Edmund J Lamb

UK Renal Registry 11th Annual Report (December 2008): Appendix D Methodology used for analyses of PCT incidence and prevalence rates and of standardised ratios

The areas used were the 152 (English) Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), the 22 Welsh local health boards, the 32 Scottish council areas and the 26 Northern Ireland district council areas – these different types of area are collectively called PCTs here. Prior to 2007, only some of the boundaries of PCTs and Local Authorities (LAs) in England were similar. There were roughly twice as many PCTs as LAs and the registry reports published analyses by LA in the main report and prevalence rates by PCT as an appendix. In October 2006, the Office for National Statistics reduced the number of PCTs and re-aligned many of the PCT boundaries in England with those of Local Authorities. As a result, in the 2008 Report these analyses will be presented by PCT (not LA). For data for years before the boundaries changed, patients are allocated to the new PCTs as they are now. In Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the Health Authority boundaries align with the LAs and these areas have been included along with the English PCTs in the tables.