Hello,

’m a reporter with Newsquest’s Data Investigations Unit. I’m currently looking into issues around homelessness and pregnancy.

I’m hoping to acquire more information about pregnant women attending obstetrics/maternity/antenatal care appointments within your Trust who declared themselves homeless – whether rough sleeping, in temporary accommodation, with no fixed address or sofa surfing.

I’d like full disclosure of data as outlined below and would appreciate your advice and direction, as specified under the Freedom of Information Act, if you feel there’s a way of better refining my request to allow you to retrieve the information I’m interested in.

1. How many pregnant women presenting for initial obstretics/maternity/antenatal care appointments within your Trust declared themselves as homeless or with no fixed address between 2015 and 2019? Please breakdown by year.

2. How many of those pregnant women still declared themselves as homeless or had no fixed address upon being admitted to a labour ward to give birth?

3. For 1 and 2, if the information is available, please breakdown the numbers of women to specify how many were rough sleepers, how many were in temporary accommodation (please give numbers for hostels, B&Bs, refuges or other), or with no fixed address.

4. Please also provide figures for the outcomes of pregnancies for homeless women, broken down by the number that ended with a live birth, the number that underwent terminations, the number that had miscarriages and the number that were stillborn.

5. Please indicate age groups for the number of pregnant women who declared themselves homeless – whether under 20, 20-30, 30-40 or 40+.

6. How many of those who were pregnant had their child removed from their care at birth?

Please disclose your response in an Excel spreadsheet, with headings, where appropriate, as follows:

‘TRUST’ - ‘YEAR’ - ‘NUMBER HOMELESS AT INITIAL APPOINTMENT’ - ‘NUMBER LIVING IN HOSTELS’ - ‘LIVING IN B&B’ - 'ROUGH SLEEPING' - ‘LIVING IN REFUGE’ - ‘WITH NFA’ – ‘STILL HOMELESS WHEN ADMITTED TO LABOUR WARD FOR DELIVERY’ – ‘LIVING IN HOSTEL AT TIME OF DELIVERY’- ‘B&B AT TIME OF DELIVERY’ – REFUGE AT TIME OF DELIVERY – NFA AT TIME OF DELIVERY – NO OF LIVE BIRTHS – NO OF TERMINATIONS – NO OF MISCARRIAGES – NO STILLBIRTHS – AGE UNDER 20 – AGE 20-30 – AGE 30-40 – AGE 40+ - NO OF BABIES REMOVED FROM MOTHER’S CARE

If you identify any problems with this request, as mentioned, I’d appreciate advice, assistance and guidance as to how I can refine it to ensure I get as full a disclosure as is possible.

If there is any reason why you cannot provide every element of disclosure requested, please provide as much as you are able.

Yours faithfully,

Joanna Morris

FREEDOMOFINFORMATION (WESTERN SUSSEX HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST),

5 Attachments

 

Joanna,

 

Request Under Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000

 

Further to your email of 23 October  2019 , the trust is now in a position
to give a response  to your request. 

 

***** FOI REQUEST & OUR RESPONSE****

 

Under Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act, the Trust can
confirm that it holds information relevant to your request and this has
been provided where possible below.

 

 

 

 

1.            How many pregnant women presenting for initial
obstretics/maternity/antenatal care appointments within your Trust
declared themselves as homeless or with no fixed address between 2015 and
2019? Please breakdown by year.   <5*

 

2.            How many of those pregnant women still declared themselves
as homeless or had no fixed address upon being admitted to a labour ward
to give birth?                <5*

 

3.            For 1 and 2, if the information is available, please
breakdown the numbers of women to specify how many were rough sleepers,
how many were in temporary accommodation (please give numbers for hostels,
B&Bs, refuges or other), or with no fixed
address.                              <5*

 

4.            Please also provide figures for the outcomes of pregnancies
for homeless women, broken down by the number that ended with a live
birth, the number that underwent terminations, the number that had
miscarriages and the number that were stillborn.         <5*

 

5.            Please indicate age groups for the number of pregnant women
who declared themselves homeless – whether under 20, 20-30, 30-40 or
40+.                    <5*

 

6.            How many of those who were pregnant had their child removed
from their care at birth?             <5*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

·         Less than or equal to five – Section 40 exemption applies*

 

 

 

*Due to the small numbers involved, we  are unable to break down the
figures as requested. We believe releasing information to the level of
detail which has been requested is likely to breach the principles of the
Data Protection Act 1998 and therefore we are applying exemption s40
(personal information), to this part of your request

 

 

The Trust has a duty to safeguard the confidentiality of its patients
under the Data Protection Act (DPA).  Where the number of patients
relevant to a request is equal to or less than 5, “≤5” has been
indicated.  The disclosure of exact numbers in these cases, combined with
other information already available in the public domain, could lead to
the identification of patients and would therefore breach the 1st
Principle of the DPA.  Where disclosure of information would breach the
DPA, section 40(2) personal information exemption under the FOIA applies. 

 

The Trust considers the disclosure of more specific information to be
exempt under section 40(2) of the FOI Act on the grounds that it amounts
to personal data and the first condition under section 40(3)(a)(i) is
satisfied, namely, that disclosure would be in breach of the 1st data
protection Principle (personal data should be processed ‘fairly and
lawfully’).  It is our view that the patients relevant to your request
would have a reasonable expectation that this information would not be
disclosed into the public domain in this way, and that disclosure would
likely cause undue distress and not be considered fair by the patients
involved.  The engagement of s.40(2) in this case is considered absolute
and is not subject to public interest considerations.

 

 

 

If you require clarification or if we can be of any further assistance to
you, please do not hesitate to contact us at: [1][Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust request email]   

                                                              

Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005

 

The supply of information under the Freedom of Information Act is intended
to be for personal use only and does not automatically give the recipient
the right to commercially re-use it, for example, the right to publish it
or make it available to a wider audience [SI 2005 No: 1515 4(1)].

 

The Trust provides information under the Freedom of Information Act in
line with the template [2]Open Government Licence for public sector
information.  Should you wish to re-use any information in line with this
Licence then you are not required to take any further action.

 

The Open Government Licence allows you to re-use information freely and
flexibly, with only a few conditions.  If you wish to re-use information
outside of the Licence terms then please inform the Trust as unauthorised
re-use may be in breach of copyright law.

 

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your enquiry, you have the
right to appeal.  Please email us or write to:

 

Western Sussex Hospitals  NHS Foundation Trust
Freedom of Information Administrator

First Floor

Stillman House

St Richard’s Hospital

Spitalfield Lane

Chichester

PO19 6SE

 

If you are still not satisfied with the outcome of your appeal, you can
write to:

 

The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545700

 

We hope that you find the information provided helpful.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

                                                                                    
                                      

 

Dave Seller
Freedom of Information Administrator
Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Direct Dial: 01243 - 831827

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[8]www.westernsussexhospitals.nhs.uk

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