1 HCHS CURRENT
RESOURCES
Could the Department provide tables showing Health
Authority gross expenditure on HCHS by service sector and age
group for the latest year for which data are available?
1. The latest year for which data are available
is 1995-96 since the allocation of specialty and age to patients
is reliant on patient level data from the Hospital Episode (HES)
system. The introduction to question 4.12 describes the problems
with the HES system in more detail.
2. Just under half of all expenditure is
in the acute sector reflecting the high level of demand
pressure arising from emergency care and elective admissions.
This pressure is prevalent across all age groups but particularly
in the age groups 0-4, 45-64 and 65-74, where 60 per cent of expenditure
is on acute care.
3. Services aimed specifically, or mainly,
at the elderly account for 11 per cent of total HCHS expenditure.
However, those aged 65 and over account for 41 per cent of total
expenditure despite accounting for only 16 per cent of the population.
The discrepancy between expenditure on services for the elderly
and services used by elderly patients can be explained by looking
at the significant proportions of resources being used by this
age group in other sectors, particularly the mental health
(39 per cent) and acute (42 per cent) sectors.
4. Forty per cent of mental health
expenditure goes on the age group 16-44, with a further 20 per
cent spent on those aged 45-64. About two thirds of all spending
on those with learning disabilities occurred in the age
range 5-44, with 14 per cent on those aged 5-15.
5. A quarter of all expenditure for other
community was spent on the under 5's. A large component of
other community is Professional Advice and Support, which
covers Health Visiting, a significant part of whose work involves
visiting young children in their home environment. A third of
all expenditure in the 5-15 age group was included in this sector.
