Provisional monthly HES topic of interest: Assaults

What is TKAP II?

The Tackling Knives Action Programme (TKAP) is a cross-government programme to reduce incidents of death and serious violence among young people. We have previously reported figures for the first phase of the programme looking at assaults by sharp object among teenagers (13-19 year olds). In April 2009 the programme moved into phase 2, aimed at reducing the number of all assaults (not just those with a sharp object) involving young people (aged 13-24) in fourteen police force areas.

Key facts

• In the current year from November 2008 to October 2009 there were 43,455 finished admission episodes for assault (all age groups), of these 27,124 (62.4%) were from Tackling Knives Action Programme (TKAP) local authorities and 16,331 from non-TKAP areas.
• In the previous year from November 2007 to October 2008 there were 42,124 finished admission episodes for assault (all age groups). Of these, 26,261 (62.3%) were from Tackling Knives Action Programme (TKAP) local authorities and 15,863 from non-TKAP areas.
• Between these periods admission episodes for assault increased by 3.2% in England, with an increase of 3.3% in TKAP areas and an increase of 3.0% in non-TKAP areas.
• There were 10,838 finished admission episodes recorded in the year November 2008 to October 2009 for people aged between 13-24 within TKAP areas, representing an increase of 99 (0.9%) from the previous year (November 2007 to October 2008).
• There were 6,480 finished admission episodes recorded in the year November 2008 to October 2009 for people aged between 13-24 within non-TKAP areas, representing an increase of 102 (1.6%) from the previous year (November 2007 to October 2008).

Monthly activity: Admissions for Assault (13-24 years old)

Note: Figures for October 2009 should be treated with extra caution due to the short period available for clinical coding to be completed.

TKAP local authorities

The TKAP local authorities (LAs) are a list of LAs of residence provided by the Home Office. TKAP areas are not coterminous with local authorities but this list of LAs provides a good approximation. From April 2009 TKAP moved into its second phase and has extended the number of forces it involves from 9 to 14. There has also been a minor update to the LAs used in TKAP phase 1 to include Ribble Valley, Rushcliffe, and Vale of White Horse. The inclusion of these LAs has a negligible impact on figures for the original 9 TKAP Phase 1 areas. A list of LAs in TKAP Phases 1 and 2 is available within the worksheet TKAP areas.

More details about diagnosis codes used - ICD-10 Codes 'assault' figures

• X85 Assault by drugs medicaments and biological substances
• X86 Assault by corrosive substance
• X87 Assault by pesticides
• X88 Assault by gases and vapours
• X89 Assault by other specified chemicals and noxious substances
• X90 Assault by unspecified chemical or noxious substance
• X91 Assault by hanging strangulation and suffocation
• X92 Assault by drowning and submersion
• X93 Assault by handgun discharge
• X94 Assault by rifle shotgun and larger firearm discharge
• X95 Assault by other and unspecified firearm discharge
• X96 Assault by explosive material
• X97 Assault by smoke fire and flames
• X98 Assault by steam hot vapours and hot objects
• X99 Assault by sharp object
• Y00 Assault by blunt object
• Y01 Assault by pushing from high place
• Y02 Assault by pushing or placing victim before moving object
• Y03 Assault by crashing of motor vehicle
• Y04 Assault by bodily force
• Y05 Sexual assault by bodily force
• Y06 Neglect and abandonment
• Y07 Other maltreatment syndromes
• Y08 Assault by other specified means
• Y09 Assault by unspecified means

Future topics

If you would like to suggest a topic for us to feature in the future please contact us at HES.questions@ic.nhs.uk.

Footnotes

Finished admission episodes

A finished admission episode is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Finished admission episodes are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Please note that admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.

TKAP Age group

Figures are for those aged 13 to 24 years old when they were admitted to hospital. Non-TKAP are those aged 12 & under and 25 & over, and episodes with an unknown age.

TKAP

The TKAP local authorities (LAs) are a list of LAs of residence provided by the Home Office. TKAP areas are not coterminous with local authorities but this list of LAs provides a good approximation. Non-TKAP areas include a small number of people who were not resident in England but were treated in the NHS in England.

Data quality

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) in England. Data is also received from a number of independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain.

Assessing growth through time

HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. The quality and coverage of the data have improved over time. These improvements in information submitted by the NHS have been particularly marked in the earlier years and need to be borne in mind when analysing time series.

Some of the increase in figures for later years (particularly 2006-07 onwards) may be due to the improvement in the coverage of independent sector activity.

Changes in NHS practice also need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. For example, a number of procedures may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and may no longer be accounted for in the HES data. This may account for any reductions in activity over time.

Provisional data

The data from April 2009 is provisional and may be incomplete or contain errors for which no adjustments have yet been made. Counts produced from provisional data are likely to be lower than those generated for the same period in the final dataset. This shortfall will be most pronounced in the final month of the latest period.

Source

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care

Responsible statistician

The responsible statistician for this publication is Chris Dew, HES/SUS Analysis (Service) Section Head (enquiries@ic.nhs.uk, 0845 300 6016).

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