FOI220425: Stillbirths and infant deaths

Released 5 October 2022

Request:

1. Number of stillbirths in total for the period Jan 1 – June 30 2022  
2. Of those stillbirths, how many of the mothers had received the Covid 19 vaccination? 
   • a. 1 dose 
   • b. 2 doses 
   • c. 2 doses and the booster 
3. Of those stillbirths, how many burials/cremations were conducted or handled by the NHS Trust? 
4. What was the main cause of death among the stillbirths?  
5. Of those stillbirths, how many cremations took place on the NHS Trust’s grounds?  
6. Total number of infant deaths where the infant was aged 0-3mths at the time of death during the period 1 Jan – 30 June 2022.  
7. With regards the infant deaths for the 0-3mth age group, how many of the mothers had received the Covid 19 vaccination? 
   • a. 1 dose
   • b. 2 doses 
   • c. 2 doses and the booster  
8. With regards the infant deaths for the 0-3mth age group, how many burials/cremations were conducted/handled by the NHS Trust?  
9. With regards the infant deaths for the 0-3mth old age group, how many cremations took place on the NHS Trust’s grounds?  
10. What was the main cause of death for the infant deaths in the 0-3mth age group?  
11. Total number of infant deaths where the infant was aged 3-6mths at the time of death during the period 1 Jan – 30 June 2022.  
12. With regards the infant deaths for the 3-6mth age group, how many of the mothers had received the Covid 19 vaccination? 
    • a. 1 dose 
    • b. 2 doses 
    • c. 2 doses and the booster  
13. With regards the infant deaths for the 3-6mth age group, how many burials/cremations were conducted/handled by the NHS Trust?  
14. With regards the infant deaths for the 3-6mth old age group, how many cremations took place on the NHS Trust’s grounds? 
15. What was the main cause of death for the infant deaths in the 3-6mth age group

Assistance provided to applicant under section 16 [duty to assist] on 06/09/22:

Covid-19 vaccination status is not held on our central patient administration systems. We are unable to report on this activity in the context of your request.

If a patient provides this information to our clinical staff, such details are usually recorded within the individual patient records.

Patients are generally vaccinated in community settings such as in GP practices or vaccination centres. We do not have routine access to this information. This means that we are unable to answer much of your request, since the recorded information you are seeking is not currently held under the terms of the FOIA. In its current format your request is essentially a large research project that will require significant research and analysis. The Act does not obligate public authorities to create ‘new’ recorded information for the purpose of answering a FOI request. We regret any inconvenience these circumstances may cause.

We should be able to provide more general information relevant to stillbirths and infant deaths over the periods relevant to your request. This data will be unrelated to the vaccination status of the birth mother.

It is also worth noting that we expect the number of stillbirths and infant deaths relevant to this period to be very small, so it may be necessary for us to anonymise the data we provide. Information would be exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) [personal information] exemption of the FOIA.

Response received 6 September 2022:

Please complete where possible.

Information disclosed under revised request:

In line with the Section 45 FOI Code of Practice, your revised request was assigned a new reference number and the 20 working day deadline was reset upon receiving your response on 06/09/22.

Please note University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust has been in operation since 1 April 2021 following the merger of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Whilst we are in the process of aligning services under the merged Trust, our legacy Maternity and Neonatal Services continue to operate separately to ensure there is minimal disruption for our patients. We have provided our response below broken down by the relevant hospitals.

Our response relative to Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton; Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath and Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital, Brighton is provided below:

1. 8; this figure is based on a gestation over 22 weeks.
2. Information is not held centrally and is not available under the terms of the Act at this time.
3. ≤5; Data has been anonymised in line with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Anonymisation: Managing Data Protection Risk Code of Practice.
4. We do not hold sufficient information to answer this question on the basis that a number of families declined a post-mortem.
5. None (nil); cremations were carried out by Woodvale Crematorium.
6. 13
7. Information is not held centrally and is not available under the terms of the Act at this time.
8. None (nil)
9. None (nil); cremations were carried out by Woodvale Crematorium.
10. There were a number of different causes of death. The most common was Hypoxic-ischaemic Encephalopathy.
11. None (nil)
12. This information is not held centrally and is not available under the terms of the Act at this time.
13. – 15. Not applicable

Our response relative to St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester and Worthing Hospital, Worthing is provided below:

1. ≤5; this figure is based on a gestation over 22 weeks. This data has been anonymised in line with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Anonymisation: Managing Data Protection Risk Code of Practice (as outlined above)
2. This information is not held centrally and is not available under the terms of the Act at this time.
3. None (nil)
4. We do not hold full information to report on this part of your request. Several of the families involved declined a post-mortem. Due to this factor this information is not currently held by the Trust and is not available under the terms of the Act at this time.
5. None (nil)
6. ≤5; this data has been anonymised in line with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Anonymisation: Managing Data Protection Risk Code of Practice (as outlined above).
7. This information is not held centrally and is not available under the terms of the Act at this time.
8. None (nil)
9. None (nil); arrangements were made with external funeral directors by the families involved.
10. Exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) [personal information] of the FOIA.
11. None (nil)
12. this information is not held centrally and therefore not available under the terms of the Act at this time.
13. – 15. Not applicable