets and make healthier choices. Advice is available through the One You campaign, Change4Life, Healthy Start scheme, Eatwell plate and NHS Choices website. In addition, everyone between the ages of 40 and 74 can have a free NHS Health Check to identify the warning signs of poor nutrition.

We have also provided half million pounds funding to Age UK to reduce malnutrition among older people, and all health staff are trained to identify the early warning signs so that effective action plans can be put into place.

Information on the estimate of the cost to the NHS of malnutrition amongst adults is not available centrally.