Public Access Defibrillator Locations

The request was partially successful.

Robert Whittaker

Dear East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust,

I would be grateful if you could supply me with a copy of your "Defib register" as described at http://www.emas.nhs.uk/get-involved/defi... with details of the locations of publicly accessible automated external defibrillators (AEDs). For each unit, I would particularly like to know a location description / address, postcode, location coordinates (if known), reference number, and owner/operator. I do NOT wish to know any access codes required to open the cabinets. I have a strong preference for receiving this information in a re-usable electronic format, e.g. a CSV file (preferred) or an Excel spreadsheet.

I see that your neighbouring service in the East of England publicises their own list on their website at http://www.eastamb.nhs.uk/Get-involved/C... and http://www.eastamb.nhs.uk/Get%20involved... -- perhaps you might consider doing something similar. Then an up-to-date list will be available to everyone.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Whittaker.

FOI, East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Ref: FOI/16/019

25th April 2016

Dear Mr Whittaker

Thank you for your email dated 22nd April 2016 requesting information about locations of public access defibrillators.

Your request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and will be answered within 20 working days.

If you have any queries about this request, do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Janette Kirk
Head of Information Governance
Tel: 0115 8845127

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Williams Matthew, East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust

4 Attachments

Ref: FOI/16/019

 

11 May 2016

 

Dear Mr Whittaker

 

We are writing further to your e-mail dated 22 April 2016 requesting a
copy of our defibrillator register.

 

Within your request you asked for a location address, location
co-ordinates, reference number and owner/operator.  I have to confirm that
the only information we reliably hold is the street name and town/village
the defibrillator is in, as we are not often provided with the
owner/operator information or the reference number.

 

As such please find attached a Spreadsheet containing a list of Community
Defibrillator Locations by street and town/village.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Matthew Williams

 

Notes:

 

We’re interested in your views on how we deal with Freedom of Information
requests and would welcome your feedback.  Please take a few moments to
complete our short questionnaire – available here at:
[1]http://www.emas.nhs.uk/freedom-of-inform....

 

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review.  Internal review requests should be
submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your
original letter and should be addressed to:

 

Matthew Williams, Records Manager, Information Governance and Compliance
Team, East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Trust Headquarters, 1
Horizon Place, Mellors Way, Nottingham Business Park, Nottingham NG8 6PY.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:  Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF.

 

[2]Description: [3]cid:image005.png@01D0CAE2.B1559520
Description:
Description: Telephone: 0115 9193446
Description:
Description: hello my [4][email address]
name is
[5]www.emas.nhs.uk
Matthew Williams
Records Manager                         @EMASNHSTRUST[6]Description:
Description: Description: Description: Description:
East Midlands Description: Description: Description: Description:
Ambulance Service NHS cid:image002.png@01CF367A.50F55880
Trust
Nottinghamshire
Headquarters

Beechdale Road

Nottingham

NG8 3LL

 

 

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Robert Whittaker

Dear Matthew Williams,

Many thanks for the list. Are you sure you don't have any more detailed information about the location of each AED (e.g. a postcode, grid reference, coordinates, or just a text-based description)? If you're wanting to tell 999 callers if an AED is nearby, it would be hard to tell how close they are based on the information you've given me, and it would be hard for them to find the AED given only a road name.

Also, your reply seemed to suggest that you may have some of the additional information I asked for, but just not for every AED. If you do have any of that information, even if it's not complete, could you please provide what you have?

Many thanks,

Robert Whittaker

Williams Matthew, East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust

I am on Annual Leave and will return on 31 May 2016. I will respond to your request on my return.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (2000)
If you are responding to a Freedom of Information Act (2000) request that has been raised internally please contact Janette Kirk (Head of Information Governance) on either [email address], [East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust request email], 0115 8845127 or 07773 775061.

DATA PROTECTION ACT (1998) OR ACCESS TO HEALTH RECORDS ACT (1990) REQUESTS
If you are sending a Data Protection Act (1998) Request or Access to Health Records Act (1990) Request I will deal with this on my return.

ARCHIVING AND SMARTCARD ENQUIRIES
These will be dealt with on my return.
ANY OTHER ENQUIRIES

· Janette Kirk (Head of Information Governance) on [email address], 0115 8845127 or 07773 775061

· Hanya Domansky (Information Governance Apprentice) for Solicitor Enquiries on [email address] or 0115 8845806.

Thank you in advance

Matthew Williams

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Robert Whittaker

Dear East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust,

Many thanks for the list you provided at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p... . Are you sure you don't have any more detailed information about the location of each AED (e.g. a postcode, grid reference, coordinates, or just a text-based description)? If you're wanting to tell 999 callers if an AED is nearby (as per http://www.emas.nhs.uk/get-involved/defi...), it would be hard to tell how close they are based on the information you've given me, and it would be hard for them to find the AED given only a road name.

Also, your reply seemed to suggest that you may have some of the additional information I asked for, but just not for every AED. If you do have any of that information, even if it's not complete, could you please provide what you have?

Many thanks,

Robert Whittaker

Robert Whittaker

Dear East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust,

Can I just check that you received the follow-up I made to a recent FOI request, the text of which can be found online at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p... .

It's getting close to 20 working days since I sent you that message, so perhaps you could let me know when you'll be in a position to respond.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Whittaker

Williams Matthew, East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust

3 Attachments

Ref: FOI/16/019

 

14 June 2016

 

Dear Mr Whittaker

 

Thank you for your e-mail below dated 9 June 2016.

 

Could you please send the follow up directly to me as for an unknown
reason this has not arrived with us.

 

With Kind Regards

 

Matthew Williams

 

[1]Description: [2]cid:image005.png@01D0CAE2.B1559520
Description:
Description: Telephone: 0115 9193446
Description:
Description: hello my [3][email address]
name is
[4]www.emas.nhs.uk
Matthew Williams
Records Manager                         @EMASNHSTRUST[5]Description:
Description: Description: Description: Description:
East Midlands Description: Description: Description: Description:
Ambulance Service NHS cid:image002.png@01CF367A.50F55880
Trust
Nottinghamshire
Headquarters

Beechdale Road

Nottingham

NG8 3LL

 

 

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Robert Whittaker

Dear Matthew Williams,

The follow-up questions can be found at the link I gave in my previous message: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p... . But in case you are unable to access that, I've also repeated the request below:

Many thanks for the list you provided at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p... . Are you sure you don't have any more detailed information about the location of each AED (e.g. a postcode, grid reference, coordinates, or just a text-based description)? If you're wanting to tell 999 callers if an AED is nearby (as per http://www.emas.nhs.uk/get-involved/defi... ), it would be hard to tell how close they are based on the information you've given me, and it would be hard for them to find the AED given only a road name.

Also, your reply seemed to suggest that you may have some of the additional information I asked for, but just not for every AED. If you do have any of that information, even if it's not complete, could you please provide what you have?

Yours sincerely,

Robert Whittaker

Robert Whittaker

Dear East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust,

Another month has gone by, and I still haven't had a response to the follow-up to my original FOI request. Please see https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p... for a full history.

Specifically, the request that remains unanswered is that which I made on 13th May 2016:

"Are you sure you don't have any more detailed information about the location of each AED (e.g. a postcode, grid reference, coordinates, or just a text-based description)? If you're wanting to tell 999 callers if an AED is nearby (as per http://www.emas.nhs.uk/get-involved/defi... ), it would be hard to tell how close they are based on the information you've given me, and it would be hard for them to find the AED given only a road name.

"Also, your reply seemed to suggest that you may have some of the additional information I asked for, but just not for every AED. If you do have any of that information, even if it's not complete, could you please provide what you have?"

I would be grateful if you could answer these questions and provide any additional information that you hold at your earliest convenience.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Whittaker

Williams Matthew, East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust

3 Attachments

Ref: FOI/16/019

 

18 July 2016

 

Dear Mr Whittaker

 

We are writing further to your e-mail dated 14 June 2016 requesting a copy
of our defibrillator register, and apologise for the length of time it has
taken to respond.

 

I have been waiting for a response back to your question, and can confirm
that we do not possess any further detailed information about the location
of each AED.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Matthew Williams

 

Notes:

 

We’re interested in your views on how we deal with Freedom of Information
requests and would welcome your feedback.  Please take a few moments to
complete our short questionnaire – available here at:
[1]http://www.emas.nhs.uk/freedom-of-inform....

 

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review.  Internal review requests should be
submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your
original letter and should be addressed to:

 

Matthew Williams, Records Manager, Information Governance and Compliance
Team, East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Trust Headquarters, 1
Horizon Place, Mellors Way, Nottingham Business Park, Nottingham NG8 6PY.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:  Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF.

 

[2]Description: [3]cid:image005.png@01D0CAE2.B1559520
Description:
Description: Telephone: 0115 9193446
Description:
Description: hello my [4][email address]
name is
[5]www.emas.nhs.uk
Matthew Williams
Records Manager                         @EMASNHSTRUST[6]Description:
Description: Description: Description: Description:
East Midlands Description: Description: Description: Description:
Ambulance Service NHS cid:image002.png@01CF367A.50F55880
Trust
Nottinghamshire
Headquarters

Beechdale Road

Nottingham

NG8 3LL

 

 

show quoted sections

Robert Whittaker

Dear East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust,

Many thanks for your response. However, I'm afraid I find it very hard to believe that you hold no other information about any of the AEDs on your list. (To recap, the spreadsheet you provided before only had information in columns labelled "Location Street" and "Location Town or City".)

1/ Your web page at http://www.emas.nhs.uk/get-involved/defi... states: "We want EMAS' Control Room staff to be able to tell 999 callers where they can find the nearest defibrillator (if it’s within a set distance) so more lives can be saved." This would require some way of computing the distance of the caller from their nearest AED. How do you calculate this distance without knowing a more precise location?

2/ Your web page at http://www.emas.nhs.uk/get-involved/defi... also lists a number of pieces of information that people are asked to provide when telling you about an AED. These include "full address including postcode" and "Exact location of the defibrillator". Is it really the case that no-one has provided any of this requested information to you?

3/ In your initial response to me, you said what you'd provided is "the only information we reliably hold". This strongly suggests that there is other information, which may not be complete or accurate for all AEDs, but may be present for some. To clarify, I would like any of this information, even if it isn't 100% complete or accurate.

In the light of the above, I'm afraid I must ask for an internal review of your response. I apologise if you genuinely don't hold any additional information. But if this is the case, I'd be grateful if you could explain why not given the above observations.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Whittaker

Williams Matthew, East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust

3 Attachments

FOI/16/019

 

19 July 2016

 

Dear Mr Whittaker

 

Thank you for your e-mail dated 19 July 2016 requesting an internal review
of our response about public access defibrillator locations.

 

Your internal review request is being dealt with under the terms of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 and will be answered within 20 working
days.

 

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

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Matthew Williams

 

[1]Description: [2]cid:image005.png@01D0CAE2.B1559520
Description:
Description: Telephone: 0115 9193446
Description:
Description: hello my [3][email address]
name is
[4]www.emas.nhs.uk
Matthew Williams
Records Manager                         @EMASNHSTRUST[5]Description:
Description: Description: Description: Description:
East Midlands Description: Description: Description: Description:
Ambulance Service NHS cid:image002.png@01CF367A.50F55880
Trust
Nottinghamshire
Headquarters

Beechdale Road

Nottingham

NG8 3LL

 

 

show quoted sections

Williams Matthew, East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust

5 Attachments

FOI/16/019

 

15 August 2016

 

Dear Mr Whittaker

 

We are writing further to your e-mail dated 19 July 2016 requesting an
internal review of our response about public access defibrillator
locations.

 

Please find attached a copy of the Internal Review carried out by Zoe
Rodger-Fox, Head of Safeguarding, to which I have been instructed to
provide, along with an updated C-PAD list.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Matthew Williams

 

[1]Description: [2]cid:image005.png@01D0CAE2.B1559520
Description:
Description: Telephone: 0115 9193446
Description:
Description: hello my [3][email address]
name is
[4]www.emas.nhs.uk
Matthew Williams
Records Manager                         @EMASNHSTRUST[5]Description:
Description: Description: Description: Description:
East Midlands Description: Description: Description: Description:
Ambulance Service NHS cid:image002.png@01CF367A.50F55880
Trust
Nottinghamshire
Headquarters

Beechdale Road

Nottingham

NG8 3LL

 

 

 

From: Williams Matthew
Sent: 18 July 2016 17:27
To: '[FOI #330096 email]'
<[FOI #330096 email]>
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Public Access Defibrillator
Locations

 

Ref: FOI/16/019

 

18 July 2016

 

Dear Mr Whittaker

 

We are writing further to your e-mail dated 14 June 2016 requesting a copy
of our defibrillator register, and apologise for the length of time it has
taken to respond.

 

I have been waiting for a response back to your question, and can confirm
that we do not possess any further detailed information about the location
of each AED.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Matthew Williams

 

Notes:

 

We’re interested in your views on how we deal with Freedom of Information
requests and would welcome your feedback.  Please take a few moments to
complete our short questionnaire – available here at:
[6]http://www.emas.nhs.uk/freedom-of-inform....

 

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review.  Internal review requests should be
submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your
original letter and should be addressed to:

 

Matthew Williams, Records Manager, Information Governance and Compliance
Team, East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Trust Headquarters, 1
Horizon Place, Mellors Way, Nottingham Business Park, Nottingham NG8 6PY.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:  Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF.

 

[7]Description: [8]cid:image005.png@01D0CAE2.B1559520
Description:
Description: Telephone: 0115 9193446
Description:
Description: hello [9][email address]
my name is
[10]www.emas.nhs.uk
Matthew Williams
Records Manager                         @EMASNHSTRUST[11]Description:
Description: Description: Description: Description:
East Midlands Description: Description: Description: Description:
Ambulance Service cid:image002.png@01CF367A.50F55880
NHS Trust
Nottinghamshire
Headquarters

Beechdale Road

Nottingham

NG8 3LL

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Williams,

Many thanks for the reply and the additional information. I'm not quite sure why EMAS previously thought they didn't have the location data (FOIA includes a duty to "confirm or deny" whether you hold requested information, independent of whether or not it's suitable to be released), but I'm pleased you've now found it and been able to supply it. I note that despite what is written in the review response, there aren't actually any postcodes included in the spreadsheet you've sent. But please don't worry about this now, as I've managed to work around it this time.

One final thing, you might like to check the coordinates you have for CPAD95 (THE CHASE CARAVAN PARK, ANCHOR LN, INGOLDMELLS SKEGNESS). Your current coordinates of (556467,396452) put the location in the North Sea, about 10km off the coast. I think two digits may have been interchanged, and the coordinates should probably be (556467,369452). This would put the location at http://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=53.19... which would fit the address.

Best wishes,

Robert Whittaker