Chamber and committees

Excess Deaths Inquiry - Written Evidence Request

Committee request to the Scottish Government for written evidence on the inquiry into excess deaths in Scotland since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Committee has asked me to request the following data from the Scottish Government to support its inquiry. The requested data covers the period of time from when the pandemic started to as close to present time as possible.

Chronic disease management

• A combined chart of excess deaths broken down by each week and weekly COVID deaths (as seen on the four harms data on SG website).
• The difference between the two lines is important as these are the unexplained deaths – the Committee want to know their causes, and whether there is a focus of cause (e.g. are all causes of death increased, or is it particularly cancer or cardiovascular disease or diabetes or opiates or suicide etc.?)
• Evidence of delayed presentation of disease (e.g. stage of cancer presentation – possible source SMR6 cancer registry data. But given need for up-to-date data – possible need to sample more recent records in order to answer the question ……are cancers presenting late?
• Information on severe cardiac disease. How many people are dying whilst on waiting lists for intervention? What is happening to the rate of sudden cardiac death in the community?
• Information on diabetes - evidence of more frequent presentation of failures of control i.e. A/E attendances and admissions for hypoglycaemic episodes or episodes of diabetic ketoacidosis
• Information on A/E attendances for acute asthmatic attacks and admissions for that and also for chronic obstructive airways disease

Waiting times

• Waiting times data (but not in list form, i.e. how many are waiting). Ideally the Committee is looking for data on when someone who is presenting now will realistically be treated, i.e. how long will they wait given what we know about current service levels (and how does this manifest in some elective specialities, e.g. joint replacements in orthopaedics, and cataracts in ophthalmology)
• Information on waits for “urgent suspicion of cancer” cases
• Information on endoscopy and cystoscope waiting times and those for CAT and PET scans
• Information on routine screening programmes e.g. breast, cervix, bowel and others during the pandemic
• Information on ambulance attendance time figures for each category of urgency, again shown over time if possible

Other measures

• Information on primary vs secondary cause of death (for example, attribution of cause, e.g. underlying mental health)
• Information on violent deaths, e.g. intimate partner violence
• Measures of background health of population, e.g. obesity
• Provision of preventative care and uptake of such measures, e.g. cervical smears

If possible, the Committee would be grateful to receive the information requested by 11 February 2022.