Question reference: S6W-23564
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 5 December 2023
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Current status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 December 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people (a) had to be hospitalised and (b) died as a result of paracetamol overdose in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answer
In response to (a):
Table 1 shows the number of people admitted to hospital as an inpatient or day case as a result of paracetamol poisoning, which includes overdose. Note that these figures include overdoses that were coded as accidental, intentional and of undetermined intent.
Table 1: Number of people admitted to hospital for paracetamol poisoning
Financial year | Number of admissions |
2018-19 | 5,905 |
2019-20 | 6,307 |
2020-21 | 5,996 |
2021-22 | 6,060 |
2022-23 | 5,189 |
Source: Public Health Scotland
In response to (b):
National Records of Scotland publish an annual National Statistics report on Drug-related Deaths in Scotland, which was released on 22 August 2023. The publication can be found at: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland/2022/additional-data
Within Table SUB2 of the additional tables published alongside the main report, there is a breakdown of drug poisoning deaths by year and substance, including specifically those drugs which were implicated in or potentially contributed to the cause of death. Table 2 provides an extract from this table, showing the number of drug poisoning deaths where paracetamol was reported to have been implicated in or potentially contributed to the cause of death for the most recent five years of published data.
Table 2. The number of drug poisoning deaths where paracetamol was reported to have been implicated in or potentially contributed to the cause of death
Year | Drug-poisoning deaths registered (paracetamol) |
2018 | 49 |
2019 | 40 |
2020 | 28 |
2021 | 41 |
2022 | 47 |
Please note that more than one drug may be listed on the death certificate as being implicated in or potentially contributing to the cause of death so the figures above will include those where paracetamol was listed either as the sole substance or alongside other substances on the death certificate. Where paracetamol is listed alongside other substances implicated in the cause of death, it is not possible to determine whether paracetamol was the main substance resulting in the death. For the purpose of these statistics, drug poisoning deaths include all those where the underlying cause was listed as ‘Mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use’ or ‘Poisoning by drugs, whether accidental, intentional, of unknown intent or as a result of assault’.