Complaints about the Care Quality Commission TO the Care Quality Commission itself

24 January 2012

 

Our Ref: Information Request CQC IAT 2012 0075

 

This matter is being dealt with by: Russell Wynn, Telephone No: 0191
2333587

 

Dear Ms Cantwell

 

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your request for information dated
24 January 2012, which the Commission received on the same day. Your
request for information is as follows: -

 

COMPLAINTS TO THE CARE QUALITY COMMISSION ABOUT THE CARE QUALITY
COMMISSION ITSELF

    

I wish to make a Freedom of Information Request about complaints made TO
the Care Quality Commission complaining ABOUT the Care Quality Commission
to date.

    

1) Since the inception of the Care Quality Commission, how many
complainants have complained to the Care Quality Commission about the Care
Quality Commission itself, and its agents?

    

Legally, you must keep a register of complaints, and therefore this will
be relatively quick and cheap to give the answer via this website
http://whatdotheyknow.com please.

    

2) Of these complainants, how many complainants complained about Mental
Health legislation?

    

3) Of these complainants, how many complainants complained about
non-compliance of the Care Quality Commissioners and Care Quality
Commission in general of not doing their job properly?

    

4) How many complainants complained about perceived bias of the Care
Quality Commission in favour of Mental Health providers as opposed to the
"Best Interests" of vulnerable people - the patients themselves and their
families and carers?

    

5) How many complainants have perceived themselves to have been
short-changed by the Care Quality Commission in being a toothless
safeguarding and regulatory body which does not, in fact, protect the best
interests of the patients and their families from potential harm either
from negligence of medical practices or social welfare?

    

There is much debate currently ongoing in Parliament regarding the Health
and Social Care Bill and all its ramifications will impact on the
Regulators of the new system of care, whatever it will be.

    

As Legal Regulator, the Care Quality Commission owes a specific and
overriding duty of care towards ALL people irrespective of whether they
are in the NHS or privately-organised health and social care. The Care
Quality Commission owes duty of care both to the patient or person
receiving care and their families and carers as well as to the providers
of healthcare and social provision who have to have proper working
conditions of pay, work-life balance, training, supportive environment and
employers who treat their staff within the provisions as laid down by law.

    

6) Has anyone complained that the responsibilities of the Care Quality
Commission may be such that there may well be too much centralisation of
powers because if they rely upon the say-so of the providers to tell them
if there is a problem, then the REAL problems can be overlooked because
you are really just "rubber-stamping" self-appraisal?

    

7) I wish to know if this has been a specific complaint raised by anyone
about the Care Quality Commission in other fora such as Parliament or in
debate internally at the Care Quality Commission or Think Tanks or in the
NHS generally?

    

8) Whistleblowers seem to be lambasted for raising concerns and they may
lose their jobs - and there was a High Court Case about a consultant who
raised concerns at South London Healthcare NHS Trust according to another
"whatdotheyknow" poster. What has happened to him? Did the Care Quality
Commission support him in Court?

    

9) What real support does the Care Quality Commission give to doctors,
nurses, healthcare professionals, physiotherapists, dentists, paramedics,
ambulance personnel, therapists, and others, who raise concerns about
their working environment? How many Court Cases has the Care Quality
Commission brought against health and / or care providers? How many Court
Cases has the Care Quality Commission brought against families or family
members or carers?

 

Your request is now being processed in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. Your response should be sent to you within the
statutory timescale of 20 working days as outlined by the Act, subject to
the information not meeting exemption criteria or containing reference to
a third party. Should this occur, you will be notified accordingly when we
write to you next.

 

You can therefore expect a response by close of business 21 February 2012
respectively. In certain circumstances the Care Quality Commission may be
unable to provide the information within statutory timescale.  We will
then inform you of the revised timescale prior to the deadline.

 

We may require further information from you in order to process your
request.  If this is the case you will be informed and the statutory
timescale will be suspended until we receive further information from you.
If you decide not to respond then your request will be closed.

 

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact the team, on the
telephone number above, quoting our reference number.

 

Kind regards

 
Russell Wynn
Senior Information Access Officer
Legal Services & Information Rights
Care Quality Commission
 
Tel: 0191 233 3587
Fax: 01484 772 992
 

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Dear Ms Cantwell,
 
I feel I should clarify that the Information Access Team will not
investigate any concerns you have raised within your recent requests. Our
role is to provide any recorded information to you which CQC may hold on
the matters you have raised. Our role does not extend to investigating any
concerns that are raised about a particular service. My colleague, Paul
Douglas, has advised you in his correspondence to you of the 23 January
2012, as to how you can raise concerns and or complaints about care
services.
 
If we do not hold any recorded information there is no legal obligation
placed upon us to try and obtain this information from Oxleas NHS Trust or
any other public authority on your behalf.
 
As is stated in Section 1(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000:
 
"Any person making a request for information to a public authority is
entitled— .
 
(a)to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds
information of the description specified in the request, and .
(b)if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him."
 
There is no requirement for the Information Access Team to investigate why
other public authorities have failed and our remit only extends to
ensuring compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for CQC. Any
failure by a public authority to provide information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 would need to be investigated by the Information
Commissioners Office.
 
However, as CQC employees, we have a general duty to share concerns that
any applicant may have with a particular service with the relevant CQC
compliance team for that service.
 
As I will be required to request the information from the appropriate
compliance team, your concerns will also be shared with them.
 
I hope this clarifies the Information Access Team's role in handling the
five requests you have submitted to us on the 23 and 24 January 2012.
 
Kind regards,
 
Russell Wynn
Senior Information Access Officer
Legal Services & Information Rights
Care Quality Commission
 
Tel: 0191 233 3587
Fax: 01484 772 992
 
**************************************************************
Statutory requests for information made pursuant to access to information
legislation, such as the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, should be sent to [CQC request email].
 
 
 
 

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Dear Ms Cantwell

In relation to your specific request CQC IAT 2012 0072 I can confirm that we have not yet formally issued a refusal notice or provided the information to you. In relation to this request I am still presently making enquiries with the appropriate team as to what information we hold.

The only correspondence sent thus far in relation to request CQC IAT 2012 0072 was an acknowledgement and then advising you that we would not consider an Internal Review of this request until we had formally responded to you.

I do however note in relation to your specific request CQC IAT 2012 0075 we have had further correspondence with you in which we provided advice and assistance to you to clarify the Information Access Team's role. This was not a formal refusal notice of any of your outstanding requests but merely advice about the requirements that CQC are placed under as a result of the Freedom of Information legislation.

I also note that the revisions you provided to requests CQC IAT 2012 0071, CQC IAT 2012 0073 and CQC IAT 2012 0074 have been most helpful and I am currently in the process of obtaining this information from the appropriate teams.

The Commission still fully intend to respond to all 5 requests that you have made via what do they know and will advise you of this in due course.

I have also sent a copy of this advice to the separate e-mail address for each of the 5 requests you have made.

Kindest Regards

Russell Wynn
Senior Information Access Officer
Legal Services & Information Rights
Care Quality Commission

Tel: 0191 233 3587
Fax: 01484 772 992

**************************************************************
Statutory requests for information made pursuant to access to information legislation, such as the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000, should be sent to [CQC request email].

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16 February 2012

 

Our Ref: Information Request CQC IAT 2012 0075 

 

Dear Ms Cantwell

 

I am writing in response to your request for information dated 23 January
2012 in which you made a request for information in accordance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), which the Commission received
on 23 January 2012 and was then amended on 24 January 2012.

 

Please find attached our response and associated documents.

 

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Russell Wynn

Senior Information Access Officer

Legal Services and Information Rights

Care Quality Commission
 
 
 

The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential to the
intended recipient. They may not be disclosed to or used by or copied in
any way by anyone other than the intended recipient. If this email is
received in error, please notify us immediately by clicking "Reply" and
delete the email. Please note that neither the Care Quality Commission nor
the sender
accepts any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to
scan or otherwise check this email and any attachments.

Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of the
Care Quality Commission.

17 February 2012

 

Our Ref: Information Request CQC IAT 2012 0075

 

Dear Ms Cantwell

 

I am writing to acknowledge your request dated 17 February 2011 in which
you asked CQC to review our decision on the information that has been
provided to you. Your original request was responded to on 16 February
2012.

 

You review requested:

 

o Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information
reviews. I am writing to request an internal review of Care Quality
Commission's handling of my FOI request 'Complaints about the Care
Quality Commission TO the Care Quality Commission itself'. 

Your request is now being processed in accordance with Commission’s
internal review procedure for Information Access Requests. As you have not
stated which specific points you are unhappy with it would be useful if
you could specify why you are unhappy with our response.

 

The internal review process is not used to review the actions of any CQC
department or function except in relation to the Freedom of Information
Act 2000. It will only consider:

·        If we complied with section 10 of the act (time for compliance)

·        If we complied with the act by correctly stating any exemptions

·        If we complied with section 1 of the act (right of access)

·        If we confirmed whether we held the requested information

·        If we complied with any other relevant sections of the act

 

Should you have any further inquiries concerning this matter, please write
to me or contact me, on the telephone number above, quoting the reference
number.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Sent by Sylvia Blakeley

(on behalf of)

Simon Richardson

Information Rights Manager

Legal Services and Information Rights

Care Quality Commission

 
 
 
 

The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential to the
intended recipient. They may not be disclosed to or used by or copied in
any way by anyone other than the intended recipient. If this email is
received in error, please notify us immediately by clicking "Reply" and
delete the email. Please note that neither the Care Quality Commission nor
the sender
accepts any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to
scan or otherwise check this email and any attachments.

Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of the
Care Quality Commission.

Dear Mrs Cantwell
 
Please find attached, the findings of my internal review into your FOIA
requests to CQC. The letter also contains a response to your latest
request for information.
 
Kind regards
 
Simon
 
Simon Richardson
Information Rights Manager
Legal Services & Information Rights
Care Quality Commission
 

The Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of all health and
adult social care in England. [1]www.cqc.org.uk. For general enquiries,
telephone the National Contact Centre: 03000 616161.

Statutory requests for information made pursuant to access to information
legislation, such as the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, should be sent to: [2][CQC request email]
 

The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential to the
intended recipient. They may not be disclosed to or used by or copied in
any way by anyone other than the intended recipient. If this email is
received in error, please notify us immediately by clicking "Reply" and
delete the email. Please note that neither the Care Quality Commission nor
the sender
accepts any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to
scan or otherwise check this email and any attachments.

Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of the
Care Quality Commission.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.cqc.org.uk/
http://www.cqc.org.uk/
2. blocked::mailto:[CQC request email]
file:///tmp/blocked::mailto:[CQC request email]

Dear Mrs Cantwell

I apologise for any confusion regarding the role of CQC.

Yes, the information at the foot of my emails does state that the Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of all health and adult social care in England, and this statement is also included on our website.

This is a general statement intended to sum up the role of CQC in a single sentence. I considered that it was appropriate, within this context, to give you a fuller explanation of the scope of CQC's role. As I pointed out, health and social care services that do not carry on 'regulated activities', as defined by the regulations, are not regulated by CQC. We only regulate services in England. Other bodies regulate services elsewhere in the UK.

The internal review only covered our handling of your FOIA requests and it would not be appropriate to address other matters on the website www.whatdotheyknow.com. If you wish to make a general complaint about CQC - i.e. on issues other than our handling of your FOIA requests - details of how to do so are available at http://www.cqc.org.uk/contact-us.

My reasons for refusing your requests under section 14 are set out in my letter.

If you wish to make a complaint about CQC's handling of your requests for information, you are now entitled to seek a decision from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), but you must contact the ICO directly in order to do this. Contact details can be found at https://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us...

Yours sincerely

Simon Richardson
Information Rights Manager
Legal Services & Information Rights
Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of all health and adult social care in England. www.cqc.org.uk. For general enquiries, telephone the National Contact Centre: 03000 616161.

Statutory requests for information made pursuant to access to information legislation, such as the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000, should be sent to: [CQC request email]

The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential to the intended recipient. They may not be disclosed to or used by or copied in any way by anyone other than the intended recipient. If this email is received in error, please notify us immediately by clicking "Reply" and delete the email. Please note that neither the Care Quality Commission nor the sender
accepts any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan or otherwise check this email and any attachments.

Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of the Care Quality Commission.

This matter is being dealt with by: Pamela Coxon, Telephone No: 0191
2333552

 

Dear Ms Cantwell

 

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your two e-mail requests for
information dated 07 April 2012, which the Commission received on 10 April
2012. Your request for information is as follows: -

 

First e-mail:

I have located the following internet websites regarding RAMON NIEKRASH,
cancer specialist, urologist. It concerns me that a whistleblower has had
to go to such lengths to get redemption. What part did the Care Quality
Commission ITSELF PLAY in this? After all, you are the Regulator. As you
stated that if I provided the details you would then look, I am very
surprised that you did not link what I had said with this very prominent
case that went to the High Court and specifically was about South London
Healthcare NHS Trust. Was the Care Quality Commission involved AT ALL in
any negotiations, in any discussions, in any fact-finding?

    

Did the case of Dr Ramon Niekrash figure in ANY of the Care Quality
Commission's investigations into the working of South London Healthcare
NHS Trust? If so, what did the Care Quality Commission determine and what
press statement has been made, if any, by yourselves?

 

Second e-mail:

I have found specific reference to the Care Quality Commission in this
issue, and therefore I would be most grateful to have ALL that the Care
Quality Commission has on its involvement with Mr Ramon Niekrash ab
initio.

 

Has the Care Quality Commission been criticised at all for its part in the
case?

 

Your request is now being processed in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. Your response should be sent to you within the
statutory timescale of 20 working days as outlined by the Act, subject to
the information not meeting exemption criteria or containing reference to
a third party. Should this occur, you will be notified accordingly when we
write to you next.

 

You can therefore expect a response by close of business 09 May 2012
respectively. In certain circumstances the Care Quality Commission may be
unable to provide the information within statutory timescale.  We will
then inform you of the revised timescale prior to the deadline.

 

We may require further information from you in order to process your
request.  If this is the case you will be informed and the statutory
timescale will be suspended until we receive further information from you.
If you decide not to respond then your request will be closed.

 

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact the team, on the
telephone number above, quoting our reference number.
 
Regards
 
On behalf of:
Pamela Coxon
Information Access Officer
 
Care Quality Commission
Citygate
Gallowgate
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 4PA
 
Statutory requests for information made under access to information
legislation, such as the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, should be sent to:  [CQC request email]
 

The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential to the
intended recipient. They may not be disclosed to or used by or copied in
any way by anyone other than the intended recipient. If this email is
received in error, please notify us immediately by clicking "Reply" and
delete the email. Please note that neither the Care Quality Commission nor
the sender
accepts any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to
scan or otherwise check this email and any attachments.

Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of the
Care Quality Commission.

Dear Mrs Cantwell

I attach a letter from Julian Moffatt, Head of Legal Services and Information Rights, regarding the Internal Review of your FOIA request.

Kind regards

Information Access Team
Legal Services & Information Rights
Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of all health and adult social care in England. www.cqc.org.uk. For general enquiries, telephone the National Contact Centre: 03000 616161.

Statutory requests for information made pursuant to access to information legislation, such as the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000, should be sent to: [CQC request email]

The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential to the intended recipient. They may not be disclosed to or used by or copied in any way by anyone other than the intended recipient. If this email is received in error, please notify us immediately by clicking "Reply" and delete the email. Please note that neither the Care Quality Commission nor the sender
accepts any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan or otherwise check this email and any attachments.

Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of the Care Quality Commission.

Dear Ms Cantwell

 

I am forwarding this in addition to the response to your personal email
address which was sent yesterday.

 

I am writing in response to your request for information dated 07 April
2012 in which you made a request for information in accordance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), which the Commission received on
10 April 2012.

 

The Information Access Team has now processed your request and I am
pleased to attach a copy of our response in relation to your request.

 

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Kind regards

 

Pamela Coxon
Information Access Officer
Legal Services & Information Rights
Care Quality Commission
Citygate, Floor 7
Gallowgate
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 4PA
 
Tel: 0191 233 3552
Fax: 01484 772 992
E-mail: [1][email address]
 

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