§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many children below the age of 5 years have
Nature of Poisoning Estimated number of in-patient spells Estimated mean duration of stay (days) Aged under 1 Aged 1–4 Aged under 1 Aged 1–4 Adverse effect of medical substances: 1972 510 15,160 — — 1973 540 14,970 — — Toxic effect of substances chiefly non-medicinal: 1972 610 7,380 — — 1973 600 7,540 — — All poisoning: 1972 1,120 22,540 2.8 1.3 1973 1,140 22,510 1.6 1.3 This information is derived from a sample survey; monthly figures are not available. From the sample the numbers of children admitted suffering from poisoning and who died in hospital are too small to enable reliable estimates to be derived but these are about 1 per 1,000 of child (0–4) poisoning cases.