HL Deb 14 February 2000 vol 609 cc127-8WA
Lord Faulkner of Worcester

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many patients in National Health Service hospitals are aged (a) over 90; (b) over 80; and (c) over 70; and how these figures compare with 1990, 1980, 1970 and 1960. [HL897]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)

The information is given in the table. Data for 1960 are not available.

Number of Deaths and Discharges/admissions for selected age groups—NHS hospitals
Number of Patients
Discharges and deaths 65 and over 75 and over
1970 England and Wales 860,920 386,340
70 and over 80 and over 90 and over
1980 England 995,720 361,720 53,620
Admissions 70 and over 80 and over 90 and over
1989–90 England 1,403,769 580,082 70,593
1997–98* England 2,393,274 1,003,300 157,000

Figures from 1980 onward are for England only. Other matters are for the Welsh National Assembly and the Scottish Executive.

Notes:

HIPE and HES data do not provide the number of people treated, as patients could have been discharged (HIPE), or can be admitted (HES) more than once within a given year.

England and Wales cannot be separately identified in the 1970 data.

Data for 1970 cannot be aggregated to the requested age-groups.

* Figures for 1997–98 are provisional; no adjustments have yet been made for missing records or invalid/unknown diagnoses.

Source:

Department of Health, Hospital In-patient Enquiry (HIPE), and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES).