FOI Ref: FOI/2022/3495
You asked
Please supply the following information:
- How many patients have been admitted to western Sussex hospitals since March 2020 until now SOLELY suffering covid infection? No co morbidities/ not contracted post admission?
- How many patients are CURENTLY inpatients in western Sussex hospitals from the above named group?
- How many people have died OF SOLELY covid in western Sussex hospitals since March 2020?
- Of all those patients admitted to western Sussex hospitals since march 2020 solely of Covid, what proportion of those were fully vaccinated please?
- Please could you confirm whether the PCR test has been withdrawn as the approved method of testing as of December 31st 2021?
- What is the replacement test please?
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
COVID-19 hospitalisation in West Sussex
We do not hold up-to-date information on hospitalisations, patient numbers or vaccination status of inpatients. Our data on hospital episodes is obtained from the Hospital Episode Statistics published by NHS Digital with an approximately 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.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publish a weekly surveillance report which looks at the impact on hospitalisations, infection, vaccine effectiveness and COVID-19 mortality, which may help with this enquiry. If you have any queries about this data, they can be contacted at informationrights@ukhsa.gov.uk.
NHS Digital may also be able to assist with your query. They can be contacted via email at enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk and by telephone at 0300 303 5678.
COVID-19 deaths in Sussex hospitals
Mortality data in our Deaths by place of occurrence and local authority publication are published in line with the National Statistics Postcode Lookup which is based on the area of usual residence of the deceased.
The "local authority" is the local area in which the deceased resided. For example, if the deceased lived in Abergavenny, (local authority Monmouthshire), but they were taken to a hospital based in Newport (local authority Gwent) the death would be recorded under Monmouthshire and the place of occurrence would be listed as a hospital death. To clarify, the death would be counted under the local authority where the deceased lived, not by the postcode of where the deceased died.
Our publication Deaths by place of occurrence and local authority shows deaths involving COVID-19 by place of occurrence and local authority. These are deaths where COVD-19 is mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, as either the underlying cause or contributory mention.
We do not hold analysis of deaths due to COVID-19 as the only cause of death for Sussex hospitals. However, we can create a custom output which is available via our customer service desk. Special extracts and tabulations of mortality data for England and Wales are available to order (subject to legal frameworks, resources and agreements of costs, where appropriate). Such enquiries would fall outside of the Freedom of Information regime and can be made to: Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.
In case it is of interest, the NHS do produce COVID-19 deaths by NHS trust. These statistics are published every weekday. If you would like further information, they can be contacted via email at england.contactus@nhs.net
Use of the PCR test
The COVID-19 Infection Survey is a household survey that estimates the number of people testing positive for infection and for antibodies in the UK. Our statistics refer to the number of current COVID-19 infections within the population living in private residential households. We exclude those in hospitals, care homes and/or other communal establishments. In communal establishments, rates of COVID-19 infection are likely to be different.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA, formerly Public Health England) are responsible for NHS Test and Trace. You can find more information at https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/metrics or by contacting UKKHSA by email at informationrights@ukhsa.gov.uk.
In the COVID-19 Infection Survey only RT-PCR tests are used, and this is unchanged. More information can be found in our COVID-19 Infection Survey: methods and further information article in section 3. Study design: data we collect.
Further information and an overview of data about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and other sources can be found in our Coronavirus (COVID-19) latest insights tool.