This dataset reports the rate of hospital admissions among young people aged 15 to 24 due to substance misuse. It captures the burden of acute and chronic health issues related to the use of drugs, alcohol, and other psychoactive substances, providing valuable insight into youth mental health and substance-related harm across local authorities in England and Wales.
Rationale
Reducing hospital admissions due to substance misuse in young people is a public health priority. High admission rates may reflect increased prevalence of substance use, lack of access to early intervention services, or broader social and mental health challenges. Monitoring this indicator helps inform targeted prevention and treatment strategies.
Numerator
The numerator includes hospital admissions where the primary diagnosis is a mental or behavioural disorder due to substance use (ICD-10 codes F11–F19), poisoning by narcotics or psychotropic substances (T40, T52, T59, T43.6), or external causes of poisoning (Y12, Y16, Y19). These data are sourced from the Secondary Uses Service (SUS).
Denominator
The denominator is the estimated resident population aged 15 to 24 years, based on mid-year population estimates from the 2021 Census for local authorities in England and Wales.
Caveats
The data reflect episodes of admission rather than individual patients, meaning repeat admissions by the same person are counted multiple times. Additionally, hospital admission rates may be influenced by local differences in referral and admission practices, not solely by the prevalence of substance misuse.
External References
Fingertips Public Health Profiles – Substance Misuse Admissions (15–24 years)
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.