Increase in Sports Injuries cases seeking NHS accident and emergency assistance

Rise in sport injury cases treated in A&E

13 Jun, 2012 10:30 CET

Accident and emergency departments in England have seen a 15 per cent rise in sports injury cases in a year, Health and Social Care Information Centre provisional figures show.

**Regional data available on request from this publication

Just over 388,500 cases were treated in the 12 months to February 2012; up from nearly 338,200 in the previous 12 month period.

Sports injury attendances rose by a greater percentage than A and E admissions overall, which rose by seven per cent during the same period, although both figures may be affected by increased recording of A and E data over time.

Just over half of all A and E attendances for sports injuries involved young men aged 10 to 29 (205,500) according to today’s report, which also shows attendances peak on Saturday afternoons between 3pm and 5pm; and Sundays between 11am and 4pm.

In the 24 months to February 2012, attendances were high in March and early autumn (September and October) and lower in summer (June to August) and December.

The report also shows that in the 12 months to February 2012:

• Hospitals in the South West Strategic Health Authority (SHA) recorded the highest rate of A and E attendances for sports injuries in the under-40s (20.4 per 1,000 of this age group; or 50,100), while London SHA recorded the lowest rate (6.8 per 1,000; or 31,400).

• Just under six per cent of sport injury cases seen in A and E resulted in an admission to hospital (22,200), while just over half (53 per cent, or 207,000) saw the patient discharged with no further treatment.

• Sports injuries account for about two per cent of A and E cases recorded in HES, but 12 per cent of crutches recorded as issued by A and E departments (7,500) and nine per cent of splint treatments (18,600); along with seven per cent of plaster of Paris treatments (13,600).

HSCIC chief executive Tim Straughan said: “Sport seems to be catching the public imagination at the moment with the Olympics just around the corner. While our hospital figures do not of course represent levels of sports participation over time, they do give an insight into the amount of injuries ending up in A and E through sport.

“Today’s report shows that there has been a considerable rise in such injuries being treated by A and E staff, with cases up by about 15 per cent in a year. About half of all of these cases – so just over 200,000 – were for males aged 10 to 29.”

http://www.cisionwire.com/the-nhs-information-centre/r/rise-in-sport-injury-cases-treated-in-a-e,c9272102