Written question WQ91225

The term ‘NHS contacts’ provides a broad estimate of activity across the majority of NHS services. It is calculated by bringing together data from various official statistics and management information. The measure includes most planned appointments in primary and secondary care as well as emergency department attendances.

The estimate of two million contacts per month is based on data sources covering:

· In-person and telephone appointments with GPs, direct patient care and nursing staff in general practices;

· courses of treatment through NHS dental services;

· emergency contraception, seasonal flu vaccine, common ailments scheme and emergency medicine supply claims made by community pharmacists;

· sight tests through NHS funded optometrists;

· outpatient, inpatient, day case and emergency department attendances in hospitals.

It does not include appointments where patients did not attend. It also does not include contacts through other NHS services such as health visiting, maternity and ambulance attendances. It also does not include answered calls to 111 which amount to an additional approximately 70,000 contacts a month.

Due to the way in which many of the data sources are collected, we are not able to estimate the number of individual people who have contacts with the NHS every month.

The most recent estimate is that there are around 350,000 contacts per month in Cardiff and Vale health board area and 340,000 contacts per month in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board area.