Hospital-acquired infection caused one-in-five covid deaths at several trusts

More than one in five ‘covid deaths’ were both probably hospital-acquired, and caused at least in part by the virus, at several trusts, according to analysis released to HSJ.

HSJ obtained figures from more than 30 trusts which have looked in detail at cases where patients died after definitely, or probably, catching covid in hospital. 

Thirty-two acute trusts provided HSJ with robust data, out of the total 120 in England. Across all 32, they had recorded 3,223 covid hospital deaths which were either “definitely” or ‘probably’ nosocomial — making up around 17% of their total reported 19,020 hospital deaths.

The trusts said 2,776 of the 3,223 deaths also had covid listed on their death certificate, either as an “immediate cause” or as a contributory factor. That constitutes about 15% of all the hospitals’ covid deaths, and 86% of the nosocomial deaths.

When approached by HSJ, these trusts said they followed robust infection control practices, and that high community covid prevalence, and covid admissions, were the main cause of hospital-acquired infection. Some trusts also cited their ageing infrastructure.

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Source: HSJ, 6 September 2021