FOI Ref: FOI/2021/3363
You asked
Please supply how many people who died within 28 days of a positive test for COVID-19 already had a pre-existing incurable illness or were already approaching end of life.
Please supply how many people included in COVID-19 hospitalisation data were admitted because of covid, rather than any other reason for admission and of this number, how many went on to require intensive care and what proportion of these cases resulted in death.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
COVID-19 deaths within 28 days of a positive test
Our mortality data are derived from the formal process of death registration. Deaths from COVID-19 may include cases where the doctor completing the death certificate diagnosed possible cases of COVID-19, for example, where this was based on relevant symptoms but no test for the virus was conducted. This differs to the data published on the GOV.UK website which are counts of all causes of death where a positive test for COVID-19 has been confirmed.
We do not hold data on when the test was conducted as this is not recorded on the death certificate. For our data, deaths with a positive test are coded using the ICD-10 code U0.71 and those with suspected COVID-19 but no test has been conducted are coded with ICD10 U0.72.
COVID-19 deaths with pre-existing conditions
For mortality figures due to COVID-19 with pre-existing health conditions, please see: Pre-existing conditions of people whose death was recorded with an underlying cause of COVID-19. This dataset can be found in section 8 of the monthly mortality analysis bulletin. This dataset provides a greater insight into the leading pre-existing cause of death groups, for deaths occurring in England and Wales. We are only notified of the underlying cause and contributing factors that led to the death. We do not hold information on whether the individual was already approaching end of life, as this is not provided on the death certificate.
Hospitalisation due to COVID-19
We do not hold up-to-date information on hospitalisations. Our data on hospital episodes is obtained from the Hospital Episode Statistics published by NHS Digital with an approximate 3 month delay. Therefore, we use this data to determine pre-existing conditions and general health of individuals, but not to analyse recent hospitalisations due to COVID-19. We would be unable to provide you with COVID-19 hospitalisations. To fulfil this request would require complex data linkage and to use a high level of statistical skill and judgement in order to create a bespoke analysis or table. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Public Authorities are not obligated to create information in order to respond to requests. We therefore consider this to be information not held.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publish data that could help answer your enquiry. They publish a weekly surveillance report which looks at the impact on hospitalisations, infection, vaccine effectiveness and mortality. They can be contacted on InformationRights@UKHSA.gov.uk.