COVID-19 data relating to coronavirus deaths: FOI release

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002


Information requested

1a. To date, how many NHS Scotland patients discharged to care homes since 01.03.2020, subsequently died of Covid-19 ? Please split between those untested, tested positive, and tested  negative, prior to discharge.

1b. What investigations have been carried out on each of these categories and were they recorded as Serious Adverse Event Reviews, SAERs or a similar process?

1c. Please provide the figures for these occurrences for each of the 14 territorial health boards, by name. Please provide the national figure for these events. 

1d. In all cases, what risk management assessments were carried out to ensure safe movement of delayed discharges from hospitals to care homes or other settings ie. under Quality Framework 2018 guidelines?

2a. To date, how many members of NHS Scotland staff have died of Covid-19 since 01.03.2020?

2b. How many of these deaths have been reported to HSE under the RIDDOR regulations?

2c. How many have been subject to the initiation of an investigation under the 'Scottish Work-Related Deaths Protocol?

2d. Please provide number of staff for each of the 14 territorial health boards by name. Also, please provide the national figure for these events. 

3a. How many deaths of patients from hospital acquired Covid-19 infections have been reported by NHS Scotland?

3b. How many have been reported to the COPFS, as required by the Lord Advocate?

3c. How many have been recorded as SAERs? National figures will suffice for Question 3.

Response

1a)  Some of the information you have requested is available from the Public Health Scotland website.

Discharges from NHS Scotland Hospitals to Care Homes https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/population-health/covid-19/discharges-from-nhsscotland-hospitals-to-care-homes/

On 18 August 2020 the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport commissioned Public Health Scotland (PHS) to carry out work to identify and report on discharges from NHS Hospitals to care homes during the first wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The subsequent report, presenting management information statistics on people aged 18 and over who were discharged from an NHS Scotland hospital to a care home between 1 March and 31 May 2020, was originally published on 28 October 2020. A revised report containing additional analysis was published on 21 April 2021.

This report indicated that 4,804 people were discharged from a hospital to a care home between 1 March and 31 May 2020. Of those people discharged to a care home, 675 people died within 30 days of discharge including 146 people who had COVID-19 recorded on the death certificate (3.0% of all discharges from a hospital to a care home).

However, this report only covers the period between 1 March and 31 May 2020. Figures following this period are not currently available, as there is no one source of data which reliably identifies discharges from hospitals to care homes. Further information can be found in Section 1 of the PHS
report.

The report does not provide a breakdown of those dying within 30 days of discharge by COVID-19 test results on discharge. PHS may be able to provide this information on request by emailing phs.comms@phs.scot.

1b) While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. The reasons why we don’t have the information are explained in the Annex.

1c) While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. The reasons why we don’t have the information are explained in the Annex.

1d) Some of the information you have requested is available from the Public Health Scotland website. Discharges from NHS Scotland Hospitals to Care Homes https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/population-health/covid-19/discharges-fromnhsscotland-hospitals-to-care-homes/

Appendix 1 of the Discharges from NHS Scotland Hospitals to Care Homes report contains a timeline of clinical guidance for Nursing Home & Residential Care Residents and COVID-19. This details when risk assessments were required in order to be admitted to a care home following discharge from hospital. However, details of the actual risk assessments that were carried out are not available as this would vary on a case by case basis.

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. 

2a), 2b), 2c) & 2d)  The number of notified deaths of healthcare workers is updated weekly and published at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-daily-data-for-scotland/. As at 6 April 2021, we have been notified by Health Boards of 21 deaths of healthcare workers, related to COVID-19, since the start of the pandemic. We are not able to confirm how many of these staff contracted Covid-19 through their work. For confidentiality reasons, we are not in a position to release further details about these workers.

Section 17(1) of FOISA (information not held) requires the Scottish Government to notify you if it does not have the information you requested. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for in 2b, 2c and 2d because incident management, including investigation and RIDDOR as appropriate, is the responsibility of NHS Scotland Health Boards as employers, rather than Scottish Government.

Updated guidance on RIDDOR reporting of Covid-19 is available at https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/riddor/index.htm

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

3a) National Services Scotland (NSS) published statistics on COVID-19 hospital onset mortality on 24th February 2021. A link to the publication is available here: https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/population-health/covid-19/hospital-onsetcovid- 19-mortality-in-scotland/

The publication reports that there were 1,015 deaths of those with probable or definite hospital onset of COVID-19 (March 2020 to December 2020, defined as all-cause mortality where a death was within 28 days of their first positive sample for COVID-19).

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. 

3b) https://www.copfs.gov.uk/images/Documents/Publications/Reporting%20Deaths%20to%20the%20Procurator%%20Info%20for%20Medical%20Practitioners%20May%2019.pdf

3c)  Section 17(1) of FOISA (information not held) requires the Scottish Government to notify you if it does not have the information you requested. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for in 3b and 3c. The information may be available from the COPFS COVID-19 Death Investigations Team (CDIT) who collate and publish information monthly under CDIT as follows: https://www.copfs.gov.uk/publications/statistics

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

ANNEX – QUESTION 1, PARTS B AND C

The Scottish Government does not have the information.

Section 17(1) of FOISA (information not held) requires the Scottish Government to notify you if it does not have the information you requested. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because the Scottish Government is not leading on the investigations into care home
deaths.

The Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) have a dedicated team investigating COVID-19 deaths in care homes, following guidance issued on 21 May 2020 that stated all COVID-19 or presumed COVID-19 deaths of care home residents should be reported to COPFS. You can find more information on the COPFS website: https://www.copfs.gov.uk/publications/statistics.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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