§ Mr. GunnellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what information her Department(a) collates centrally, (b) seeks from the regional offices, (c) seeks from health authorities and (d) seeks from each national health service trust in order to determine performance in relation to "The Health of the Nation" targets concerning (i) the incidence of stroke and (ii) acute treatment for those who have had strokes. [10250]
§ Mr. HoramThe relevant "Health of the Nation" targets concern mortality. This is monitored by death registration data from the Office for National Statistics at national, regional and health authority level and by the number of deaths from stroke in hospital at health authority level from the Department's common information core.
There is no single measure of the incidence of stroke.
Incidence of stroke can be estimated from the patient consultations with general practitioners for stroke, measured through the morbidity statistics from general practice and the weekly returns of the Royal College of General Practitioners. These estimates are collected from a sample of GPs in England and Wales and are present as total figures for England and Wales.
Hospital episodes where stroke is diagnosed can be identified from the department's hospital episode statistics system. The information can be aggregated to trust, health authority, regional and national level. However not all patients with stroke will be admitted to hospital.