§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the annual cost of under-nutrition to the NHS; and if he will make a statement. [12914]
§ Yvette CooperI apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in responding to this question. I refer him to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002,Official Report, column 192W.
The number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) of in-patient care in national health service hospitals in England in 2000–01 for malnutrition was 306. These figures do not represent the number of patients as a person may have more than one FCE in the year.
This information is extracted from the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) system, which contains details of patients admitted to and treated in NHS hospitals in England. HES does not hold data on cost of treatment for malnutrition.
Figures for 2000–01 have not yet been adjusted for shortfalls (ie they are ungrossed).