Drug-related hospital admissions in England were up last year, and drug misuse was on the decline, according to a new report from The NHS Information Centre out today.

Figures – which related to both legal and illicit drugs - show there were 44,585 hospital admissions for drug-related mental health and behavioural disorders in 2009/10 (a rate of 86 per 100,000 population) - 2,415 (5.7 per cent) more than in 2008/09 (when the rate was 82 per 100,000 population).

Drug poisoning accounted for a further 11,618 admissions, 4.8 per cent more than in 2008/09 when there were 11,090 admissions recorded. .

The report shows that 8.6 per cent adults (2.80 million) aged 16-59 had used one or more illicit drugs during 2009/10, 1.5 percentage points less than in 2008/09 when it was 10.1 per cent (3.24 million).Over the longer term this is down from a peak of 12.3 per cent in 2003/04 and 11.1 per cent in 1996.

There has been an overall decrease in drug use reported by 11- 15 year olds since 2001. The prevalence of those having ever taken drugs fell from 29 per cent in 2001 to 22 per cent in 2009.

The figures come from the latest ‘Statistics on Drug Misuse: England 2010' report, which provides a summary of pre-published statistics on drug misuse covering prevalence, trends, patterns and health outcomes related to drug misuse. It also includes previously unpublished figures on drug-related admissions from The NHS Information Centre's Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES).

Figures also show:

• Opiates only (which includes heroin) was the main type of drug for which people received treatment (50 per cent of all treatments), with a further 31 per cent of treatments for those who have taken both opiates and crack in 2009/10.
• There were 62,685 discharged episodes of treatment for drug dependency within community structured, inpatient and residential settings during 2009/10. 23,680 (38 per cent) of these were for those no longer dependent on the substances that brought them in; a further 9,352 (15 per cent) were referred on for further interventions. The remaining 29,653 either dropped out of treatment or were discharged for other reasons.
• People living in the North West and Yorkshire and Humber SHAs have the highest rate of admissions for drug related mental health and behavioural disorders (168 admissions per 100,000 population and 105 admissions per 100,000 population respectively). South Central SHA has the lowest such admission rate (41 admissions per 100,000 population).

The NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: “The report brings together information from a range of published materials about trends in drugs misuse and also new figures about admissions to hospital caused by use of both legal and illicit drugs.

“It shows that admissions to hospital as a result of drugs misuse have risen and, elsewhere, it captures the fact that drug misuse among both adults and children is on the decline.”

The full report is available at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/drugmisuse10

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. The NHS Information Centre is England's authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with a 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, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work. The NHS Information Centre 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. Drug misuse in this release refers to the illegal or illicit drug taking or substance abuse which causes a person to experience social, psychological, physical or legal problems related to intoxication or regular excessive consumption and/or dependence.
3. Please note, figures relating to hospital admissions and discharged episodes of care are not related. The admissions figures (taken from the HES database and covering activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector) are for specific ICD-10 codes (please see the full report for details) that relate to drug related mental health or behavioural issues and drug poisoning where as the discharged episode of care figures are taken from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) system and relate to treatment for drug use received in structured community-based services, or residential and inpatient services. In addition, discharges include people who may have been receiving treatment for their drug use for a number of years and discharged in that year (09/10) whereas admissions are for a set 12 month period only.
4. The bulletin draws together data from a variety of different sources and presents it in a user-friendly format. Where possible information has been presented for England, however some sources present England and Wales information together. Most of the data contained in the bulletin have been published previously, by The NHS Information Centre, Department of Health, the Home Office, Office for National Statistics, the Health Protection Agency or the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse. Previously unpublished figures on drug-related admissions to hospital are presented by The NHS Information Centre.
5. Hospital admission data are available at PCT level within the report.
6. As the figures within this bulletin are from a range of sources, the baseline year chosen for comparison with current figures may vary.
7. The adults and young adults' information switched from a calendar year to a financial year basis in 2001/02.
8. Fluctuations in hospital admissions and discharge figures for different years can occur for a number of reasons, e.g. organisational changes, reviews of best practice within the medical community, the adoption of new coding schemes and data quality problems that are often year specific.
9. For media enquiries please call 0845 257 6990.