Figures from NHS Digital show that there were 7,461 admissions to hospitals in England in 2016/17 due to someone being bitten or injured by a dog. This works out an average of more than 20 admissions a day.
This is a slight decrease in the number of admissions compared to the previous financial year, when there were 7,673 admissions to hospitals.
The figures also showed that:
Overall people aged 50 to 54 are more likely to be admitted to hospitals than other age groups. In 2016/17 there were 649 admissions for that age range – 8.7 per cent of the total.
People aged 45 to 49 were the second largest group, with 632 admissions, or 8.5 per cent of the total.
Children aged up to four were the third largest group with 565 admissions, corresponding to 7.6 per cent.
The Manchester Evening News
https://tinyurl.com/yccf76hu is reporting that the figures show that in 2017 dog attacks put someone in hospital in Greater Manchester every single day with 439 admissions after somone was bitten or struck by a dog – this is also a decrease compared to the previous year when there were 481.
Former MP for Bolton West , Julie Hilling, who has previously campaigned to strengthen legislation on dangerous dogs, said to the MEN:
These new statistics prove that despite government reassurance, the current legislation to protect people and indeed, other animals, from dangerous dogs isn’t nearly strong enough. Much, much more needs to be done in terms of educating dog owners and children on how to be safe around dogs so these dog attacks don’t happen again.
Dog bite solicitor and Personal Injury specialist James McNally says:
Although the figures show a slight fall in admissions the number is so small (less than 3%) that I’m afraid it’s of very little significance. If changes to the law like compulsory microchipping had made any realy impact I would have expected a much larger fall. It still remains the case that almost 7,500 people in England alone need hospital treatment because of injuries caused by dogs.
Like any good lawyer if you are presented with evidence you have to be a little careful and I’m aware that these figures don’t differentiate between people injuried by their own dogs and those injured by someone else but from personal experience it is apparent that there is a problem nationally with irresponsible dog owners and out of control dogs.
At dog bite solicitors we have not seen any fall in the number of claims we are dealing with and in fact we are dealing with more then ever. The main issue for that we see dog bite victims remains the irresponsible dog owner who is uninsured because of the problem it causes in recovering compensation.
If you have suffered an injury as a result of an incident caused by a dog and want advice on the possibility of bringing a claim on a No Win No Fee basis contact James McNally on 0333 888 0435 or email [email protected]