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Hospital admissions for drug-related mental and behavioural disorders [1] in England dropped by 5% in a year, new figures published by NHS Digital show.

The number of admissions with a primary diagnosis of drug-related mental and behavioural disorders has fallen from 7,376 in 2018-19 to 7,027 in 2019-20. This has decreased 18% from the previous highest recorded admissions in 2015-16 (8,621 admissions).

These admissions are still 21% higher than 10 years ago – in 2009-10 they totalled 5,809. Data on admissions with a primary and secondary diagnosis are also available in this report [2].

Statistics on Drugs Misuse, England 2020 is an annual compendium report which includes newly published information on hospital admissions for drug-related mental health and behavioural disorders as well as for poisoning by illicit drugs. Most of the data is for England only [3], but some is for England and Wales combined.

The report shows that 73% of hospital admissions for drug-related mental and behavioural disorders were for males.

Kingston upon Hull had the highest admission rate with 49 admissions per 100,000 population for drug-related mental and behavioural disorders during 2019-20. There were 13 local authorities which recorded rates of less than 5 admissions per 100,000 population.

There were 16,994 admissions for poisoning by drug misuse [4] in 2019-20. This is 9% higher than the earliest comparable data5, from 2012-13 (15,580), but shows a 6% decrease from 2018-19 (18,053).

Nationally, a similar proportion of men and women were admitted to hospital for poisoning by drug misuse in 2019-20.

Middlesbrough had the highest admission rate for poisoning by drug misuse with 106 per 100,000 population. Seven of the nine lowest rates (all below 10 per 100,000) were in London boroughs.

Read the full report  :  Statistics on Drugs Misuse, England 2020 

Notes to editors  

1. These figures are for hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of drug-related mental or behavioural disorders. This equates to the main reason why patients were admitted to hospital. 

2. A primary diagnosis indicates the primary reason a patient is being treated. However, secondary diagnoses can also be recorded for contributory reasons for treatment or to provide clinicians with information pertinent to a patient’s care. Therefore, admissions with a primary and secondary diagnoses only reflect the number of admissions where one of the codes were noted, not the number of people admitted specifically for those codes. 

3. Hospital admissions data covers England only, however, data on the prevalence of drug use and deaths related to poisoning by drug misuse covers both England and Wales. 

4. These figures are for hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of poisoning by drug that are listed as controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (includes both intentional and unintentional poisoning). 

5. This measure was subject to a methodological change in 2012-13 and so data from before this time is not comparable. 

6. Public Health England have also published two drugs misuse publications today: Substance misuse treatment for young people: statistics 2019-2020 and Substance misuse treatment in secure settings: 2019-2020. Available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/alcohol-and-drug-misuse-and-treatment-statistics 

NHS Digital is the national information and technology partner of the health and care system.  Our team of information analysis, technology and project management experts create, deliver and manage the crucial digital systems, services, products and standards upon which health and care professionals depend.  During the 2019-20 financial year, NHS Digital published 285 statistical reports. Our vision is to harness the power of information and technology to make health and care better. 

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