1 July 2009
Mrs D Speers
By email
c/o [FOI #13090 email]
Dear Mrs Speers
Request for information
I refer to your email of 7 June 2009 regarding your request for information under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in respect of the Oxfordshire and
Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (the ‘Trust’). You have
asked the following questions:
1) What date did the Trust inform Monitor of the Healthcare Commission's
request for evidence on the Trust management of and learning from
SUIs;
2) What evidence of learning did Monitor request from the Trust;
3) What evidence of learning was submitted to Monitor by the Trust;
4) Has Monitor been updated on the Healthcare Commission’s decision;
and
5) Given that the HC public remit is over, is the Care Quality Commission
involved in any follow up work with the Trust?
Decision
I have decided to give you full access to the information that you have requested
to the extent that it is held by Monitor. Please find this information below.
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1) When did the Trust inform Monitor of the Healthcare Commission’s request for
evidence
Monitor’s relationship team was first made aware of the Healthcare
Commission’s request for evidence in the week commencing the 15 December
2008. At this point, a conference call was scheduled between the relationship
team and the Trust’s Chief Executive for the 7 January 2009 in which the detail of
the Healthcare Commission’s request was discussed.
2) Requests by Monitor for Information from the Trust
3) Evidence sent by the Trust to Monitor
Monitor has not made any specific information requests to the Trust in relation to
the Healthcare Commission’s investigation into SUIs at the Trust.
The Healthcare Commission ceased to exist on 1 April 2009 and its functions
were transferred to the Care Quality Commission (the ‘CQC’) on the same date.
The issues to which your request refers are still being investigated by the CQC.
To avoid regulatory duplication, Monitor will await the outcome of the CQC’s
investigation before determining what additional regulatory action may be
necessary. The Trust has not, therefore, yet been asked to provide evidence to
Monitor in respect of this matter and, accordingly, no such documents are held by
Monitor.
4) Healthcare Commission’s Decision
5) Role of the CQC
As set out above, the CQC has taken over the functions of the Healthcare
Commission. The Healthcare Commission did not make a final decision before its
functions were transferred to the CQC. As noted above, the CQC’s preliminary
enquiries in relation to the Trust are ongoing and no final decision has been
made. However, the CQC will notify Monitor once a final decision has been
made.
Review rights
If you consider that your request for information has not been properly handled or
if you are otherwise dissatisfied with the outcome of your request, you can try
and resolve this informally with the person who dealt with your request. If you
remain dissatisfied, you may seek an internal review within Monitor of the issue
or the decision. A senior member of Monitor staff, who has not previously been
involved with your request, will undertake that review.
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If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of any internal review conducted by
Monitor, you may complain to the Information Commissioner for a decision on
whether your request for information has been dealt with in accordance with the
requirements of the FOI Act.
Further information about the review process is set out in Monitor’s Publication
Scheme available at www.monitor-nhsft.gov.uk.
Yours sincerely
Carla Wilson
Senior Legal Adviser
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