Health written question – answered at on 18 November 2004.
Mr Kevin Hughes
Labour, Doncaster North
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people who are suffering from (a) Alzheimer's disease, (b) Parkinson's disease, (c) Huntingdon's disease, (d) multiple sclerosis and (e) motor neurone disease.
Stephen Ladyman
Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Health
Although the Department does not routinely collect information on the number of people diagnosed with specific conditions, estimates for the United Kingdom are given in the table.
| Condition | Number |
|---|---|
| Alzheimer's disease | 400,000 |
| Parkinson's disease | 120,000 |
| Huntingdon's disease | 4,800 |
| Multiple Sclerosis | 85,000 |
| Motor Neurone disease | 5,000 |
The Department provides hospital episode statistics data, which relates to diagnostic information for in-patients in national health service hospitals. The data refers to the number of finished admission episodes and are shown in the table.
| Diagnosis | Finished admission episodes |
|---|---|
| Alzheimer's Disease | 6,816 |
| Parkinson's Disease | 7,074 |
| Huntingdon's Disease | 386 |
| Multiple Sclerosis | 14,594 |
| Motor Neurone Disease | 2,240 |
A finished admission episode is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. During their course of treatment over a period of time, patients may have a number of episodes of care, which are counted each time they have a stay in hospital.
Yes3 people think so
No2 people think not
Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
