You asked
Please update the figures for the number of ketamine-related deaths that were registered in England & Wales between 1993 and 2018 inclusive, broken down by year and whether ketamine was mentioned on its own or with another drug or alcohol.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
The number of deaths where ketamine was mentioned on the death certificate for the year 2016 is available via the following link: Deaths related to drug poisoning involving specific substances, England and Wales, deaths registered in 2016. This is a dataset that has been requested and commissioned by another user.
Unfortunately, we would be unable to provide annual ketamine-related death data for the years 1993 to 2015 and 2017 to 2018 in answer to your Freedom of Information request. In order to fulfil this request, we would need use a high level of statistical skill and judgement in order to create bespoke analysis for you. 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.
However, the information you have requested may be available to commission as bespoke analysis. Such services would be subject to legal frameworks, disclosure controls, resources and agreement of costs. If you would like to request this bespoke dataset, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk to discuss your enquiry further. Please note, there will be a charge for this work which would be subject to our charging policy.
Please also see the following drug-related deaths publications, which may be of interest:
The following publication is our most recent publication regarding deaths from drug poisoning: Deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales: 2018 registrations. This will be updated on 01 October 2020, showing 2019 death data.
Drug poisoning deaths involve a broad spectrum of substances, including legal and illegal drugs, prescription type drugs and over-the-counter medications. The following dataset, Deaths related to drug poisoning by selected substance, shows the different drugs involved in each death for England and Wales. However, ketamine is not published within these tables.