Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how data on hospital admissions classified as obesity-related is recorded in NHS statistics.
Hospital Episodes Statistics use World Health Organization International Classification of Diseases v.10 (ICD-10). Within ICD-10 obesity is assigned as code E66 and this will be recorded on any episode of care where a clinical diagnosis of obesity has been made.
NHS Digital states that obesity codes may be used but not interpreted by the coder and only be coded when a diagnosis of obesity is recorded in the medical record. This means that where Body Mass Index has been recorded in the medical record, it must not be used to assign a E66 code. A clinical coder must always refer to the responsible consultant to confirm the clinical significance of a test result.