Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine

Scottish Intensive Care Society Audit Group report on COVID-19 September 2021

Main Points Taken From the Report.

  • 2,389 patients with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 disease admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) in Scotland. Of these, 539 patients have been admitted to ICUs during wave 3.
  • One in four patients (27%) were aged under 40 years old in wave 3 compared with 8% in waves 1 and 2. Mortality measured at 30-days after ICU admission was lower in wave 3 (37% in waves 1 and 2, 26% in wave 3)
  • 192 patients were admitted to ICUs more than 14 days after receiving the second dose of a vaccine, equivalent to 0.4 ICU admissions per week per 100,000 adult population. In the unvaccinated adult population, there were 2.2 ICU admissions per week per 100,000 population. Unvaccinated people were around 6 times more likely to be admitted to ICUs with a positive COVID-19 test than people who had received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
  • A survey of Scottish ICUs undertaken on 23 September 2021 found that 39% of ICUs were able to maintain recommended nurse-to-patient staffing ratios with ICU-trained registered nurses from their own unit. In the remaining 61% of units, staffing ratios could only be maintained with registered nursing staff who did not usually work in the ICU.
  • There were 1,649 patients with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 disease admitted to HDUs. Of these, 351 were admitted in wave 3. In wave 3, 30-day mortality was lower in HDU patients compared with ICU patients (20% compared with 26%).
Number of ICU admissions with COVID-19 graph
Number of ICU admissions with COVID-19

Read the full report