§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if the collection of data on the incidence of meningitis in the Wirral health authority covers all those with Wirral addresses who have been moved to a hospital outside the health authority area.
§ Mrs. CurrieUnder the Public Health Acts and Infectious Disease Regulations, the doctor in attendance is responsible for notifying cases of specified infectious diseases, including acute meningitis, to the proper officer in the local government district concerned.
If patients are admitted to hospital outside the district in which they become ill, the hospital doctor will notify the proper officer of the district in which the hospital is situated. That proper officer will, in turn, send a copy of the notification to the proper officer of the district in which the patient became ill, and the notification will be included in the latter district's return to the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys.
The statistics of notifications, therefore, relate to the area where the disease is first suspected or diagnosed, which is not necessarily the area of usual residence of the patient.
§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many cases of meningitis have been reported in the Wirral health authority area in December 1987 and January of the current year.
§ Mrs. CurrieInformation is not available for the exact area requested. Infectious diseases are notified on a local, rather than health, authority basis, and Wirral district health authority covers the whole of Wirral county district and part of Ellesmere Port and Neston county district.
During the period 28 November 1987 to 1 January 1988 there were two notifications of acute meningitis received from Wirral county district, of which one was meningococcal meningitis. During the period 2 January to 29 January 1988 the figures were six and three respectively.
During these same periods no notifications of meningitis were received from Ellesmere Port and Neston county district.
The data should be regarded as provisional; corrected notifications are often received from doctors. Corrected notification figures for December should be available during April 1988 and for January figures during July 1988.
§ Mr. HoltTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many deaths attributable to meningitis have been recorded in each of the last five years(a) nationally and (b) in Cleveland.
§ Mrs. CurrieMeningitis can be caused by a number of different organisms. I assume my hon. Friend is interested in meningococcal meningitis, deaths from which are shown in the table. The latest year's data available are those for 1986.
546W
Number of deaths with meningococcal meningitis (ICD 036.0) assigned as underlying cause. 1982–86. England and Wales, usual residents of Cleveland county Year England and Wales Cleveland 1982 20 0 1983 20 0 1984 26 0 1985 36 0 19861 52 0 1 Provisional.