Hospital Onset COVID-19 Cases in Scotland
Data and Resources
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Hospital Onset COVID-19CSV
COVID-19 cases in Scotland broken down by Hospital onset status: Definite...
Additional Info
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Source | COVID-19 case data are sourced from Corporate Data Warehouse (CDW) which contains test results from Electronic Communication of Surveillance in Scotland (ECOSS). Cases are subsequently linked with Rapid Admission Preliminary Inpatient Data (RAPID) to determine provisional admissions data, and subsequently validated by local Infection Control Teams within NHS Boards, to determine hospital onset status for all COVID-19 patients. |
| Author | ARHAI Scotland |
| Last Updated | March 6, 2023, 13:22 (GMT) |
| Created | December 3, 2020, 11:07 (GMT) |
| Contact Address | ARHAI Scotland, NHS National Services Scotland, Meridian Court, 5 Cadogan Street, Glasgow, G2 6QE |
| Subject | COVID-19, Hospital Onset |
| Frequency | Not applicable |
| Time frame of data and timeliness | Data includes probable and definite hospital onset COVID-19 episodes from week ending 1 March 2020 to week ending 5 February 2023. Data are published 3 to 4 weeks in arrears. |
| Coverage | Data covers all probable and definite hospital onset COVID-19 episodes from week ending 1 March 2020 to week ending 5 February 2023 for the whole of Scotland. |
| Completeness | Hospital onset cases of COVID-19 refer to all instances of COVID-19 first diagnosed within existing hospital inpatients. Any COVID-19 cases who were first tested in the community, but who may have gone on to require hospital admission, are coded as community onset and are not included in this data, and any cases presenting in the community post-discharge are also not considered as hospital onset cases. Please note that from 26th October 2022 this resource only includes cases of probable and definite hospital onset COVID-19. In addition to validating COVID-19 case and admissions data compiled by CDW and RAPID, NHS boards are able to supplement additional records which may not have been captured through these sources. This therefore means that completeness for probable and definite hospital onset cases under current definitions is near to 100%. |
| Accuracy | It is acknowledged that patients can be transferred between NHS health boards and if transferred into a different health board during the same hospital stay, then the clock is restarted to ‘day 1’ which could lead to an underestimation of cases. However, the decision to restrict start date to admission to a single NHS board was due to the previous requirement to report data at the NHS board level. Any discharges and re-admissions which occur within the same calendar day will be overlooked - the clock will not be restarted in these instances, only when a readmission occurs on the second or more day after any discharge. COVID-19 cases identified after discharge from hospital but within 14 days may be associated with the hospital. These cases, including those identified on readmission to hospital, are not included as hospital onset. This may result in under-reporting of COVID-19 cases associated with hospital care. |
| Continuity of data | For changes in methodology for this publication please see the Hospital Onset COVID-19 Cases in Scotland publication for full details. |
| Concepts and definitions | A system for monitoring COVID-19 is critical to tracking hospital transmission and has informed development of infection prevention and control (IPC) measures during the pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 is primarily transmitted from person to person via respiratory particles. Further information on SARS-CoV-2 and current IPC guidance can be found in the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual. A COVID-19 case is defined as an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19 by SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR (PCR), or, from 5th January 2022 onwards by either PCR or Lateral Flow Device (LFD). LFD positive cases that are followed by a negative PCR result within 48 hours are excluded. The first positive test and possible reinfections for each individual are counted. Episodes of infection are described as the first positive test recorded for an individual since March 2020, or possible reinfections defined as individuals who test positive 90 days or more after their last positive test. The agreed hospital onset case definitions for the UK are based on the number of days from admission to an NHS board to the date of specimen sampling for a positive COVID-19 test. Time since admission to specimen sampling is categorised as: • non-hospital onset (first positive specimen of episode on day 1 or 2 of admission to NHS board) • indeterminate (first positive specimen of episode on days 3 to 7 of admission to NHS board) • probable (first positive specimen of episode on days 8 to 14 of admission to NHS board) • definite hospital onset (first positive specimen of episode was 15 or more days after admission to NHS board) Any remaining COVID-19 cases where the first positive specimen of the episode is taken in the community are defined as community onset. This dataset only includes probable and definite hospital onset COVID-19 cases (first positive specimen of episode on day eight of admission or later). Community onset, non-hospital onset and indeterminate hospital onset cases are not included– please see Hospital Onset COVID-19 Cases in Scotland publication metadata for more details. Hospital onset cases represent cases presenting in hospital and are calculated according to their current inpatient episode. Any cases presenting in the community post-discharge are not considered hospital onset cases. These data include non-Scottish residents who have been hospital inpatients at the time of their COVID-19 episode. Admission to health board was agreed as the appropriate point to start counting the duration of hospital stay to first positive specimen date, rather than the date of admission to a single hospital, since patients can be transferred between hospitals which would lead to restarting the clock to ‘day 1’ each time and therefore underestimating the number of nosocomial infections. Any discharges and re-admissions which occur within the same calendar day will be classed as a continuous stay; the clock will not be restarted in these instances, only when a readmission occurs on the second day or more after any discharge. |
| Disclosure | The PHS protocol on Statistical Disclosure Control Protocol is followed. |
| Revision statement | These data are not subject to planned major revisions. |
| Official statistics designation | Management Information |
| Format | csv |
| Language | English |
| Links | Hospital Onset COVID-19 Cases in Scotland publication |