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Scottish Community Care Statistics 2002

Hospitals

Information on people in hospitals in Mental Health specialties are collected by ISD Scotland, and further information can be found on their website at http://www.isdscotland.org under the headings Information and Statistics/Health and Care/Acute Activity; and Information and Statistics/Health and Care/Mental Health.

Data are based on the Mental Health specialties: general psychiatry, forensic psychiatry (introduced in 1997, but previously included in 'general psychiatry'), psychiatry of old age, child psychiatry and adolescent psychiatry. Data are derived from two ISD national data sets: ISD(S)1, which collects aggregated data on hospital bed numbers and hospital activity for a range of services and of patient types; and SMR04, which collects patient-based data on inpatient admissions and discharges for people admitted to hospital into mental health or learning disability specialties.

SMR04 data are not shown for the year ending March 2002 as they are not thought to be complete. Note also that this data set is undergoing further quality assurance work, so that figures for recent years may differ from those previously published.

Table 3.14: Mental Health specialties ¹; selected hospital inpatient activity statistics ²; years ending 31 March 1980-2002

¹ Comprises general psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, forensic psychiatry (introduced in 1997, but previously included in 'general psychiatry'), psychiatry of old age, child psychiatry and adolescent psychiatry.
² Includes joint-user and contractual hospitals for which data are available. Note that there will be some overlap with information on activity shown for those private nursing homes with which NHS boards have sub-contractual arrangements.
³ Mean stay per episode is calculated for each year as: total number of occupied bed days/total number of inpatient episodes.
⁴ Throughput, the average number of inpatient episodes per bed per year, is calculated for each year as: total number of inpatient episodes/average number of available staffed beds.
Source: ISD Scotland - form ISD(S)1

Table 3.14 presents trends over time for Mental Health specialties in the average number of available and occupied hospital inpatient beds, the mean stay and throughput (average number of episodes per bed per year).

Bed availability for Mental Health specialties has declined from over 17,000 beds in 1980, to less than 7,400 beds in 2002. There has also been a decline in the average number of occupied beds and in the mean length of stay in hospital. Patient throughput has gradually increased over the period, and for the year ending March 2002 was 4.1 patients per bed per year.

Table 3.15: Mental Health specialties ¹; selected hospital inpatient activity statistics ², by NHS board area of treatment: Year ending 31 March 2002

¹ Comprises general psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, psychiatry of old age, child psychiatry and adolescent psychiatry.
² Includes joint-user and contractual hospitals for which data are available. Note that there will be some overlap with information on activity shown for those private nursing homes with which NHS boards have sub-contractual arrangements.
Source: ISD Scotland - ISD(S)1 Return

Table 3.15 presents for the year ending March 2002, for the Mental Health specialties, the number of inpatient hospital beds available and the occupancy level by NHS Board.

In the year ending March 2002 there were 7,346 beds available in Scotland and the average occupancy was 85 per cent. Percentage occupancy ranged from 81 per cent in Dumfries and Galloway to 93 per cent in Western Isles.

Table 3.16: Mental Health specialties ¹, hospital inpatient admissions (by place admitted from), discharges (by destination), and residents: years ending 31 March 1980-2001

¹ Comprises general psychiatry, forensic psychiatry (introduced in 1997, but previously included in 'general psychiatry'), psychiatry of old age, child psychiatry and adolescent psychiatry.
² Local Authority/Voluntary includes nursing homes, residential homes, hostels and group homes in the local authority and voluntary sectors.
^r Revised. As a result of quality assurance work some of the figures shown here differ from those previously published.
Source: ISD Scotland - SMR4/SMR04 Returns

Table 3.16 shows, for Mental Health hospital inpatients, the trend in numbers of admissions and discharges by place from which admitted and place to which discharged.

Both admissions and discharges have remained fairly constant since1990. The majority of patients were admitted from home (68 per cent in the year ending March 2001), and were discharged to home (75 per cent in the year ending March 2001).

Table 3.17: Mental Health specialties ¹, numbers of hospital residents, and percentages by age group ^2,3: at 31 March 1980-2001

¹ Comprises general psychiatry, forensic psychiatry (introduced in 1997, but previously included in 'general psychiatry'), psychiatry of old age, child psychiatry and adolescent psychiatry.
² Age at date of residence.
³ Percentages are calculated for those residents for whom age was recorded; the numbers of residents for whom age was not recorded are as follows: 1980: 693 residents; 1985: 371 residents; 1990: 132 residents; 1995: 13 residents; 2001: 1 resident.
^r Revised. As a result of quality assurance work some of the figures shown here differ from those previously published.
Source: ISD Scotland, SMR4/SMR04 Returns

Table 3.17 shows the age breakdown of residents in hospital within Mental Health specialties between 1980 and 2001. The percentage aged under 65 declined until 1990, and since then has increased. Otherwise, percentages in each age group have remained reasonably constant over the years. In March 2001, 47 per cent of patients were aged under 65, with 16 per cent in age group 65-74, 23 per cent in age group 75-84, and 14 per cent in age group 85 and over.

Table 3.18: Mental Health specialties ¹, day patient activity in hospitals ², by NHS board area of treatment: year ending 31 March 2002

¹ Includes general psychiatry, psychiatry of old age, forensic psychiatry, child psychiatry and adolescent psychiatry.
² Includes NHS day hospitals and day patient units (and excludes for instance residential care homes or day centres).
^e Estimated

Source: ISD Scotland - ISD(S)1

Table 3.18 presents a summary of day patient activity in Mental Health specialities for the year ending 31 March 2002.

During this year there were 450 thousand hospital day patient attendances, and at the end of the year there were just under 3,000 patients on the books.

Direct Payments

Direct payments have been available since April 1997 to people aged 18-64 with mental health problems, to purchase the services they have been assessed as needing. They were extended to people aged 65 and over in July 2000.

During the year April 2001 to March 2002, six clients with mental health problems received direct payments. All six were aged 18-64. The value of these payments was 40,000.

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