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30 Apr 2009 : Column 1470W—continued
Hospitals: Infectious Diseases
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were treated for healthcare-acquired infections in West Chelmsford constituency in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [271996]
Phil Hope: The information requested is not collected centrally. The best available data are from the mandatory surveillance system operated for the Department by the Health Protection Agency, which covers methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bloodstream infections, Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infections, glycopeptide-resistant enterococci infections, and orthopaedic surgical site infections (SSIs).
Data are not available by parliamentary constituency but by acute national health service trust. The following tables provide data for the Mid-Essex hospital services NHS trust.
All acute NHS trusts in England are obliged to report all cases of bloodstream infections caused by MRSA.
| Number of cases of bloodstream infections caused by MRSA | |
| April to March each year | Mid-Essex hospital services NHS trust |
| Notes: 1. These data comprise all specimens processed by acute NHS trust laboratories, not just those from in-patients, and include infections acquired in hospital and elsewhere. 2. These data are only available by financial year. | |
All acute NHS trusts in England are obliged to report all cases of C. difficile infection in people aged 65 years and over. In April 2007, mandatory surveillance was extended to include all patients aged two years and over.
| Number of cases of C. difficile infection in people aged 65 years and over | |
| Mid-Essex hospital services NHS trust | |
| Number of cases of C. difficile infection in people aged two years and over | |
| April to March each year | Mid-Essex hospital services NHS trust |
| Note: These data comprise all specimens processed by acute NHS trust laboratories, not just those from in-patients, and include infections acquired in hospital and elsewhere. | |
All acute NHS trusts in England are obliged to report all cases of blood stream infections caused by glycopeptide-resistant enterococci.
| Number of cases of blood stream infections caused by glycopeptide-resistant enterococci | |
| October to September each year | Mid-Essex hospital services NHS trust |
| Notes: 1. These data comprise all specimens processed by acute NHS trust laboratories, not just those from in-patients, and include infections acquired in hospital and elsewhere. 2. These data are available from October to September; they are not available by calendar year. | |
Since 2004, data have been collected from the mandatory surveillance of SSIs in orthopaedic categories in NHS hospitals in England. Hospitals carrying out orthopaedic surgery have to participate in the surveillance of at least one category for at least one quarter of the year.
| Number of SSIs in orthopaedic categories for Mid-Essex hospital services NHS trust | ||||||||
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |||||
| Surgical category | Number of operations | SSIs | Number of operations | SSIs | Number of operations | SSIs | Number of operations | SSIs |
| Note: All of the SSIs reported are identified during the in-patient period. | ||||||||
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were screened for healthcare-acquired infections in West Chelmsford constituency in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [271997]
Phil Hope: The information requested is not collected centrally. From 1 April this year, the national health service has been screening all relevant elective admissions for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and will be expanding this to include emergency admissions by 2011.
It is not appropriate to screen for all healthcare associated infections, and screening for healthcare associated infections other than MRSA is a matter for local determination according to clinical appropriateness and risk.
Liver Diseases
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) females and (b) males aged (i) under 16, (ii) from 17 to 21, (iii) from 22 to 26 and (iv) over 26 years old were admitted to hospital with alcohol-related liver conditions in each of the last five years. [270216]
Dawn Primarolo: The following table provides an estimate of the number of people admitted to hospital with alcoholic liver disease and uses the international classification of diseases (ICD)-I0 codes K70, K73 and K74, which are the codes for liver disease that is wholly or partially attributable to alcohol. Estimates of the number of people are based on an admission/person ratio are not yet available for 2007-08.
| Estimate of people admitted to hospital in England with a primary or secondary diagnosis for alcoholic liver disease, by sex (males (M) and females (F)) and age group, between 2002-03 to 2006-07 | ||||||||||
| 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | ||||||
| M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | |
| Notes: Data represent activity in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector Alcohol-related admissions The number of alcohol-related admissions is based on the methodology developed by the North West Public Health Observatory (NWPHO). Following international best practice, the NWPHO methodology includes a wide range of diseases and injuries in which alcohol plays a part and estimates the proportion of cases that are attributable to the consumption of alcohol. Details of the conditions and associated proportions can be found in the report Jones et al. (2008) Alcohol-attributable fractions for England: Alcohol-attributable mortality and hospital admissions. Figures for under-16s only include admissions where one or more alcohol specific conditions were listed. This is because the research on which the attributable fractions are based does not cover under 16s. Alcohol specific conditions are those that are wholly attributed to alcohol—that is, those with an attributable fraction of one. The ICD-10 codes used to answer this PQ are K70, K73 and K74, which are the codes for liver disease that is wholly or partially attributable to alcohol. K70 has an attributable fraction of one, K73 and K74 have an overall attributable fraction of 0.73 for males and 0.50 for females. Number of patients who had an alcohol-related primary or secondary diagnosis These figures represent the number of patients where an alcohol-related diagnosis was recorded in any of the 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) primary and secondary diagnosis fields in a hospital episode statistics (HES) record. Each episode is only counted once in each count, even if an alcohol-related diagnosis is recorded in more than one diagnosis field of the record. Ungrossed data Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed). Primary diagnosis The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the HES data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital. Secondary diagnosis As well as the primary diagnosis, there are up to 19 (13 from 2002-03 to 2007-08 and six prior to 2002-03) secondary diagnosis fields in HES that show other diagnoses relevant to the episode of care. Data quality HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) in England. Data are also received from a number of independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain. Assessing growth through time HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. The quality and coverage of the data have improved over time. These improvements in information submitted by the NHS have been particularly marked in the earlier years and need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. Some of the increase in figures for later years (particularly 2006-07 onwards) may be due to the improvement in the coverage of independent sector activity. Changes in NHS practice also need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. For example, a number of procedures may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and may no longer be accounted for in the HES data. This may account for any reductions in activity over time. Assignment of episodes to years Years are assigned by the end of the first period of care in a patient’s hospital stay. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care. | ||||||||||
Prescriptions
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 26 January 2009, Official Report, column 252W, if he will bring forward proposals for regulations to require that a patient must be examined by a prescriber before a prescription is issued for a controlled drug; and if he will make a statement. [271446]
Phil Hope: We have no plans to regulate the prescribing of controlled drugs in this way. The decision as to when a patient is seen by their prescriber, before the issue of any prescription, is a matter for their professional judgment. In exercising their judgment, they are supported by the issue of guidance by their professional regulator.
WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which working groups of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control the UK (a) is and (b) is not a member of; and what mechanism exists for UK representation in those working groups of which it is not a member. [271216]
Dawn Primarolo: Working groups are established to develop guidelines for implementation of the Articles in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Draft guidelines developed by these working groups are considered for adoption during FCTC Conferences of the Parties.
The membership and progress of the current working groups is set out by the World Health Organisation on its website at:
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