Friday 13th - lucky for some

MARK NICHOLLS

It may have been unlucky for some, but statistics reveal that the quietest day at the region's main accident and emergency unit was Friday the 13th.

And rather than falling in the middle of summer when people are most active, the quiet day cropped up on a dull weekday early in the year.

Meanwhile, World Cup fever brought with it a hectic period of activity for A&E staff at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

Its busiest day was Sunday, June 11 - the day after England beat Paraguay 1-0 in their opening fixture of the tournament - with 280 people attending A&E. The quietest day in A&E was Friday, January 13 when only 135 people attended.

And it appears that younger people seem more accident prone. The average age of A&E patients was 40 (43 for men, 37 for women) while the average age for patients in general during 2006 at the hospital was 52.

The data is contained in a list of intriguing statistics compiled by the N&N's hospital information analyst, Tim Hankey.

The N&N treats more than 640,000 patients a year and often operates at maximum capacity.

One of the more intriguing statistics shows that a total of 51 different religious faiths and denominations were treated over the year.

Of all the babies delivered by N&N staff in 2006 the most popular boy's name was Harry, followed by Charlie, and the most popular girl's name was Jessica, followed by Sophie.

By lunchtime yesterday 5,356 babies had been delivered (2,765 boys and 2,591 girls). The busiest day for the maternity department was October 30 when 22 babies were delivered. The average is 14.

The most emergency admissions in one day was 56 emergency surgical patients on August 14 and 86 emergency medical patients on December 1.

Mr Hankey said: "Looking back at these figures it does confound some old myths. The spring and summer months are actually often busier than winter but it is definitely true that A&E does get very busy when England play in a World Cup."