FOI 26-012 Role and PLE Incidents
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-012 Role and PLE Incidents
- Request Date
- 06 Jan 2026
- Response Date
- 28 Jan 2026
- Information Requested
1. The number of instances that that PLE (Pronunciation of Life Extinct) was recorded by the Scottish Ambulance Service in the last 7 years.
Please provide this broken down by calendar year (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 so far) and financial year (2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/2024, 2024/25 and 2025/26 so far)
*please show in a table where instances were recorded as PLE and ROLE.
2. The number of instances that that ROLE (Recognition of Life Extinct) was recorded by the Scottish Ambulance Service in the last 7 years.
Please provide this broken down by calendar year (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 so far) and financial year (2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/2024, 2024/25 and 2025/26 so far)
*please show in a table where instances were recorded as PLE and ROLE
3. Confirmation of whether or not the Scottish Ambulance Service has transitioned away from using PLE and ROLE as terms and instead started to use COD (Confirmation of Death) instead.
4. If SAS has changed the way it records this then please also provide all the data the new way it is recorded.- Response
Important to note when interpreting this data: The sections on the ePRF where the crews would note PLE or ROLE are not exclusive, there are instances where the crew have filled out both sections as indicated in the third column; the third column’s figures are incorporated into the first two column’s figures. The data in the columns should NOT be added together as this will not be a true representation of the number of deaths attended.
Scottish Ambulance Service crews report ROLE and PLE when attending incidents where a death has occurred. This can be anything from accidental death to unexplained deaths; the crews are often called to confirm death. There has been a change in terminology within the Scottish Ambulance Service to Confirmation of Death; this is in the process of a phased-rollout. In terms of reporting we are using the former two terms ROLE and PLE, there is no current date set for the change in reporting.
We have applied section 25 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 to the request of ROLE and PLE figures from 2019 – 2023 and financial years 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/2024 as this is considered easily accessible in the public domain - FOI 24-525 ROLE and PLE Incidents
Please see the tables below detailing the number of ROLE’s and the number of PLE’s reported in 2024 and 2025 .
Year
Number Incidents Attended Where PLE Y/N = Y (combined)
Number Incidents Attended Where ROLE Y/N = Y (combined)
Number of Incidents Attended Where PLE Y/N AND ROLE Y/N =Y
2024
5,681
6,362
3,263
2025
4,231
4,528
3,116
2026*
104
120
100
*Figures from 01/01/2026 - 11/01/2026
Financial Year
Number Incidents Attended Where PLE Y/N = Y (combined)
Number Incidents Attended Where ROLE Y/N = Y (combined)
Number of Incidents Attended Where PLE Y/N AND ROLE Y/N =Y
2024/25
5,506
6,106
3,197
2025/26*
2,960
3,119
2,400
*Figure from 01/04/2025 - 11/01/2026
Q3 - The Scottish Ambulance Service has not yet transitioned to using the term Confirmation of Death (COD). The current terminology recorded in our systems remains Pronouncement/Pronunciation of Life Extinct (PLE) and Recognition of Life Extinct (ROLE). COD is planned as part of a future IT development, but no implementation date has yet been set.
Q4 - As COD has not yet been implemented, the Service does not hold any data recorded using COD terminology. Under Section 17 of FOISA, I must advise that no information is held.
