Cleifion heb eu brechu mewn unedau gofal dwys

1 February 2022

Dear 

ATISN 15947 – Unvaccinated ICU patients

Thank you for your request to the Welsh Government for information under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) received on 10 January 2022 relating to statistics about unvaccinated patients in intensive care in Wales. You requested the following: 

Welsh Government claimed that around 40 people are in intensive care in Wales with COVID of which the majority are unvaccinated.

• Please can you point me to this data? 

Response

In the press conference on 7 January the First Minister used the latest available information at the time on the number of people in intensive care with COVID-19. On 5 January 40 people with COVID-19 were in intensive care. This includes confirmed, suspected and recovering COVID-19 patients. 

The number of COVID-19 cases in ICU is published daily (select indicator “Invasive ventilated bed occupied by COVID-19 case”). However, this doesn’t include their vaccination status.  

The Welsh Government does not routinely collect information on the vaccination status of patients in intensive care. The figures used by the First Minister were based upon an ad hoc collection of management information requested by officials from Health Boards and would have been a snapshot of the position at the time. This information collection took place at a different point in the day to the regular collection, and therefore has a different timestamp. The information gathered on 6 January showed that there were 35 patients with COVID-19 in critical care beds, 18 of whom were unvaccinated. This information has now been published on the Welsh Government’s website. 

Whilst they do not set out the information in the form you have requested, there are a number of other resources you may find helpful including:

• Information from Public Health Wales - Rapid COVID-19 virology - Public | Tableau Public and their report on Vaccine status in cases and hospital inpatients Survey of vaccine status in cases and hospital inpatients.pdf (wales.nhs.uk)

• ICNARC – Reports - Please refer to the report shown at the top of the list on the right hand side of the link (ICNARC_COVID-19_Report_2022-01-28.pdf) but note that the vaccination information does not cover Welsh hospitals. However you will be able to see the trends across England showing the majority of COVID-19 cases in critical care units as unvaccinated.

Next steps

If you are dissatisfied with the Welsh Government’s handling of your request, you can ask for an internal review within 40 working days of the date of this response. Requests for an internal review should be addressed to the Welsh Government’s Freedom of Information Officer at: 

Information Rights Unit
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ 

or Email: Freedom.ofinformation@gov.wales

Please remember to quote the ATISN reference number above. 

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: 

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

However, please note that the Commissioner will not normally investigate a complaint until it has been through our own internal review process 

Yours sincerely,