HC Deb 12 March 2004 vol 418 cc1823-4W
Mr. Burstow

To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his Answer of 15 December 2003,Official Report, column 768W, on heart disease, what data his Department has collated in respect of meeting the milestones for (a) primary care management of heart failure and (b) hospitals admitting patients for the management of heart failure. [158789]

Miss Melanie Johnson

There has been good progress in reducing admissions for heart failure. This is set out in the table.

Data on the primary care milestones is not collected centrally. The responsibility for both the delivery and monitoring of these milestones has been devolved to local health services.

Count of In year Finished Admissions for primary diagnosis Heart Failure in NHS hospitals in England 2000–01 to 2002–03
Year Total admissions
2000–01 72,389
2001–02 68,502
2002–03 67,765
Notes:
1. Grossing—figures have not (yet) been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are engrossed).
2. A finished in-year admission is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider, excluding admissions beginning before 1 April at the start of the data year. Please note that admissions do not represent the number of in- patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health.