Freedom of Information Request – Ref: 274-2024
Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request. Please find our response below.
You asked:
1. In the past three years, how many patients aged 65 and above attended/were admitted to a hospital apart of the trust with health problems related to cold temperatures, such as chest infections, respiratory conditions, flu, hypothermia and others? (Broken down by years: 2022, 2023, 2024)
Our response:
| Year | Months | Admissions |
| 2022 | Jan – Mar | 93 |
| 2022 | Oct – Dec | 134 |
| 2023 | Jan – Mar | 151 |
| 2023 | Oct – Dec | 164 |
| 2024 | Jan – Mar | 160 |
| 2024 | Oct – Dec | 32 |
Included Diagnoses
Abscess of lung with pneumonia
Acute nasopharyngitis [common cold]
Acute upper respiratory infection, unspecified
Bronchopneumonia, unspecified
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with acute lower respiratory infection
Dependence on respirator
Foreign body in respiratory tract, part unspecified
Haemophilus influenzae [H. influenzae] as the cause of diseases classified to other chapters
Hypothermia
Influenza with other respiratory manifestations, seasonal influenza virus identified
Influenza with other respiratory manifestations, virus not identified
Influenza with pneumonia, seasonal influenza virus identified
Klebsiella pneumoniae [K. pneumoniae] as the cause of diseases classified to other chapters
Lobar pneumonia, unspecified
Other pneumonia, organism unspecified
Other specified respiratory disorders
Other specified symptoms and signs involving the circulatory and respiratory systems
Other viral pneumonia
Personal history of diseases of the respiratory system
Pneumonia due to Haemophilus influenzae
Pneumonia due to Klebsiella pneumoniae
Pneumonia due to other Gram-negative bacteria
Pneumonia due to Streptococcus pneumoniae
Pneumonia, unspecified
Respiratory disorder, unspecified
Respiratory failure, unspecified
Respiratory syncytial virus as the cause of diseases classified to other chapters
Respiratory syncytial virus pneumonia
Unspecified acute lower respiratory infection
Please note that we cannot specifically determine if an admission is related to health problems from cold temperatures, and therefore the figures above are counts of hospital admissions for patients aged 65 and over which occurred during commonly colder months (October – March), which contain a diagnosis which can be considered related to cold temperatures. These counts are therefore an approximation and some of these admissions will not have been related to cold temperatures. As the data has been requested to be grouped by calendar year the commonly colder months in question are not concurrent and the information has therefore split out the concurrent months of each year in the below table.
You asked:
2. How many excess winter deaths (EWDs) have the trust recorded in the past three years? (Broken down by years: 2022, 2023, 2024)
3. Of these deaths, how many were aged 65 and above? (Broken down by years: 2022, 2023, 2024)
Our response:
Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust are unable to provide this information as deaths cannot be recorded or categorised on our incident system as ‘Excess Winter Deaths’.
Next steps:
Should you have any queries in relation to our response, please do not hesitate to contact us. If you are unhappy with the response you have received in relation to your request and wish to ask us to review our response, you should write to:
Louise Moss
Head of Legal Services / Associate Director of Corporate Governance
c/o Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
Edward Jenner Court
1010 Pioneer Avenue
Gloucester Business Park
Brockworth, GL3 4AW
E-mail: louise.moss@ghc.nhs.uk
If you are not content with the outcome of any review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for further advice/guidance. Generally, the ICO will not consider your case unless you have exhausted your enquiries with the Trust which should include considering the use of the Trust’s formal complaints procedure. The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.