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deaths from Covid 19

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Dear Airedale NHS Foundation Trust,
I would like information please on the actual number of deaths from Covid 19 within the trust for the period February 2020 to October 2020. You have a duty to provide this information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
I look forward to your early response.

Yours faithfully,

Fiona Mann

FOI (AIREDALE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST), Airedale NHS Foundation Trust

1 Attachment

Dear Miss Mann

 

Further to your application to access information under the Freedom of
Information Act (ANHSFT REF. 5031) please find our response below.  

 

The hospital publish the number of patients who have died after testing
positive for Covid 19 on the Trust website and it is regularly updated. 
Please see the link:

[1]http://www.airedale-trust.nhs.uk/coronov...

 

We trust you find our response helpful.  If you feel we are not complying
with our publication scheme, you feel your request has not been properly
handled, or you are dissatisfied, you can write within 40 working days to
Brendan Brown, Chief Executive at the address below to request a review. 
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner under
section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 if you are dissatisfied
with the outcome of that review.

 

Unless identified as another party's copyright, you may use and re-use the
information we have provided (not including logos or photographs), free of
charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government
Licence which can be viewed via the link below.

 [2]http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...

 

Yours sincerely

 

Deborah Cocker

FOI Administrator

Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, Steeton, KEIGHLEY, BD20 6TD

Location: IT Business Centre | Zone C | Department 48

FOI:  01535 294842

My usual working pattern is Mon-Thurs

 

 

 

[3]http://www.airedale-trust.nhs.uk / Follow us on Twitter
[4]@AiredaleNHSFT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dear FOI (AIREDALE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST),
I still do not appear to have received the courtesy of a reply to my further question under the Freedom of Information Act about how many of the 144 who died within 28 days of a positive Covid test at Airedale Hospital between February and October 2020 actually died from Covid and how many died from other causes eg cancer, car accident etc.
I look forward to your early response.

Yours sincerely,

Fiona Mann

FOI (AIREDALE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST), Airedale NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Ms Mann
I'm so sorry. I don't seem to have your second email. I would usually have responded by acknowledging your reply to our response and letting you know I would make further enquiries and get back to you. I presume from your email you haven't received anything further from me? I wasn't working Friday or Monday so that's caused a further delay in you receiving a reply.

In response to your questions, I am just awaiting confirmation from our Information Team on exactly what information is currently being recorded by the Trust on deaths and then I will pass that on to you. I hope to speak with them today.

Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience.
With kind regards
Deborah

Deborah Cocker
FOI/IG Asst
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, Steeton, KEIGHLEY, BD20 6TD
Location: IT Business Centre | Zone C | Department 48
FOI: 01535 294842
My usual working pattern is Mon-Thurs and I am currently working from home

http://www.airedale-trust.nhs.uk / Follow us on Twitter @AiredaleNHSFT

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Dear FOI (AIREDALE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST),

Good Morning
Further to your reply advising that you were chasing this up, I am still waiting to hear exactly how many of the 144 people at Airedale Hospital who died between February and October 2020 within 28 days of a positive Covid test, actually died of Covid i.e. they had no pre-existing conditions.

I suspect the answer is not many....if any....which is why you are dragging your heals with the answer. Please give this matter your immediate attention.

Thank you
Yours sincerely,

Fiona Mann

Dear FOI (AIREDALE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST),

I am contacting you further to my 2nd request for clarification regarding exactly how many of the 144 people at Airedale Hospital who died between February and October 2020 within 28 days of a positive Covid test, actually died of Covid i.e. they had no pre-existing conditions or were admitted for other reasons e.g. car accident.

I have now been waiting since 5th December for a reply under the Freedom of Information Act which is wholly unacceptable.

Please be advised that if I do not have a reply by close of play on Monday (21st) I will be contacting the local papers. One can only assume that the delay is because there are NOT the number of fatalities from Covid that the public is being lead to believe and the public has a right to know.

I look forward to your reply by return.

Yours sincerely,

Fiona Mann

FOI (AIREDALE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST), Airedale NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Ms Mann

I think it would be helpful to clarify the current progress of your FOI request.

We received your original FOI request on 20th November 2020 and responded to that request on 23rd November 2020.

On 7th December we received your request for an internal review of the information we had provided, as you were dissatisfied with our response and believed that the Trust held more information than had been provided.

I acknowledged receipt of that internal review request on 8th December, when I said that I was awaiting confirmation of what relevant information was being recorded by the Trust and that I hoped to speak with staff that day. That wasn't possible, but staff are reviewing whether we have any additional recorded information to forward to you.

I should have notified you in my acknowledgement of your internal review request that under the FOI Act, an internal review should be carried out within 20 working days of receipt if possible and that the requester should be kept informed if unusually, a response will take longer. We are still well within that 20 day timeline and I do still hope to be able to respond to before the end of that time. I'm sorry if my acknowledgement of your internal review request led you to expect an earlier response.

With kind regards

Deborah Cocker
FOI/IG Asst
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, Steeton, KEIGHLEY, BD20 6TD
Location: IT Business Centre | Zone C | Department 48
My usual working pattern is Mon-Thurs and I am currently working from home

http://www.airedale-trust.nhs.uk / Follow us on Twitter @AiredaleNHSFT

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Dear FOI (AIREDALE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST),

Thank you for your further reply. On 20th November I requested the actual number of deaths FROM Covid 19 within the trust for the period February 2020 to October 2020.

Instead you replied (albeit very promptly....thank you) with the number of deaths from ANY REASON if within 28 days of a positive test, which is not the same thing.

Therefore my original request from 20th November remains unresolved which is why I have requested a review (I was not sure which option to request). I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you have misunderstood my request so I look forward to your further clarification let's say by the end of the year as to exactly how many people have died FROM COVID ie with no pre-existing conditions nor admitted for other reasons ie terminal cancer / car accidents etc.....simply, admitted because of Covid and died from Covid!

You say that "staff are reviewing whether we have any additional recorded information to forward to you" This is a concern - you must keep such records and under the Freedom of Information Act I am entitled to the information. It shouldn't be too difficult to answer, especially as you answered my original request within 3 days.

In addition I would like the original number of 144 deaths to be amended to include those in November.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Fiona Mann

Dear FOI (AIREDALE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST),

On the 20th November I requested under the Freedom of Information Act the actual number of patients at Airedale who had died between February and October FROM Covid (not WITH it or who were admitted for other reasons and who died within 28 days of a positive test).

You replied '144 deaths within 28 days of a positive test' Assuming you had misunderstood my request I agreed to extra time until the end of the year to forward me this information. Despite several chasers and only one response saying you might not have this information (which in itself is concerning), my patience is wearing thin!

It is very simple....how many of the 144 had serious underlying health conditions, terminal illness or were involved in serious life-threatening accidents?

If I do not receive a response by close of play tomorrow, you leave me no alternative but to assume that the actual number of deaths is considerably lower than you have previously advised and that we are being lied to by both this government and the NHS to justify the administration of a rushed and inadequately tested vaccine that is neither safe nor required for reasons we can only guess at!

I look forward to your reply by close of play tomorrow.

Yours sincerely,

Fiona Mann

FOI (AIREDALE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST), Airedale NHS Foundation Trust

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Mann

 

I write further to your request for an internal review of our response to
your Freedom of Information request REF 5031.     

As we stated in our original response on 23rd November the total number of
deaths at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust following a positive Covid test is
published on the Trust website at
[1]http://www.airedale-trust.nhs.uk/coronov...
and this is regularly updated.

 

Cause of death is not recorded as part of normal process within a
hospital,  this is recorded on the Death Certificate and held by the
General Register Office.  

This link may be a useful starting point
[2]https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-...

 

To explain further, whilst a patient is in hospital and following their
discharge, including death, the Clinical Coding Department will extract
information recorded in the patients clinical notes by those involved in
the patient’s care and translate this into the International Coding of
Disease Terminology Code Set ICD10.  This details all conditions the
patient had but does not generally record cause and does not record reason
for death.  Where a patient has been diagnosed with COVID-19 this would be
recorded,  alongside other conditions such as asthma, diabetes and
symptoms such as shortness of breath (for example).  The most significant
code/diagnosis is recorded as the primary diagnosis.  This may or may not
be what a patient dies from.

 

We trust you find our response helpful.  If you are dissatisfied you have
the right to complain to the Information Commissioner under section 50 of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000..

 

Unless identified as another party's copyright, you may use and re-use the
information we have provided (not including logos or photographs), free of
charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government
Licence which can be viewed via the link below.

 [3]http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...

 

Yours sincerely

 

Deborah Cocker

FOI Administrator

Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, Steeton, KEIGHLEY, BD20 6TD

Location: IT Business Centre | Zone C | Department 48

[4][Airedale NHS Foundation Trust request email]

My usual working pattern is Mon-Thurs and I am currently working from home

 

[5]http://www.airedale-trust.nhs.uk / Follow us on Twitter
[6]@AiredaleNHSFT

[7]cid:image001.png@01D6DF6F.E296B5E0

 

 

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Dear FOI (AIREDALE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST),

Thank you for your further reply. The links to which you have referred me are not easy to navigate and I am unable to identify the information I have asked for.

I had not realised that as part of the provision under the Coronavirus Act that all post morta had been cancelled going forward, on the the very same date of the March lockdown. Even so I am frankly astonished that you do not keep records of the cause of death of patients who have died in your care; so astonished in fact that I simply do not believe it. Surely the hospital issues death certificates which include the cause of death on them. Do you seriously expect me to accept that you don't keep records of those death certificates!! Or in the absence of any post mortem, are you simply slapping 'Covid' as the cause of death in every case!

I am unsure as to my next move but you can be assured I will not let this lie. For a hospital to keep this information from me despite it being requested under the Freedom of Information Act is an outrage!

Yours sincerely,

Fiona Mann

Dear FOI (AIREDALE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST),

Further to my messaged dated 1st January in reply to yours saying you do not record the cause of death of patients who pass in your care, as far as I am concerned this matter is still outstanding as I simply do not believe that you do not record this information.

I am also still waiting for an update on those who have died at Airedale up to the end of December. By law I am entitled to this information within 28 days under the Freedom of Information Act but that deadline has long since passed.

I look forward to your early reply in relation to both these points.

Many thanks

Yours sincerely,

Fiona Mann

FOI (AIREDALE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST), Airedale NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Ms Mann

There is nothing to add to the information we have previously provided. Airedale NHS Foundation Trust is complying with National guidance on the reporting of deaths during the pandemic. We have provided you with a link to the number of deaths at the Trust and this is regularly updated. http://www.airedale-trust.nhs.uk/coronov...

As previously mentioned, the Office of National Statistics publishes comprehensive information online about deaths and about the death certification process.

If you feel we are not complying with our publication scheme, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner under section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Unless identified as another party's copyright, you may use and re-use the information we have provided (not including logos or photographs), free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence which can be viewed via the link below.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...

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We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are Fiona Mann please sign in and let everyone know.