Drugs: Babies
Health
Andrew Lansley (Shadow Secretary of State for Health, Health; South Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health
(1) how many babies were born with a diagnosed addiction to drugs (a) in each year since 1997 and (b) in each primary care trust area in the last year for which figures are available;
(2) how many babies received treatment for (a) drug addiction and (b) alcohol problems arising from their mother's use of such substances during pregnancy (i) in each year since 1997 and (ii) in each primary care trust area in the last year for which figures are available.
Dawn Primarolo (Minister of State (Public Health), Department of Health; Bristol South, Labour)
Data on the number of babies treated for alcohol problems arising from their mother's use of alcohol are not collected centrally.
The following tables show the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) where the primary or secondary diagnosis was either neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of drugs of addiction or withdrawal from therapeutic use of drugs in newborns. The baby is not diagnosed as addicted, but as withdrawing from the mother's addiction.
It is not possible to provide information on the type of drug the newborn child is withdrawing from.
It is unclear whether there has been a real rise in the number of babies born suffering from the mother's addiction, as we suspect that a better awareness of drug misuse has lead to an increase of awareness and identification. Improved engagement with pregnant drug addicted women by the national health service and improvements in treatment for drug addiction may have allowed more women to conceive and/or carry a pregnancy to full term.
| Count of cases (finished consultant birth episodes) with a primary or secondary diagnosis of neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of drugs for the period 1997-98 to 2007-08 | |
| Total finished consultant birth episodes | |
| 2007-08 | 1,230 |
| 2006-07 | 1,211 |
| 2005-06 | 1,210 |
| 2004-05 | 1,192 |
| 2003-04 | 1,156 |
| 2002-03 | 1,054 |
| 2001-02 | 933 |
| 2000-01 | 926 |
| 1999-2000 | 924 |
| 1998-99 | 909 |
| 1997-98 | 751 |
| Count of cases (finished consultant episodes) with a primary or secondary diagnosis of neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of drugs by primary care trust (PCT) of residence for the period 2007-08 | |
| Current PCT of residence description | Total finished consultant birth episodes |
| Unknown | 575 |
| Bromley PCT | * |
| Barnet PCT | * |
| Hillingdon PCT | * |
| Enfield PCT | * |
| Barking and Dagenham PCT | * |
| City and Hackney Teaching PCT | * |
| Tower Hamlets PCT | * |
| Newham PCT | * |
| Haringey Teaching PCT | * |
| Blackburn with Darwen PCT | 7 |
| Herefordshire PCT | * |
| North Tyneside PCT | * |
| Hartlepool PCT | * |
| North Tees Teaching PCT | * |
| North Lincolnshire PCT | 12 |
| Nottingham City PCT | * |
| Salford PCT | 9 |
| Stockport PCT | * |
| Portsmouth City Teaching PCT | * |
| Luton PCT | 11 |
| Rotherham PCT | 6 |
| Ashton, Leigh and Wigan PCT | 14 |
| Blackpool PCT | 8 |
| Bolton PCT | * |
| Ealing PCT | * |
| Warrington PCT | * |
| Oldham PCT | 7 |
| Calderdale PCT | * |
| Barnsley PCT | * |
| Bury PCT | * |
| Brent Teaching PCT | * |
| Camden PCT | * |
| Islington PCT | 7 |
| Sunderland Teaching PCT | * |
| Southampton City PCT | * |
| Medway PCT | 8 |
| Westminster PCT | * |
| Southwark PCT | * |
| Lewisham PCT | * |
| Tameside and Glossop PCT | * |
| Brighton and Hove City PCT | 9 |
| South Birmingham PCT | * |
| Shropshire County PCT | * |
| Walsall Teaching PCT | * |
| Sutton and Merton PCT | 6 |
| North Somerset PCT | * |
| Telford and Wrekin PCT | * |
| Wolverhampton City PCT | * |
| Heart of Birmingham Teaching PCT | 7 |
| Leeds PCT | 31 |
| Kirklees PCT | * |
| Wakefield District PCT | 11 |
| Sheffield PCT | 15 |
| Derbyshire County PCT | 9 |
| Nottinghamshire County Teaching PCT | 10 |
| Lincolnshire Teaching PCT | * |
| Redbridge PCT | * |
| Waltham Forest PCT | * |
| County Durham PCT | * |
| Cumbria Teaching PCT | * |
| North Lancashire Teaching PCT | 6 |
| Central Lancashire PCT | 8 |
| East Lancashire Teaching PCT | 12 |
| Sefton PCT | * |
| Wirral PCT | * |
| Liverpool PCT | 11 |
| Halton and St. Helens PCT | 7 |
| Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT | 8 |
| Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale PCT | 7 |
| Manchester PCT | 17 |
| North Yorkshire and York PCT | * |
| East Riding of Yorkshire PCT | * |
| Hull Teaching PCT | * |
| Bradford and Airedale Teaching PCT | 21 |
| South East Essex PCT | * |
| Bedfordshire PCT | 17 |
| East and North Hertfordshire PCT | * |
| Surrey PCT | * |
| West Sussex PCT | * |
| East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT | * |
| Hastings and Rother PCT | * |
| West Kent PCT | * |
| Leicestershire County and Rutland PCT | 6 |
| Leicester City PCT | 12 |
| Northamptonshire Teaching PCT | 8 |
| Dudley PCT | 6 |
| Sandwell PCT | 9 |
| Birmingham East and North PCT | 8 |
| South Staffordshire PCT | * |
| Worcestershire PCT | * |
| Warwickshire PCT | * |
| Peterborough PCT | * |
| Cambridgeshire PCT | * |
| Norfolk PCT | * |
| Great Yarmouth and Waveney PCT | * |
| Suffolk PCT | 6 |
| West Essex PCT | * |
| North East Essex PCT | 9 |
| South West Essex PCT | * |
| Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT | * |
| Hampshire PCT | 7 |
| Buckinghamshire PCT | 9 |
| Oxfordshire PCT | * |
| Berkshire West PCT | 11 |
| Berkshire East PCT | 7 |
| Bristol PCT | 33 |
| Wiltshire PCT | * |
| Dorset PCT | * |
| Bournemouth and Poole Teaching PCT | 24 |
| Devon PCT | * |
| Isle of Wight NHS PCT | * |
| Powys LHB | * |
| Northumberland Care Trust | * |
| Torbay Care Trust | 8 |
| North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus | 11 |
| Total | 1,230 |
| Notes: ICD-10 diagnosis codes used: P96.1 Neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of drugs of addiction. P96.2 Withdrawal symptoms form therapeutic use of drugs in newborn. Low numbers Due to reasons of confidentiality, figures between one and five have been suppressed and replaced with '*' (an asterisk). Ungrossed data Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed). Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, The Information Centre for health and social care. | |