Emergency admissions for respiratory disease - ICP Outcomes Framework - Resident Locality

This dataset provides the age-standardised rate of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory diseases across England. It reflects the burden of acute respiratory conditions requiring urgent medical attention and serves as a key indicator for assessing the effectiveness of preventative care and chronic disease management in respiratory health.

Rationale

Reducing emergency admissions for respiratory diseases is a public health priority, as high rates may indicate poor disease control, environmental factors, or gaps in access to primary care. Monitoring this indicator supports efforts to improve respiratory health outcomes and reduce pressure on emergency healthcare services.

Numerator

The numerator is the total number of emergency hospital admissions where the primary diagnosis is a respiratory disease, identified using ICD-10 codes J00 to J99. Emergency admissions are defined as those occurring unpredictably and at short notice, with admission method codes beginning with '2'. Only finished admission episodes where the episode order is 1 and episode status is 3 are included. Data are sourced from the Secondary Uses Service (SUS).

Denominator

The denominator is based on the resident population from the 2021 Census for the Birmingham and Solihull (BSOL) area, providing a standardised population base for rate calculation.

Caveats

No specific caveats were noted for this dataset. However, as with all hospital admission data, local variations in clinical coding, referral practices, and healthcare access may influence the results.

External References

Fingertips Public Health Profiles – Respiratory Disease Admissions

Localities Explained

This dataset contains data based on either the resident locality or registered locality of the patient, a distinction is made between resident locality and registered locality populations:

• Resident Locality refers to individuals who live within the defined geographic boundaries of the locality. These boundaries are aligned with official administrative areas such as wards and Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs).
• Registered Locality refers to individuals who are registered with GP practices that are assigned to a locality based on the Primary Care Network (PCN) they belong to. These assignments are approximate—PCNs are mapped to a locality based on the location of most of their GP surgeries. As a result, locality-registered patients may live outside the locality, sometimes even in different towns or cities.

This distinction is important because some health indicators are only available at GP practice level, without information on where patients actually reside. In such cases, data is attributed to the locality based on GP registration, not residential address.

Click here to explore more from the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Partnerships Outcome Framework.