Public Access Defibrillator Locations

Waiting for an internal review by South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust of their handling of this request.

Robert Whittaker

Dear South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust,

I would like to request a copy of your list of Public Access Defibrillators. For each AED, I would like any/all of the following information that is recorded in your systems: reference number, site name / location description / address / place, full postcode, lat/lon or grid reference coordinates, owner / operator (if not a natural person).

I do NOT wish to know any access codes required to open 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 note two previous FOI requests for this information. In 2019, you provided this information at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d... . But in 2022 you refused it at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p... .

In relation to the 2022 refusal, I would note that all the "private" AEDs that I checked in the 2019 release appeared to be owned by businesses or organisations, rather than individuals. This means that the information about them is certainly not personal information. Moreover, even if an AED was owned by an individual, the location details would provide no additional information about the owner or provide any way to identify them. For Public Access Defibrillators, the AED will be on display to the public, so by providing the information, you would be adding nothing that is not already in the public domain. Even if any of the information was personal information, you could rely on Legitimate Interests to justify processing it for FOIA purposes, on the grounds that you want to increase public awareness of AED locations in order to save lives in the future.

Finally, in your responses to the 2022 request, you appear not to have complied with s17(1) of the Freedom of Information Act, since you have not explicitly stated the FOIA exemptions that you are relying on to withhold some of the information. If you do withhold any of the information I have requested, please make sure you clearly state which exemptions you are relying on, and the reasons that they hold. You may find it useful to consult the guidance from the Information Commissioner on the s40 exemption at https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisatio... .

Yours faithfully,

Robert Whittaker

Freedom of Information, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Thank you for your enquiry under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(FOIA).

Please accept this email as a formal acknowledgement of receipt of your
enquiry under the FOIA. Unless we need to contact you for further
information, your request is being handled and we aim to provide a
response within 20 working days. However, there may be a delay in you
receiving a full response due the current COVID-19 position.

If I can do anything else to help, please feel free to contact
[email address]

Kindly note that any enquiries relating to Police, Coroners or Solicitors
must be directed as per information available on our website. Please see
the following link:

http://www.secamb.nhs.uk/contact_us.aspx

Kind Regards
Freedom Of Information Coordinator

Freedom of Information, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

5 Attachments

Good Morning,

 

I write with reference to your FOI request and acknowledge that this has
now

breached. I would like to inform you this is still receiving our attention
and

we hope to have a full response available to you soon.

 

Should you wish to lodge a formal complaint then please find below details
of our

trust complaints team who can be contacted by the following email address
[email address]

 

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

 

Many Thanks,

 

Shams Iftikhar

Freedom of Information CoOrdinator

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Nexus House, Gatwick Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9BG

Switchboard: 0300 123 0999, mobile: 07464 538216

 

  [1]A close up [2]A picture [3]A drawing of [4]A stop sign  
of a sign containing a person Description
Description computer Description automatically
automatically Description automatically generated
generated automatically generated
generated
[5]A picture containing food Description automatically generated

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Robert Whittaker

Dear FOI Team,

I am writing to you regarding an FOI request I made back in March 2022. You can read the request and the subsequent correspondence online at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p... .

The last response I had from the Trust was on 21st April, where you apologised for failing to meet your obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, and assured me that the matter was still receiving your attention. However, I have yet to hear anything further from you.

So could I please check that you are still considering my request, and ask for an explanation for the delay, and an estimate of when I might expect to receive a response?

Yours sincerely,

Robert Whittaker

Freedom of Information, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Thank you for your enquiry under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(FOIA).

Please accept this email as a formal acknowledgement of receipt of your
enquiry under the FOIA. Unless we need to contact you for further
information, your request is being handled and we aim to provide a
response within 20 working days. However, there may be a delay in you
receiving a full response due the current COVID-19 position.

If I can do anything else to help, please feel free to contact
[email address]

Kindly note that any enquiries relating to Police, Coroners or Solicitors
must be directed as per information available on our website. Please see
the following link:

http://www.secamb.nhs.uk/contact_us.aspx

Kind Regards
Freedom Of Information Coordinator

Robert Whittaker

Dear FOI Team,

I am writing to you again regarding an FOI request I made back in March 2022. You can read the request and the subsequent correspondence online at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p... .

Having not had a substantive response and not heard anything from you since 21st April, I contacted you again on 17th July to ask for an explanation for the delay, and an estimate of when I might expect to receive a response. I received a (presumably automated) acknowledgement the same day, but nothing since.

Since you have still not provided a substantive response to either my initial FOI request or my message of 17th July, I must now formally ask for an internal review of your handling of my request under the Freedom of Information Act. If I do not hear from you by the end of next week (Friday 19th August), I shall be making a s50 application to the Information Commissioner for a Decision Notice to be issued against the Trust.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Whittaker

Freedom of Information, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

5 Attachments

Good Morning,

 

Thank you for your email and I apologise for the delay in responding to
your request.

 

I have followed up your request this morning and have asked for the
information to be available as soon as possible.

 

 

Many Thanks,

 

Shams Iftikhar

Freedom of Information CoOrdinator

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Nexus House, Gatwick Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9BG

Switchboard: 0300 123 0999, mobile: 07464 538216

 

  [1]A close up [2]A picture [3]A drawing of [4]A stop sign  
of a sign containing a person Description
Description computer Description automatically
automatically Description automatically generated
generated automatically generated
generated
[5]A picture containing food Description automatically generated

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

7 Attachments

Dear Robert,

 

Firstly Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in responding to
your request.

 

Following your recent Internal review request, please find attached a full
and final response from the Trust.

 

If we can be of any further assistance then please do not hesitate to
contact us.

 

 

Many Thanks,

 

Shams Iftikhar

Freedom of Information CoOrdinator

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Nexus House, Gatwick Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9BG

Switchboard: 0300 123 0999, mobile: 07464 538216

 

[1]A close up of [2]A picture [3]A drawing of [4]A stop sign
a sign containing a person Description
Description computer Description automatically
automatically Description automatically generated
generated automatically generated
generated
[5]A picture containing food Description automatically generated

 

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.secamb.nhs.uk/
2. https://twitter.com/SECAmbulance
3. https://www.facebook.com/SECAmbulance/
4. https://www.instagram.com/secambulance/

Dear South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust,

Many thanks for your recent response to my FOI request from 21 March 2022. A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p... .

If I have understood what you have provided correctly, you have sent me the list of all public AEDs from your own list that have not (yet) been registered with The Circuit. You have withheld the details of those that are registered, instead suggesting that I can obtain those from the website at https://www.defibfinder.uk/ . I assume that in order to remove the AEDs that have been registered with The Circuit, you hold a list of those AEDs.

I am afraid that if you want to withhold information like this in response to an FOI request, then you MUST state explicitly which exemption you are replying on. In this case I assume you would want to use the section 21 exemption: "Information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant otherwise than under section 1".

However, I do not believe that you can apply this exemption in this case. First, on a technicality, you said that the "Go Live" date for you with The Circuit was 23 March 2022. This post-dates my request, so at the time of my request I would guess that the information would not have been available via https://www.defibfinder.uk/ .

Secondly, For s21 to be engaged, the information must be "reasonably accessible". https://www.defibfinder.uk/ only displays information on 10 AEDs at a time, so to collect the full set of around 2500 would take a considerable amount of time. Also, you cannot just scroll the map to reveal new locations, you have to enter a postcode or place name. It it not clear to me how I would determine an appropriate set of postcodes and/or places that would be guaranteed to return all of the AEDs in your area. Should you wish to rely on this exemption, I believe you would need to provide me with such a list of postcodes/places. But even if you were to do so, I still do not think that it would be reasonable for me to have to enter over 250 different search terms into the site. Thus the information would still not be "reasonably accessible" to me.

Given your implicit introduction of a new exemption, I would be grateful if you could review your response again, decide whether any exemptions really apply to the withheld information, and issue a new response accordingly. Given the obvious deficiency in your latest response, I think this would be more expedient at this point, rather than for me make a FOIA s50 application to the Information Commissioner.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Whittaker

Freedom of Information, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

5 Attachments

Dear Robert,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

I will be passing your email to the relevant department and to the
Internal review committee to discuss this further and resubmit a response.

 

In the mean time if you have any questions please do not hesitate to get
in touch with me.

 

Many Thanks,

 

Shams Iftikhar

Freedom of Information CoOrdinator

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Nexus House, Gatwick Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9BG

Switchboard: 0300 123 0999, mobile: 07464 538216

 

  [1]A close up [2]A picture [3]A drawing of [4]A stop sign  
of a sign containing a person Description
Description computer Description automatically
automatically Description automatically generated
generated automatically generated
generated
[5]A picture containing food Description automatically generated

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

7 Attachments

Dear Richard,

 

Please see attached our Internal review response to your recent email.

 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.

 

Many Thanks,

 

Shams Iftikhar

Freedom of Information CoOrdinator

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Nexus House, Gatwick Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9BG

Switchboard: 0300 123 0999, mobile: 07464 538216

 

  [1]A close up [2]A picture [3]A drawing of [4]A stop sign  
of a sign containing a person Description
Description computer Description automatically
automatically Description automatically generated
generated automatically generated
generated
[5]A picture containing food Description automatically generated

 

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.secamb.nhs.uk/
2. https://twitter.com/SECAmbulance
3. https://www.facebook.com/SECAmbulance/
4. https://www.instagram.com/secambulance/

Freedom of Information, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

7 Attachments

Dear Robert,

 

Apologies for my last email as I wrongly copied a different name at the
top of the email.

 

Please see the attached internal review response to your request.

 

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any questions
or concerns related to the response.

 

Again apologies for my mistake.

 

Many Thanks,

 

Shams Iftikhar

Freedom of Information CoOrdinator

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Nexus House, Gatwick Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9BG

Switchboard: 0300 123 0999, mobile: 07464 538216

 

[1]A close up of [2]A picture [3]A drawing of [4]A stop sign
a sign containing a person Description
Description computer Description automatically
automatically Description automatically generated
generated automatically generated
generated
[5]A picture containing food Description automatically generated

 

 

 

 

From: Freedom of Information
Sent: 31 August 2022 09:10
To: 'Robert Whittaker' <[FOI #845816 email]>
Subject: Internal Review Response FOI 220325b

 

Dear Richard,

 

Please see attached our Internal review response to your recent email.

 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.

 

Many Thanks,

 

Shams Iftikhar

Freedom of Information CoOrdinator

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Nexus House, Gatwick Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9BG

Switchboard: 0300 123 0999, mobile: 07464 538216

 

[6]A close up of [7]A picture [8]A drawing of [9]A stop sign
a sign containing a person Description
Description computer Description automatically
automatically Description automatically generated
generated automatically generated
generated
[10]A picture containing food Description automatically generated

 

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.secamb.nhs.uk/
2. https://twitter.com/SECAmbulance
3. https://www.facebook.com/SECAmbulance/
4. https://www.instagram.com/secambulance/
6. http://www.secamb.nhs.uk/
7. https://twitter.com/SECAmbulance
8. https://www.facebook.com/SECAmbulance/
9. https://www.instagram.com/secambulance/

Dear Shams Iftikhar,

Many thanks for providing a copy of your list of AEDs from the time of my request. However, it appears that you have only provided the "Area", "County", and "Post code" columns in the spreadsheet. In response to a previous request [1], there was also a "Site Name" column that provided more detail about the location.

I assume that this column was also present in the archived sheet you hold, but you decided to remove it for some reason. I believe that the information in this column falls under the scope of my original request, so please either supply of copy of the sheet with it included, or state which FOI exemption it is being withheld under.

Also, for me to verify whether any other in-scope information has been omitted, please could you provide a full list of all the column headings present in the archived spreadsheet?

Yours sincerely,

Robert Whittaker

[1] https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d...

Freedom of Information, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

5 Attachments

Hi Robert,

 

I have not made any changes to the spreadsheet, and have forwarded this to
you exactly how it was received.

 

Please note that I do not hold any information, and depend on other
departments to provide answers to any FOI requests. A draft to an FOI
request is submitted for a sign off and once it is agreed, it is issued to
the requestor.

 

However I am going to forward your request to review committee and the
owner of the spreadsheet department and they can come back with a response
to this.

 

Many Thanks,

 

Shams Iftikhar

Freedom of Information CoOrdinator

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Nexus House, Gatwick Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9BG

Switchboard: 0300 123 0999, mobile: 07464 538216

 

  [1]A close up [2]A picture [3]A drawing of [4]A stop sign  
of a sign containing a person Description
Description computer Description automatically
automatically Description automatically generated
generated automatically generated
generated
[5]A picture containing food Description automatically generated

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

7 Attachments

Dear Robert,

 

Following your recent FOI review request, please find attached a full and
final response.

 

If we can be of any further assistance then please do not hesitate to
contact us.

 

 

Many Thanks,

 

Shams Iftikhar

Freedom of Information CoOrdinator

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Nexus House, Gatwick Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9BG

Switchboard: 0300 123 0999, mobile: 07464 538216

 

[1]A close up of [2]A picture [3]A drawing of [4]A stop sign
a sign containing a person Description
Description computer Description automatically
automatically Description automatically generated
generated automatically generated
generated
[5]A picture containing food Description automatically generated

 

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.secamb.nhs.uk/
2. https://twitter.com/SECAmbulance
3. https://www.facebook.com/SECAmbulance/
4. https://www.instagram.com/secambulance/

Dear Shams Iftikhar,

Many thanks for your most recent response and the new spreadsheet. I am a little confused though since the new sheet contains a different number of records fro the one you provided earlier ("Copy of Secamb Master Sheet data 31.3.22.xlsx") and does not contain the "Area" and "County" columns that were present in that sheet.

Also, you seem to have ignored the question in my previous message: "for me to verify whether any other in-scope information has been omitted, please could you provide a full list of all the column headings present in the archived spreadsheet?"

Could you please provide an answer to this question, explain the difference in the number of records, and supply a copy of the original spreadsheet with all the relevant columns included please?

Yours sincerely,

Robert Whittaker