Patient Statistics.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 February 2004

Tuesday, 17 February 2004

Ceisteanna (316)

Olivia Mitchell

Ceist:

402 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of patients in each health board area attending accident and emergency departments of hospitals as a result of assault in each of the years from 2001 to date; and the number of in-patient hospitalisations in each acute hospital due to homicide and injury purposely inflicted by other persons for each of the years 2001 to date. [4991/04]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

Data on attendances at accident and emergency departments are collected each month nationally but it is not possible to determine what proportion of attendances at accident and emergency departments are due to assault.

Information on hospital in-patient activity is collected in the hospital in-patient inquiry, HIPE, system. This system records the number of hospital discharges in publicly funded acute hospitals and is not a patient-based system. Table 1 which follows presents data on the number of hospitalisations due to homicide and injury purposely inflicted by other persons by hospital in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Where fewer than ten cases were recorded in a hospital on average over the three years, this data has been aggregated into the "other hospital" category. Interpretation of this data should be approached with caution since reporting of external cause is not required so may not be complete.

Data for 2003 is not yet complete. In addition, the level of completeness may vary from hospital to hospital. No estimate on the final number of cases for 2003 can be inferred and therefore valid comparisons between hospitals and over time cannot be made based on this partial data.

Table 1

Number of hospitalisations due to homicide and injury purposely inflicted by other persons by hospital, 2001 to 2003
Hospital	2001	2002	2003*
Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9	156	134	89
Cork University Hospital	308	313	100
Ennis General	25	24	31
James Connolly Memorial Hospital	108	129	75
Letterkenny General Hospital	163	135	106
Limerick Regional Hospital	163	103	93
Longford Westmeath General Hospital	56	93	73
Louth County Hospital	74	75	51
Mallow General Hospital, Cork	12	18	8
Mater Misericordiae Hospital	249	390	256
Mayo General Hospital	89	62	59
Mercy Hospital, Cork	22	24	4
Merlin Park Hospital, Galway	77	71	55
Monaghan General Hospital	44	29	23
Naas General Hospital, Naas	51	46	24
Nenagh General	19	12	25
New General Hospital, Cavan	49	48	50
Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda	82	79	75
Our Lady's County Surgical Hospital Cashel	35	67	81
Our Lady's Hospital, Navan	58	62	45
Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe	77	49	39
Portlaoise General Hospital	33	28	31
Roscommon County Hospital	29	11	14
Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, Dublin	41	33	28
Sligo General Hospital	70	73	58
South Infirmary-Victoria Hospital, Cork	25	29	18
St. Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown	49	25	4
St. James's Hospital, Dublin 8.	197	191	178
St. Luke's County Hospital, Kilkenny	104	85	98
St. Michael's Hospital, Dún Laoghaire	15	22	3
St. Vincent's Hospital, Elm Park	84	77	39
Tallaght	125	228	195
The Children's Hospital, Temple Street	15	11	11
Tralee General Hospital, Kerry	94	67	53
Tullamore General Hospital	123	71	44
University College Hospital, Galway	111	134	165
Waterford Regional Hospital	132	116	122
Wexford General Hospital	77	66	60
Other Hospitals	43	33	38
Total	3,284	3,263	2,521

*Data for 2003 are incomplete. Source: HIPE 2001, 2002 and 2003. Note: counts are based on those discharges with ICD-9-CM external cause code of E960 to E969.