§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what has been the rate of post-operative infection in each health region in 1978 and each year since.
§ Mrs. Currie[pursuant to her reply, 15 December 1986, c. 417–18]: The information requested is given in the table.
377W
National Health Service non.psychiatric, non.maternity hospitals Regional health authorities Estimated number of in.patient cases with a diagnosis of post operative infection1 as a percentage of all in.patient cases who undergo operations 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 Northern 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.6 0.7 0.6 Yorkshire 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.6 Trent 0.6 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 East Anglia 0.5 0.6 1.0 0.7 0.6 0.8 0.8 North West Thames 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.6 North East Thames 0.4 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.8 0.6 South East Thames 0.6 0.5 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.8 South West Thames 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.7 0.7 Wessex 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 Oxford 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.5 South Western 1.3 1.2 1.5 1.2 1.4 1.5 1.4 West Midlands 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 Mersey 0.6 0.5 0.6 1.0 0.7 0.8 0.7 North Western 0.6 0.8 0.9 0.8 0.9 0.8 0.9 All RHAs 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 1 ICD No. N998.5 for 1978, International Classification of Diseases, eighth revision, 1965. ICD No. 998.5 for 1979–1984, International Classification of Diseases, ninth revision, 1975. The figures given are taken from the hospital in-patient inquiry, a 10 per cent. sample of discharges records held centrally by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. In any information of this kind which relies on local involvement and interpretation there is room for variation in recording practice and this may explain some of the variation between regions in recorded infection rates.
The Department is aware of the apparent higher incidence of post-operative infection in the South-Western regional health authority which has recently examined its data on 100 per cent. of discharges and deaths for 1982 to 1985 and found similar (though slightly lower) numbers of post-operative infection cases. However, over the four-year period the number of cases has been declining.
The South-Western regional health authority can find no ready explanation for the comparatively high level of post-operative infection recorded. It is mounting a detailed study of case notes to try to determine the reasons. The study is not yet complete, but we shall be following up the results with the REIA when they are known.