Corporate Administration
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
Corporate HQ
J B Russell House
Gartnavel Royal Hospital Campus
1055 Great Western Road
GLASGOW
G12 0XH
Telephone: 0141 201 4444
Derek Reid
Date
1 September 2021
Your Ref
Our Ref
FOI 17178
SENT BY EMAIL TO:
Direct Line
Working remotely
request-780197-
Email
xxx@xxx.xxxx.xxx.xx
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Contact
Dear Mr Reid
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002
Thank you for your request received on 6 August 2021 for the provision of the following information:-
1 - How many hospital deaths were due to Covid-19 alone and no other comorbidities that
are listed on the death certificate in the greater Glasgow NHS Board area?
2. What is the average age of death in hospitals from COVID-19 from March 2020 to current
date in the Greater Glasgow NHS Board area?
We are treating your request under our procedures for responding to requests for information under
the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. The information that we are able to provide in
response to your request is given below.
Please note that NHSGGC does not record information on all deaths, therefore under section 17 of
FOISA I am required to notify you that this information is not held by NHS Greater Glasgow and
Clyde (NHSGGC). The information provided by National Records of Scotland (NRS) is the
authoritative source of data on deaths in Scotland and within the NHSGGC health board area since
not all deaths, including Covid-19 deaths, occur in hospital. Covid-19 deaths also occur in the
community, in care homes, and in settings other than hospitals, therefore NHSGGC does not record
information on all deaths.
(NRS) publish data on both the number of deaths where COVID was mentioned on the death
certificate (either as the underlying cause or as a contributory factor) and on deaths where COVID
was the underlying cause of death. These data are updated weekly.
As this information is publicly available and can reasonably be accessed by you, the applicant, we
are exempt from providing this in response to a request under section 1(1) of FOISA, as set out in
section 25(1) of FOISA. However under the duty to provide reasonable advice and assistance as
set out in section 15 of FOISA, we are providing a link to the relevant page of the NRS website as
below:
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/covid19stats
Information on deaths where COVID-19 was the underlying cause of death is available from
Table
3 in NRS’ weekly publicatio
n Deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland | National
Records of Scotland (nrscotland.gov.uk).
In addition, NRS publish data on deaths where COVID-19 was the only cause of death (deaths with
no pre-existing medical conditions). For these deaths please see the ‘none’ category in
figure 9 in
NRS’ monthly publication.
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/covid19/covid-deaths-21-data-week-02.xlsx
The deaths in this category are where Covid-19 was the only cause of death on the death certificate
or where any other conditions on the death certificate were a direct cause of Covid-19 alone.
In addition, NRS has published information broken down by NHS Board, for the total number of
cases where made available in response to requests for ad-hoc analysis related to COVID-19 deaths
data.
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/general-
publications/weekly-and-monthly-data-on-births-and-deaths/deaths-involving-coronavirus-covid-19-
in-scotland/related-statistics
The file is called “Pre-existing conditions by health board” and was published on 17 February 2021.
However a copy of the file is attached with this response for your convenience.
The information does not give a breakdown by location (for example hospital) but this information is
held by NRS. Under the terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 we are unable to
pass your request on to a third party. We can however recommend that you contact National
Records of Scotland (NRS) with a separate Freedom of Information request and they may have
access to the information you request. Here is a link to the NRS site which has details about sending
a Freedom of Information request to them:
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/about-us/requesting-information
I hope that this information is helpful. If you are not satisfied with our response to your request, you
have a right to request a review of this decision within 40 working days of receiving this response.
The attached note describes our review procedure. Your request for review must be in permanent
form and should state:
That you are asking for a review of this decision
and
Why you are unhappy with the response you have received.
If you wish us to carry out a review, please complete the form enclosed and return it to the Head of
Corporate Governance and Administration, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Corporate HQ, JB
Russell House, Gartnavel Royal Hospital, 1055 Great Western Road, Glasgow G12 0XH or by email
t
o xxx@xxx.xxxx.xxx.xx If following a review you remain dissatisfied with the outcome, you have the right to ask for advice,
assistance or to make a formal appeal in writing to the Scottish Information Commissioner within six
months of receiving the outcome of a review. The Commissioner can be contacted at: Kinburn
Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS or at
www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal
If following appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner you still remain dissatisfied with the
outcome, you have a right of appeal to the Court of Session on a point of law against the decision of
the Scottish Information Commissioner.
Should you require any clarification about this letter or the right to request a review please contact
me at the details at the top of the first page of this letter.
Yours sincerely
Annmarie Chalmers
Annmarie Chalmers
Freedom of Information Officer Standard Enclosures:
Request for Review Form
Procedure for review of decision notified