Hospitals in England have seen the annual number of emergency admissions for heart attacks among patients aged 35 to 74 drop by more than a quarter in a decade and the death rate nearly halve.
Emergency admissions fell from 42,400 in 2000/01 to 30,600 in 2009/10, NHS Information Centre figures show. During the same period the death rate for within 30 days of an emergency admission for heart attack almost halved; dropping from one in 11 to one in 20. The report, Hospital Episode Statistics: Deaths within 30 days of a hospital procedure or of an emergency admission to hospital – Financial year 2009/10, presents mortality information on selected conditions and procedures, to help the NHS monitor potential avoidable deaths following hospital treatment. As well as the notable changes for heart attacks, the report also shows that while the death rate has reduced for stroke (among all age groups) between 2000/01 and 2009/10, the annual number of emergency admissions has not changed greatly. In 2009/10 there were 64,300 emergency admissions; a 4% fall compared to 2000/01 (67,000). During the same period the death rate fell from one in four to one in five. NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: “The majority of admissions to hospital for people suffering a heart attack or stroke are emergency cases. This report focuses on such admissions; providing the NHS and the public with a vital 10 year snapshot of the number of patients treated by our hospitals for such serious conditions and whether they survive or not.”
