HC Deb 07 December 1990 vol 182 cc226-7W
Mr. Michael

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the standard indicators used by his Department to quantify the extent of alcohol abuse problems in any part of Wales and the figures against each such standard indicator for each county in Wales for each of the last five years for which figures are available, together with the percentage of the population which is represented by the figure against each such indicator.

Mr. Nicholas Bennett

Social problems resulting from alcohol misuse are diverse and varied and they are not possible to define in terms of standard indicators. However, details of death and discharges from national health service hospitals in Wales of patients with principal diagnosis relating to alcohol are shown in the table. Consideration is being given to methods of obtaining clearer indicators.

Deaths and discharges (in-patients and day cases) from national health service hospitals in Wales with principal diagnosis relating to alcohol 1984–88
Clwyd Dyfed Gwent Gwynedd Mid Glamorgan Powys South Glamorgan West Glamorgan Total
1984
A 513 198 263 125 252 45 279 215 1,890
B 20 10 40 47 64 0 151 61 393
Total 533 208 303 172 316 45 430 276 2,283
1985
A 579 185 253 147 286 45 317 216 2,028
B 29 38 56 44 73 1 127 33 401
Total 608 223 309 191 359 46 444 249 2,429
1986
A 510 208 287 158 277 50 325 215 2,030
B 28 28 67 44 71 0 93 34 365
Total 538 236 354 202 348 50 418 249 2,395
1987
A 509 291 349 175 314 53 328 223 2,242
B 39 26 63 74 93 1 84 47 427
Total 548 317 412 249 407 54 412 270 2,669
1988
A 524 267 306 225 287 55 356 224 2,244
B 31 24 62 65 49 0 107 54 392
Total 555 291 368 290 336 55 463 278 2,636

Notes:

1. Note that the information given may understate the true position in that not all hospitals provide complete clinical details relating to patient discharges and deaths.

2. ICD 9 codes 291 (Alcoholic Psychoses), 303 (Alcohol Dependence Syndrome) 305.0 (Non dependant abuse of alcohol), 980 (Toxic effect of alcohol).

3. ICD 9 codes 571. 0–571.3 (Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis—related to alcohol) 535.3 (Alcoholic gastritis).