Question reference: S6W-16063
- Date lodged: 27 March 2023
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Current status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 April 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to determine how many (a) Deaf and (b) disabled people died during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of (i) contracting the disease and (ii) any reasons associated with the disease, such as loss of social care support.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information.
National Records of Scotland (NRS) are the official producer of statistics relating to deaths, including where the cause was related to COVID-19. The information they hold is restricted to that recorded at death registration and therefore they do not hold sufficient detail to identify where a cause of death was related to secondary COVID-19 impacts such as loss of support.
A one off analysis of COVID-19 deaths by disability was made possible by linking information on death registrations to data on long-term health problems and disabilities from Scotland’s Census 2011. This is publicly available on the NRS website: Deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland, Week 11: Report (nrscotland.gov.uk).
There is no ongoing or planned work to look further at the level of detail outlined in the question.