It may be lonely this Christmas in the newsroom - but don't despair – here are a few festive figures from The NHS Information Centre.

These frosty facts relate to hospital admissions in England in the 2009/10 financial year and derive from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) inpatient data, published on October 28 2010.

Sleigh bells ring…

But does Santa's carriage, never mind Rudolph, conform to current health and safety regulations? 3,680 admissions were due to the rider of an animal or the passenger of an animal-drawn vehicle being injured in a transport accident.

And if you are listening – bear in mind there were four admissions for exposure to noise.

When Santa got stuck up the chimney…

Sleigh aside, how about the jolly bearded one's use of climbing equipment? 6,420 admissions were due to people falling on or off a ladder.

Walking in the air…

May occur seconds before a nasty fall - unless you are the snowman of course. 18,570 admissions were due to a fall involving ice and snow.

Plus air-walking might be a bit overrated as a hobby – with four admissions due to a prolonged stay in a weightless environment.

While Shepherds watch their flocks by night…

Who's keeping an eye on the Christmas dinner? 790 admissions were due to contact with hot household appliances (including ovens) and 370 admissions were due to exposure to an uncontrolled fire in a building or structure.

Rocking around the Christmas tree…

Around is definitely a good idea – but not so much atop – as 1,420 admissions were the result of falling from trees. Meanwhile 310 admissions were from contact with plant thorns, spines and sharp leaves. Perhaps plastic trees aren't all bad.

So here it is Merry Christmas - everybody's having fun…

Or perhaps, for some, a little bit too much fun. 2,080 admissions were due to a fall when being carried or supported by other persons (including being dropped) and 46,460 were due to a fall on the same level (including falling from or off a toilet). Meanwhile 18,610 admissions were due to striking against or being struck by other objects (including walking into a wall).

Some other (completely non-Christmas related) figures for 2009/10 are:

• 75 admissions due to being struck by lightning
• 460 admissions due to contact with a powered lawn mower
• 1,120 admissions due to contact with hornets, wasps and bees
• 30 admissions due to cataclysmic storms
• 24 admissions due to being bitten by rats

To view the figures visit www.hesonline.nhs.uk and select; accessing the data; freely available data; inpatient data; external cause.

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. The NHS Information Centre (The NHS IC) is England's central, authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with a wide range of health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researcher, regulators and policymakers in their work. The NHS IC also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.

2. HES can be used to derive information on both numbers of hospital admissions and numbers of Finished Consultant Episodes (FCEs). Patients usually have a single FCE (period of care under one consultant) in their stay, but sometimes a patient can have more than one FCE once admitted. As well as supporting activity such as accountability to Parliament, figures are used for performance monitoring including performance rating indicators for Acute Trusts, Mental Health Trusts and Primary Care Trusts.

3. Figures in this press release are derived from final HES data for 2009/10, which was published in October 2010. Provisional data for 2010/11 is also published each month.

4. Figures above 100 have been rounded to the nearest 10

5. All the data in this press release is based on ICD 10 External Cause Codes. These are supplementary diagnostic codes that indicate the nature of any external cause of injury, poisoning or other adverse effects. Only the first external cause code which is coded within the episode is counted in HES. The codes used in this press release are:

• V80 Animal-rider or occupant of animal-drawn vehicle injured in transport accident
• W00 Fall on same level involving ice and snow
• W04 Fall while being carried or supported by other persons
• W11 Fall on or from ladder
• W14 Fall from tree
• W17 Other fall from one level to another
• W22 Striking against or struck by other objects
• W28 Contact with a powered lawnmower
• W42 Exposure to noise
• W53 Bitten by rat
• W60 Contact with plant thorns and spines and sharp leaves
• X00 Exposure to uncontrolled fire in building or structure
• X15 Contact with hot household appliances
• X23 Contact with hornets
• X33 Victim of lightning
• X37 Victim of a cataclysmic storm
• X52 Prolonged stay in a weightless environment

6. For media enquires please call 0845 257 6990 or contact mediaenquiries@ic.nhs.uk