§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the number of people who have died from food poisoning in National Health Service hospitals in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe numbers of deaths occurring in National Health Service hospitals in England and Wales, where the underlying cause of death was food poisoning*, are shown in the table for each of the last five years.
These statistics are for place of death; the location of the patient at the time of the acquisition of the infection is not known to the Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys.
Number of deaths from food poisoning* in National Health Service hospitals in England and Wales, 1980–84 Year Number 1980 36 1981 36 1982 62 1983 44 1984 53 * ICD codes 003 'other salmonella infections' 005 'other food poisoning (bacterial)' 988 'toxic effect of noxious substances eaten as food' (Excludes typhoid, paratyphoid and dysentery.)