Health and Safety Policies of Manual Handling and Transfer of an injured patient out of a private vehicle

name removed 23 Oct 2012 made this Freedom of Information request to Common Council of the City of London This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

Common Council of the City of London did not have the information requested.

name removed 23 Oct 2012

Dear Common Council of the City of London,

I wish to make a Freedom of Information Request regarding health and safety policies in the Square Mile.

Health and Safety Policies of Manual Handling and Transfer of an injured patient out of a private vehicle

1. What specific policy do you have for helping a patient out of a vehicle who has sustained a suspected sprained ankle?

2. What specific policy do you have for helping a patient out of a vehicle who has sustained a suspected broken leg?

3. What specific policy do you have for helping a person who has injured themselves who wishes to have a stretcher to help them get out of a car?

4. What specific policy do you have for training people to help people who cannot get out of a front seat passenger seat of a 5-door car?

5. What specific policy do you have for protecting the health and safety of the people man-handling an injured person out of a car?

6. What specific policy do you have for protecting the health and safety of an injured person in a car when being man-handled out of a car in which they are sitting?

7. What specific policy do you have for emergency release of a person who is injured from a car who refuses to be "persuaded" out of a car and refuses to be man-handled into a wheelchair - stating that they will ONLY come out with a stretcher/trolley to go into hospital - and then is refused the request of a stretcher because nurses say they are not allowed to man-handle a patient out of a car?

I am well aware of the Olympics coming to London in 2012, and wish to know what contingency plans are in place as well as the policies you had in place as of 7 March 2011, 8 March 2011, 9 March 2011 and 10 March 2011.

Thank you very much for your help,

Yours sincerely,

[first name removed] [last name removed]

Campaigner for Liberty, Truth and Justice

COL - EB - Information Officer, Common Council of the City of London

Dear Ms [last name removed],

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) - INFORMATION REQUEST

Thank you for your email of 6 February 2012.

In your email you mention “patients” and “nurses”, and so we are confused, as the City of London is a local authority, and, unlike a health authority, does not have patients or employ nurses or become routinely involved in the scenarios you describe. If your request was intended for the City of London, please would you confirm this, and also explain what policies you are referring to in your final paragraph, and what is the significance of the dates.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

show quoted sections

name removed 23 Oct 2012

Dear COL - EB - Information Officer,

From: COL - EB - Information Officer
Common Council of the City of London

7 February 2012
Dear Ms [last name removed],

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) - INFORMATION REQUEST

Thank you for your email of 6 February 2012.

In your email you mention “patients” and “nurses”, and so we are confused, as the City of London is a local authority, and, unlike a health authority, does not have patients or employ nurses or become routinely involved in the scenarios you describe. If your request was intended for the City of London, please would you confirm this, and also explain what policies you are referring to in your final paragraph, and what is the significance of the dates.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

Dear Information Officer,

Thank you very much for your quick acknowledgement of my request.

I made mention of "nurses" and "patients" because there are many councils in England which have partnerships with GP consortia and PCTs and hospitals, especially in view of the new Health and Social Care Bill going through parliament.

That is why I am hoping that you will be able to tell me what policy you have in place - perhaps in conjunction with multiple agencies or partnerships - so as to effect emergency release of a patient - or an injured person - whichever that may be - from a car or other private vehicle that is not an Emergency Services vehicle per se such as an LAS ambulance or air ambulance or police vehicle or fire service vehicle.

The reference to nurses is because I am aware that the Department of Health has informed me that there is no NHS nationwide policy on manual handling and transfer of injured people in private vehicles - and of course with the Olympics coming to London in 2012 you will no doubt be arranging for all kinds of emergency scenarios, and hence my data access request for your policy on this very subject.

Thank you very much for your kind help.

With best wishes for a very successful and safe Olympics,

[first name removed] [last name removed]

Campaigner for Liberty, Truth and Justice

Yours sincerely,

[first name removed] [last name removed]

COL - EB - Information Officer, Common Council of the City of London

Dear Ms [last name removed],

Thank you for your clarification.

It could perhaps also assist us in locating any information if you would
let us know what may be the significance of the dates you mention, ie of
7 March 2011, 8 March 2011, 9 March 2011 and 10 March 2011.

With thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

show quoted sections

name removed 23 Oct 2012

From: COL - EB - Information Officer
Common Council of the City of London

7 February 2012
Dear Ms [last name removed],

Thank you for your clarification.

It could perhaps also assist us in locating any information if you would
let us know what may be the significance of the dates you mention, ie of
7 March 2011, 8 March 2011, 9 March 2011 and 10 March 2011.

With thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Link to this

7 February 2012

Dear COL - EB - Information Officer,

Thank you very much again for your speedy return to me.

Certainly I will explain the significance of those dates in March 2011 for I have requested from the Department of Health how people who are unable to get out of a car can be extricated.

Unfortunately there is NO NATIONAL STANDARD POLICY for emergency release of an injured person - whether or not it be nurses treating a patient - or just police officers or LAS personnel or fire personnel or coastguard - or paramedics - or even a lay person - a person who is trying to help another person out of a car.

I am asking the same question of other authorities to find out what their response was too, because I have mad a RIDDOR report on 9 May 2011 about an instance where nurses said they could not remove a front-seat passenger from a 5-door car because they said that they were not allowed to man-handle a patient out of a car.

Thus I want to know what your policies were at that time, and what they are now in readiness for the Olympics.

This is why I believe that there must be a true national policy for health and safety especially when the World will be coming for the Olympics this summer.

Thank you very much for your help

Yours sincerely,

[first name removed] [last name removed]

Campaigner for Liberty, Truth and Justice

COL - EB - Information Officer, Common Council of the City of London

Dear Ms [last name removed],

Thank you for the clarification.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

show quoted sections

name removed 23 Oct 2012

3 March 2012

Dear Common Council of the City of London, Mr Turner MP for the Isle of Wight, Mr Lansley Secretary of State for Health, Mr Cameron Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Common Council of the City of London's handling of my FOI request 'Health and Safety Policies of Manual Handling and Transfer of an injured patient out of a private vehicle'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/he...

I have now been given information by the London Fire Brigade how they get an injured person out of a car. I was hoping that you would have a similar plan as contingencies against anyone being injured in a car and needing assistance to get out.

If you do not, may I commend to you that you check the London Fire Brigade's Freedom of Information Request response wherein they provided this EXCELLENT document showing just HOW to get someone out of a car.

I believe that it could be a very useful tool in an emergency.

Good luck for the Olympics.

Yours sincerely,

[first name removed] [last name removed]

Campaigner for legal reform, liberty, truth and justice

COL - EB - Information Officer, Common Council of the City of London

Dear Ms [last name removed],

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) - INFORMATION REQUEST

Following your request for information of 6 February 2012, and our
acknowledgement of 7 February 2012, the City of London (CoL) response is
below.

In addition to this response, I note that on 3 March 2012 you sent a
further email to the CoL requesting an internal review. However, as we are
only responding to your original request today, within the statutory
compliance period (the deadline being today), we are not sure on what
grounds you were requesting an internal review. As a result we are unable
to undertake an internal review unless you are able to clarify this point.

In response to your request, the CoL has no Health & Safety defined
standard for handling people. There is of course much guidance and
recognised methods for best achieving a rescue and to handle people, but
this is dependent on many factors, especially during an emergency rescue.
These factors make it difficult to lay down a national Policy, especially
when confronted with an emergency situation where preservation of life,
not necessarily Health & Safety legislation is at the fore.

The legal instrument that informs Manual Handling processes are The Manual
Handling Regulations 1992 and LOLER (Lifting operations and Lifting
Equipment Regulations 1998.  All simply require an assessment of the risk
and developing a process that minimises injury to the lifter, not
necessarily to a person being lifted. 

For information on the methods used for rescue we would recommend making a
request from the London Ambulance Service or the Fire Brigade.  The City
of London does not effect rescues of this nature and cannot provide any
further information on this matter. If you’d like to investigate the
formation of national safety policy for rescues of this type I suggest you
approach the HSE – Health & Safety Executive to produce such a Policy or
indeed any of the Emergency Services.

If you wish to make a complaint about the way the CoL has managed your
enquiry, please make your complaint in writing to email address:
[1][email address].

For a link to the CoL’s FOI complaints procedure, please visit the
following page: [2]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Feedback, at the end of which
is located the FOI complaints procedure.

If, having used the CoL’s FOI Complaints Procedure, you are still
dissatisfied, you may request the Information Commissioner to investigate.
The Information Commissioner is a Crown appointment, responsible for
monitoring compliance with the FOIA. Please contact: Information
Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Telephone: (01625) 545700. Website: [3]www.ico.gov.uk.

Please note that the Act applies to the CoL as a local authority, police
authority and port health authority. Subject to any other statutory
provisions requiring the CoL to disclose information, release of
information outside the scope of the Act is subject to the discretion of
the CoL.

The City of London holds the copyright in this communication and attached
documents. The supply of these does not give you a right to re-use them in
a way that would infringe that copyright, for example, by making copies,
publishing and issuing copies to the public or to any other person. Brief
extracts of any of the material may be reproduced under the fair dealing
provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (sections 29 and
30) for the purposes of research for non-commercial purposes, private
study, criticism, review and news reporting, subject to an acknowledgement
of the copyright owner.

Yours sincerely,

Performance Manager, Corporate HR Unit

Town Clerk's Department

City of London

Guildhall

London EC2P 2EJ

Tel: 020 7332 3936

[4][Common Council of the City of London request email]

[5]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

show quoted sections

name removed 23 Oct 2012

Dear Common Council of the City of London,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Common Council of the City of London's handling of my FOI request 'Health and Safety Policies of Manual Handling and Transfer of an injured patient out of a private vehicle'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/he...

I believe that there will need to be a review of what is required for the Olympics and when I received the London Fire Brigade's Response to my FOI asking for similar information, they did provide a very helpful document showing how they get a person out of a car.

And yesterday on television there was an instance where London Fire Brigade had to cut the top off a car in order to rescue an injured person, use a spinal board and then several people had to lift the injured person out of the car.

That is why I ask what are your means of getting a person out of a car.

Unfortunately, the HSE only involve themselves with employers and employees, and thus if you could contact them as an employer, they would be able to assist you.

And with the Olympics so close to us, I thought this might assist you.

With best wishes, and thank you very much for the information today,

Yours sincerely,

[first name removed] [last name removed]

Campaigner for legal reform, liberty, truth and justice

COL - EB - Information Officer, Common Council of the City of London

Dear Ms [last name removed],

I am writing in response to your email of 5 March 2012, in which you
requested an internal review of the City of London (CoL) response to your
request for information.

You requested information relating to the CoL's policies with regards to
manual handling and transferring injured people from private vehicles in
various circumstances.

As explained in our response to your request, the CoL has no policies in
place regarding the removal of injured persons/patients from private
vehicles.

Therefore, we have responded to your request in full. There is no other
information to provide.

It is not clear to us, therefore, on what basis you are requesting a
review.

If you could clarify on what basis you are requesting a review, we shall
respond accordingly.

In the meantime, we would expand on our response, as follows, in case it
is of assistance.

In the event of a road traffic incident, or indeed any occasion where
there may be an injured person in a vehicle, CoL employees will not be
responsible for attempting to rescue injured people from such vehicles as
part of their role. The CoL is a local authority (Local Government) and,
as do other local authorities, it relies on the emergency services
(Police, Fire Brigade, Ambulance Service) to manage rescues of this
nature, as they are trained specifically in this line of work. It is not
the responsibility of local authority employees to rescue injured people,
and it is also unlikely that CoL employees will be first on the scene in
this type of situation in any case, as the emergency services are likely
to be called, and the CoL is not an emergency service.

Additionally, you may be aware that the City of London does have its own
police force, the City of London Police (COLP), and, as an emergency
service, they may have policies related to the subject of your request.
However, the COLP are a separate body from the CoL for the purposes of
compliance with the FOIA, and should you wish to contact them to see if
they have any such policies, their contact details can be found at:
[1]http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/CityPo....

The CoL holds the copyright in this communication. Its supply does not
give a right to re-use in a way that would infringe that copyright, for
example, by making copies, publishing and issuing copies to the public or
to any other person. Brief extracts of any of the material may be
reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988 (sections 29 and 30) for the purposes of research for
non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and news
reporting, subject to an acknowledgement of the copyright owner.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer

Town Clerk's Department

City of London

Guildhall

London  EC2P 2EJ

Tel: 020-7332 1209

Email: [2][Common Council of the City of London request email]

[3]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

show quoted sections

name removed 23 Oct 2012

6 March 2012

Dear COL - EB - Information Officer,and Mr Turner MP for the Isle of Wight,

Thank you for letting me know about the City of London Police.

As the Council, though, I had believed, perhaps erroneously, that you would have policies in place for the Olympics irrespective of whether or not you yourselves and your employees actually provided the services.

And, as such, I had hoped that you would have such details.

But clearly you do not.

Thank you very much for your help and I wish you well for a wonderful Olympics this summer.

Yours sincerely,

[first name removed] [last name removed]