A few festive facts from The NHS Information Centre

Before pulling those crackers and tucking into the turkey, here are a few festive facts from The NHS Information Centre, England's central authoritative source of health and social care information.

These seasonal statistics come from the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data 2008/09, published in October 2009.

Deck the halls…

Just think about those boughs of holly before reaching for the shears – there were 244 admissions to hospital in 2008/09 after contact with plant thorns, spines and sharp leaves, while a further 5,761 were admitted after falling from or on a ladder.

And a word of caution for would-be chestnut roasters - there were 155 admissions to hospital after exposure to controlled fire in a building or structure.

Walking in a winter wonderland…

It may make lovely snowmen, but the white stuff has its dangers – there were a total of 7,641 admissions to hospital in 2008/09 due to falling on ice or snow. And 3,854 admissions after a fall involving ice skates, skis, rollerblades or skateboards.

Boxing Day sales…

There may be bargains to be had but do take care if you are caught in the crowds rushing to the shops. In 2008/09 there were 125 admissions after being crushed, pushed or stepped on by a crowd or human stampede.

And finally, a toast…

How are you holding that glass of mulled wine? There were 1,772 admissions in 2008/09 for contact with hot drinks.

Other facts from the 2008/09 data for England showed there were:

  • Three admissions for contact with scorpions
  • 59 admissions for victims of lightning
  • 4,416 admissions from contact with a non-powered hand tool

To view the figures visit www.hesonline.nhs.uk

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 more than 300 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 2008/09, which was published in October 2009. Provisional data for 2009/10 is also published each month.
  4. 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:
  • W00 Fall on same level involving ice and snow
  • W02 Fall involving ice-skates, skis, roller-skates or skateboards
  • W11 Fall on and from ladder
  • W27 Contact with non-powered hand tool
  • W52 Crushed, pushed or stepped on by crowd or human stampede
  • W60 Contact with plant thorns and spines and sharp leaves
  • X02 Exposure to controlled fire in building or structure
  • X10 Contact with hot drinks
  • X22 Contact with scorpions
  • X33 Victim of lightning

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