Accident and Emergency dog attack patient numbers (FOI)

Request

Please advise how many visits to Jersey's Accident and Emergency have been due to dog attacks.

A

Please provide this information for each of the last 10 years, including the latest figure available for 2023. 

B

For each year, please provide a breakdown by age bracket and by gender.

C

Please provide a breakdown of how serious each incident was, for example, cases where overnight stays were required, cases where surgery was required, cases where patients were left in critical condition.

D

For each year, please provide a cost breakdown of treatment for these incidents.

Response

Figures are provided up to 30 April 2023, as this is the latest available full month of validated data. 

In May 2023, the Health and Community Services (HCS) Patient Administration System was replaced with a new Electronic Patient Record system. Statistical reporting of Emergency Department and inpatient activity is currently being finalised and validated, as part of acceptance testing of the new system.

All data relates to Emergency Department (ED) attendances where the presenting complaint was recorded as a ‘dog bite’ or ‘dog scratch’. Where the presenting complaint is categorised only as a ‘bite’ without specification, this is excluded. Resultantly, the totals provided may undercount the number of attendances resulting from dog-related incidents.

A

Table 1 attached shows ED attendances per year, from 2012 to 30 April 2023, where the presenting complaint was recorded as ‘dog bite’ or ‘dog scratch’.

Table 1 - ED attendances per year.pdf

B

Table 2 attached shows the annual data from Question 1, broken down by age group.

Table 2 - ED attendances per year by age group.pdf

Table 3 attached shows the annual data from Question 1, broken down by gender.

Table 3 - ED attendances per year by gender.pdf

C

The best available indicator of injury severity for this data analysis is the Triage Description assigned to the patient. These categories are assigned based on the standard Manchester Triage System. Table 4 attached shows the total attendances by Triage Description assigned from 01 January 2012 to 30 April 2023.

Table 4 - ED attendances by Triage Description.pdf

Of these ED attendances, 20 people were subsequently admitted to hospital. This includes direct admissions from ED only, and does not count any patients who may have been admitted at a later date for treatment of their injuries, for example, through elective (planned) surgery.

D

The requested cost data is available for the period 2017 to 2021 inclusive. HCS do not hold cost data of the necessary specificity prior to 2017, and 2022 costs will not be available for analysis until later in 2023. Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

Annual costs for the treatment of dog bites or scratches from 2017 to 2021 are detailed in Table 5 attached. 

Table 5 - Annual treatment costs.pdf

Article Applied

Article 3 Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.