By e mail

[FOI #6454 email]

LRF/LH/LMS/FOI

14^th May 2009

Mr R Clark

Dear Mr Clark

I refer to your request for information under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding deaths due to chemotherapy.

You wished to know the number of patients who were diagnosed with chemotherapy induced febrile neutropenia and the number of deaths due to chemotherapy induced febrile neutropenia in 2008.

I am not able to provide the exact information requested. However, I confirm that there were 438 admissions relating to chemotherapy induced neutropenia during 2008. There is no separate code to identify “febrile”. It is not possible to determine when the actual diagnosis took place.

There were 14 deaths reported during 2008 where a diagnosis of chemotherapy induced neutropenia was recorded but it is not possible to confirm if the specified diagnosis was the cause of death.

I trust this information is useful. The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non­commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re­use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. Many documents supplied by the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust may have been produced by government officials and will be Crown Copyright. You can find details on the arrangements for re-using Crown Copyright on HMS Online at: http://www.hmso.gov.uk/copyright/licences/click-use-home.htm

Information you receive which is not subject to Crown Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their permission before reproducing any third party (non Crown Copyright) information.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact Mrs Summers, Patient Relations Administrator, on 0191 2231382.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to The Patient Relations Manager, Patient Relations Department, The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, The Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE7 7DN.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Patient Relations Department. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

Sir Leonard Fenwick CBE

Chief Executive