NORTHERN IRELAND STATISTICS AND RESEARCH AGENCY 09 March 2023 Excess mortality and Covid-19 related deaths in Northern Ireland: March 2020 to December 2022 The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) has today published a report on excess mortality and Covid-19 related deaths in Northern Ireland up to December 2022. This shows that there were an estimated 4,075 excess deaths from March 2020 to December 2022, 9.0% above expected levels. The figures also show that in the same period, there were 5,060 Covid‑19 related deaths. Excess deaths are the difference between actual deaths from all causes in a period minus the expected number of deaths based on the average deaths for the same period over the previous five years; therefore, no individual death can be assigned as being an excess death.  Last year, excess deaths were highest in July and December 2022. Deaths were below expected levels in January/February and September 2022. The number of Covid-19 related deaths in hospital (3,536) was more than three times larger than estimated excess deaths in hospitals (1,056). The majority of Covid-19 related deaths (69.9%) occurred in hospital. In contrast, estimates of excess deaths at home formed the majority of overall excess deaths (3,176 or 77.9% of 4,075). Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon LGD had the largest estimate of excess deaths (523), accounting for 12.8% of the 4,075 excess deaths in Northern Ireland. It had also the highest excess deaths as a proportion of expected deaths (11.4%); Belfast LGD had the lowest proportion (4.5%). Excess deaths were higher in rural areas (11.9%) compared to urban areas (7.4% above expected levels); excess deaths in rural areas (1,572) outnumbered its Covid-19 related deaths (1,472). From March 2020 to September 2022, the number of deaths where Covid-19 was found to be the underlying cause (4,028) was higher than excess mortality in this 31-month period (3,661). Noteworthy levels of excess deaths were found for diseases of the digestive system (342 or 16.0% above expected levels) and diabetes (156 or 26.2% above expected levels). There were fewer deaths in hospitals, care homes and hospices during the pandemic (negative excess deaths) and more deaths at home and other settings for malignant neoplasms, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, circulatory and respiratory diseases. Deaths caused by diseases of the digestive system went up in all settings, but most markedly at home (44.3%). Excess deaths from diseases of the digestive system were markedly higher for females (17.8%), those aged 75 to 84 years (22.8%) and in the Southern and Western Health & Social Care Trusts (23.3% and 23.6% respectively). Deaths due to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease were below expected levels in urban areas (-4.3%) and above expected levels in rural and mixed urban/rural areas (9.2%). Notes to Editors: The full report and detailed tables are available at: https://www.nisra.gov.uk/publications/excess-mortality-covid-19-related-deaths-december-2022 Statistics on weekly deaths registered in Northern Ireland can be found at: https://www.nisra.gov.uk/statistics/death-statistics/weekly-death-registrations-northern-ireland These provisional statistics are based on death registration information collected by the General Register Office. The occurrence-based statistics (to end December 2022) take account of registrations up to 22 February 2023, to allow for delays in death registrations. Excess mortality can be used to measure of the impact of the Covid‑19 pandemic, as it does not rely on the availability or interpretation of the (primary and secondary) causes of death. It captures deaths from all causes, which may be related to a range of factors associated with the pandemic, for example, changes in the availability or uptake of health care services including screening and diagnosing, or the impact of ‘lock‑down’ on people’s mental health. Some of these effects may take months or years to be fully understood. Excess mortality is the difference between actual deaths from all causes in a period minus the expected number of deaths, which is based on the number of deaths in the previous five years. It is therefore a mathematical concept; it is not possible to identify if an individual death was an excess death. In contrast, the analysis of Covid‑19 related deaths to which this report makes comparisons, is based on individual deaths where Covid-19 was included on the death certificate. These cannot be automatically classed as excess deaths. Therefore, the two analyses should not be combined or differenced as this will not yield valid conclusions. Covid‑19 related deaths are all deaths where Covid‑19 was mentioned on the death certificate by the doctor who certified the death, whether or not Covid-19 was the primary underlying cause of death. The figures include cases where the doctor noted that there was suspected or probable coronavirus infection involved in the death. The underlying cause for a relatively large number of deaths that occurred in the last three months of 2022 was not available at time of analysis, therefore the analysis of excess mortality by underlying cause of death covers a shorter 31-month period up to September 2022. This report was created within the Administrative Data Research Northern Ireland (ADR NI), a partnership between the Administrative Data Research Centre Northern Ireland (ADRC NI), and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). Together they support the acquisition, linking and analysis of administrative data sets, developing cutting-edge research to improve knowledge, policymaking and public service delivery. Further information on the statistics provided in this publication can be obtained from NISRA Customer Services at:  Telephone: +44 (0)300 200 7836; email: demography@nisra.gov.uk  Responsible Statistician: Dr Jos IJpelaar Media enquiries should be addressed to the Department of Finance Press Office on Tel: 028 9081 6724 or email dof.pressoffice@finance-ni.gov.uk The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for Media Enquiries Only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110. All announcements are issued by individual Local Government Departments and in turn forwarded by the Belfast Healthy Cities Information Service.  All queries should be addressed to the relevant Department directly. Copyright © 2023 Belfast Healthy Cities, All rights reserved. You are receiving this e-mail because you signed up to the Belfast Healthy Cities Information Service. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click the link below.

Dear valued Community Member,

The Trustees and Staff of ACSONI are inviting you to community conversation, which will take place at 2 Royal Avenue, Belfast, BT1 1DA on Friday 10 March 2023, starting at 4:30pm.

It will be an opportunity to meet the Trustees and Staff and know in more detail about our programme of work and how it relates to the needs of our community. More importantly, it will be a time when you can help to identify additional issues for priority attention.

You are invited to a Zoom meeting if you are unable to make it due to adverse weather conditions or otherwise

When: Mar 10, 2023 04:30 PM London

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUuf-qgqj8qE9wT6NHCbFGivsP0wVFWVCRu

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

The Trustees and Staff of ACSONI are inviting members of the African and Caribbean community to this community conversation, which will take place at 2 Royal Avenue, Belfast, BT1 1DA on Friday 10 March 2023, starting at 4:30pm to 6pm. The meeting is part of a series of community dialogues, and aims to be broad-ranging and inclusive. ACSONI therefore invites you to bring forward your questions, concerns, and suggestions.

It will be an opportunity to meet the Trustees and Staff and know in more detail about our programme of work and how it relates to the needs of our community. More importantly, it will be a time when you can help to identify additional issues for priority attention.

We look forward to seeing you on Friday 10th March at 2 Royal Avenue, Belfast at 430pm. Light beverages will be available including Halaal, Vegetarian and Vegan options.

Please register for the event via the link below, this will help us to ensure we cater for everyone as there is limited capacity.

: https://lnkd.in/erVNpSUe

Registration for online attendees will be available by alternative registration.

Love Productions; the company behind The Great British Bake Off, The Great British Sewing Bee and The Great Pottery Throw Down are delighted to announce that applications are now open for the 9^th series of Junior Bake Off; a Channel 4 programme that celebrates the culinary talent and ambition of the younger generation.

With this in mind, they are contacting communities right across the country to the spread the word that applications are open!

It would be great to find some young talented local bakers!

Please see below some more information about Junior Bake Off!

We are looking for young budding bakers between 9-12 years old.

Filming would take place from July 2023, but our applications close on Sunday 12^th March 2023.

Interested bakers can apply online at – www.applyforjuniorbakeoff.co.uk

Please feel free to contact us on 0207 067 4883 or drop an email to Conor.Shutler@loveproductions.co.uk, should you have any questions regarding the attached flyer.

CWA is currently in the process of developing an app with the purpose of making the process of reporting racial hate crimes and hate incidents in Northern Ireland more understandable and accessible. The general idea behind the app is to have it available in multiple languages with key information about resources and support networks. In order to develop this app, CWA is surveying the broader minority ethnic (ME) community in Northern Ireland so that we can gain a thorough understanding of the types of experiences they may have had; where, when, and how hate crimes occur as well as what circumstances may discourage victims from reporting.

This survey is open to everyone, including residents and students. Additionally, we have made it available in five different languages: English, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Arabic, and Romanian (labelled below). This survey is completely anonymous and will simply go towards helping us to understand how we can design our app to better assist people who face these types of incidents.

請問你可以花7分鐘的時間為我們完成這份調查嗎？我們正在研發一個應用程序希望可以更容易的用來報告有關仇恨犯罪的案件和提供相關服務的信息。我們很希望聽到你的意見來更完善我們的工作。這個問卷是保密的。
Czy mógłbyś poświęcić 7 minut na wypełnienie tej ankiety? Chcemy stworzyć aplikację mobilną, dzięki której łatwiej będzie zgłosić przestępstwo z nienawiści na tle rasowym i uzyskać wiedzę o dostępnych punktach wsparcia. Informacje z ankiety pomogą w stworzeniu jak najprzydatniejszej apki. Z góry dziękujemy za Twój udział! Ta ankieta jest POUFNA.

هل يمكنك تخصيص 7 دقائق من وقتك لإكمال هذا الإستبيان؟ نحن بصدد العمل على تطوير تطبيق يمكن من خلاله تسهيل
.عملية الإبلاغ عن جرائم الكراهية العنصرية وتوفير معلومات عن الخدمات المتاحة
.يسعدنا أن نستمع إلى آراءكم لتحسين مردود عملنا
.هذا الإستبيان سري ومؤتمن

Puteți să ne acordați câteva minute pentru a răspunde la acest chestionar? Lucrăm la o aplicație care să faciliteze raportarea infracțiunilor motivate de ură rasială și care să ofere informații cu privire la serviciile disponibile. Părerile dumneavoastră ne vor ajuta să facem treabă cât mai bună.
Acest chestionar este CONFIDENȚIAL.

English: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=HVWRA0SLWUe3rPCi39kaXgsLCcEuweBKvOB3BaffQcBUOTdDN09aN05ONUoxQ001N1RNTkJTN0pRTS4u
Mandarin Chinese: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=HVWRA0SLWUe3rPCi39kaXgsLCcEuweBKvOB3BaffQcBUNjRPS0dJN0pCSzJMNFpXQ09XWDIyTVdUQy4u
Polish: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=HVWRA0SLWUe3rPCi39kaXgsLCcEuweBKvOB3BaffQcBUQ0c2MUdVVlBBOVdFWElJNEZMMDY5MThFTi4u
Arabic: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=HVWRA0SLWUe3rPCi39kaXgsLCcEuweBKvOB3BaffQcBURFpPRVBPWVJXQVpaN1Y0TDVFTDZFSUxRRS4u
Romanian: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=HVWRA0SLWUe3rPCi39kaXgsLCcEuweBKvOB3BaffQcBURDlTMVI5R1FFS0czVVZLM05SU1AxWTlUNi4uCWA

 

On 23rd February 2023, the Home Office introduced a new system of asylum claim questionnaires. It is essential that asylum seekers respond to these questionnaires within the deadline.

We understand that this has caused some concern within communities. You should know:

The questionnaires will only be sent to people from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen
i. and who claimed asylum before 28th June 2022
ii. and who have not already had a substantive interview

This Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) is aimed at migrant support organisations to help them understand what these questionnaires entail and how their clients / members / service users will be affected.

The FAQ can be found here https://www.lawcentreni.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Asylum-Claim-Questionnaires-FAQ.pdf and on the Migration Justice Page of our website – https://www.lawcentreni.org/migration-justice-project/