Remdesivir

Summary

The requester asked for the number of patients prescribed Remdesivir and their mortality rates within 6 weeks of treatment. Manx Care stated they do not hold patient-level prescription or death data, but provided aggregate drug issuance statistics for January to April 2022.

Key Facts

• Manx Care does not hold data on Remdesivir prescriptions by individual patient, only by quantity issued to wards.
• Manx Care does not hold information on patient deaths or causes of death, which are managed by the Central Registry.
• The authority cited Section 11(3)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 to refuse creating patient-level data.
• The authority cited Section 11(3)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 as a practical refusal reason for death statistics.
• Aggregate data for Remdesivir issuance was provided for the period January 2022 to April 2022.

Data Disclosed

• 20
• -8
• 83
• 85
• Jan.22
• Feb.22
• Mar.22
• Apr.22
• 2018
• 2021
• 2022-04-13
• 2022-05-16
• 2389169
• 2298237

Exemptions Cited

• Section 11(3)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (creation or derivation of information)
• Section 11(3)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (information not held)

Original Request

Further to FOI 2298237 please can you details how many patients were prescribed Remdesivir? Please can you also detail how many of these patients died within 6 weeks of the start of the Remdesivir treatment?".

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Manx Care Noble’s Hospital, Strang Braddan, Isle of Man IM4 4R (01624) 650 000

Our ref: 2389169 16 May 2022

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 13th April 2022 which states:

1. Further to FOI 2298237 please can you details how many patients were prescribed Remdesivir? 2. Please can you also detail how many of these patients died within 6 weeks of the start of the Remdesivir treatment?

Our Response 1. Further to FOI 2298237 please can you details how many patients were prescribed Remdesivir? While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested. Complying with the request for information would require the public authority to do one or more of the matters mentioned in section 8(3) (things a public authority is not required to do by the Act S11(3)(b), in this instance, complying with your request for information would require us to create or derive information from information that we hold. Our pharmacy team hold data on quantities of drugs issued to wards etc but not by patient. However, in FOI 2298237, which you refer to, you asked “how many times Remdesivir has been prescribed” which we duly provided for the period Jan 2018 – Dec 2021. We now provide for the additional months Jan 2022 – April 2022 Month REMDESIVIR 100mg POWDER FOR CONC. FOR SOLN FOR INFUSION1 REMDESIVIR 100mg/20mL CONC. FOR SOLUTION FOR INFUSION(1) Jan.22 20 0 Feb.22 -8 0 Mar.22 83 0 Apr.22 85 0

2. Please can you also detail how many of these patients died within 6 weeks of the start of the Remdesivir treatment?

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Manx Care is unable to provide the information that you have requested. This is in line with Section 11(3)a of the Act, as a practical refusal reason applies; namely we do not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information that you have requested: Manx Care does not hold information on all deaths. Cause of death can only be determined from the death certificate which is held by Central Registry. Please quote the reference number 2389169 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.

I will now close your request as of this date.