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Heatstroke

Answer

The following table gives the number of finished consultant episodes of those treated in hospital with a primary diagnosis of heatstroke or sunstroke from 2005-06 to 2009-10.

Number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs)¹ with a primary diagnosis of 'heatstroke and sunstroke'², 2005-06 to 2009-10³
Activity in English NHS hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector
	FCEs
2009-10	61
2008-09	35
2007-08	41
2006-07	110
2005-06	70
¹ Finished consultant episode (FCE).
A FCE is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.
² Primary diagnosis:
The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital.
ICD-10 codes used:
T67.0 Heatstroke and sunstroke
³ Assessing growth through time:
HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data.
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care

The following table provides the number of deaths where the heatstroke or sunstroke was the cause of death in England, for 2005 to 2010 (the latest year available). It should be noted that heatstroke does not appear as the primary underlying cause of death, as the primary cause field in such cases is used to indicate the mode of death (e.g. accident, suicide). Deaths with a cause of heatstroke and sunstroke are therefore identified by the appearance of ICD-10 code T67.0 in the secondary cause field.

Number of deaths with a cause of heatstroke or sunstroke, England, 2005-10¹, ², ³, 4, all persons
	Deaths
2005	0
2006	3
2007	1
2008	1
2009	0
¹ Cause of death from heatstroke and sunstroke was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code T67.0, where this code appeared as the secondary cause.
² Figures exclude deaths of non-residents.
³ Boundaries assigned using the May 2011 National Statistics Postcode Directory.
4 Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

65777; 531 c933-4W

Session

2010-12

Subjects

Heatstroke

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk