§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many finished consultant episodes for depression in children and adolescents there were in(a) England and (b) each strategic health authority in each year since 1996; and if he will make a statement. [178480]
§ Dr. LadymanThe available information is shown in the table. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence is currently developing a guideline on the identification and management of depression in children in primary care and specialist services. The guideline is scheduled to be published in 2005.
Primary diagnosis (ICD-10) F32—Depressive episode and F33—Recurrent depressive episode; Count of finished consultant episodes; for age groups 0–15 and 16–17, National Health Service hospitals in England 1999–2000 to 2002–03 0–15 16 and 17-year-olds 0–17 total 1996–97 190 315 505 1997–98 214 283 497 1998–99 212 251 463 1999–2000 227 263 490 2000–01 189 40 429 2001–02 225 239 464 2002–03 248 270 518 Notes: Ungrossed Data Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data. Finished Consultant Episode (FCE) An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Please note that the figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year. Diagnosis (Primary Diagnosis) The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (seven prior to 2002–03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.