The Information Centre

While the NHS has a rich, central resource of acute care information at its fingertips, the same cannot be said for primary care, writes Dave Roberts

Nearly 80 per cent of people in England and Wales who died due to illicit drug use in 2006 were men, an NHS Information Centre bulletin shows.

A patient undergoing NHS dental treatment under the new contractual arrangements is more likely to have dentures or tooth extractions and less likely to have fillings or crowns than under the old arrangements, a report released by the NHS Information Centre suggests.

Qualified nurses' estimated basic pay increased to £27,000, according to the NHS Information Centre, which published its latest estimates of NHS staff earnings on 26 July.

Primary care trusts and practice-based commissioning clusters need accurate, up-to-date information to develop better services for patients. Work is under way to ensure the Secondary Uses Service delivers what they need, writes Tim Straughan

A booklet detailing the key NHS information services available to support commissioners has been launched by the NHS Information Centre.

Hospital admissions specifically related to alcohol have more than doubled in England since 1995, according to an NHS Information Centre report.

The NHS Comparators website scooped the Best use of Information award at the annual ASSIST awards.

Demands and expectations on the social care system in England have changed significantly over the last decade. Our population has grown dramatically and its composition has evolved greatly in terms of age and ethnicity. In deciding how best to address these needs, providers need to consider how to offer a greater level of personalised care, an approach advised by the Department of Health's social care strategy.

Responsibility for the NHS central register, which contains nearly 150 million patient registration records, transferred from the Office of National Statistics to the Information Centre for health and social care on 1 April, further establishing the Information Centre as England's primary resource for authoritative health and social care information.