Provisional Monthly Hospital Episode Statistics for Admitted Patient Care, Outpatients and Accident and Emergency Data - April 2012 to November 2012

Monthly HES data for Admitted Patient Care

In the year from December 2011 to November 2012 there were:

· 17.7 million finished consultant episodes (FCEs), 59.7 per cent (10.6 million) of which included at least one procedure or intervention, and 6.1 million of which were day cases.

· 15.2 million finished admission episodes (FAEs), of which 5.3 million were emergency admissions.

Monthly HES - Admitted Patient Care Clinical Coding Coverage

The shortfall between the most recent month's data is more pronounced when considering clinical (procedures and diagnoses) coverage. 3.1 per cent more procedures and 5.9 per cent more diagnoses were coded in the HES data submitted to SUS by 23/01/2013 (Month 9) - extract used for this publication, compared to the HES data submitted to SUS by 21/12/2012 (Month 8) used for 13th February 2013 publication. We accordingly recommend extra caution using clinical codes for the most recent month's data.

Monthly HES Data for Outpatients

In the year from December 2011 to November 2012 there were:

· 93.2 million outpatient appointments made, with 74.9 million (80.3 per cent) of these attended by the patient.

· 6.8 million outpatient appointments not attended by the patient, representing 7.3 per cent of all appointments.

Provisional Monthly HES Data for Accident & Emergency (Experimental data)

· In the year from December 2011 to November 2012 there were:

· 18.1 million A&E attendances recorded in A&E HES. Of these, 3.7 million (20.8 per cent) resulted in admission to hospital for inpatient treatment, 3.6 million (20.1 per cent) resulted in a GP follow-up and 7.0 million (38.8 per cent) were discharged with no follow-up.

Topic of Interest - Dentistry

· There were 209,874 finished admission episodes (FAEs) for which the primary operative procedure was dental, a 1.1 per cent decrease on the previous 12-month period when there were 212,278 FAEs. Overall admissions increased 2.1 per cent over the same period.

· Admission rates are highest in the area of the London SHA (574 FAEs per 100,000 of population), followed by Yorkshire and the Humber (471 per 100,000) and the North West (457 per 100,000). Admission rates are lowest in the East of England (285 per 100,000) and the East Midlands (287 per 100,000).

· Admission rates are slightly higher for females (428 per 100,000 of population) than for males (356 per 100,000). This trend is consistent across all Strategic Health Authorities.

· Overall, 'dental caries' are the primary diagnosis in almost half of FAEs involving dental treatment (48.6 per cent).

· The preponderance of 'dental caries' as primary diagnosis increases along with increasing socio- economic deprivation. Amongst the least deprived ten per cent of the population 31.9 per cent of FAEs for dental procedures were due to 'caries', whereas amongst the most deprived ten per cent of the population 61.2 per cent of FAEs for dental procedures were due to 'caries'.