Sexual Health Remote Self-Sampling
Dear Darlington Borough Council,
1. Have you commissioned (directly, or via subcontracting or via "pilot") remote/postal/self-sampling service(s) for sexual health, and if so which organisation(s) deliver the service(s)?
If yes to question 1, please respond to the following questions:
2. Though which route was the service commissioned (e.g. tender procurement, competitive quotes, etc), and what was the contract value?
3. Please confirm the commencement date(s), and to what date the contract(s) (or pilot) are due to expire (excluding any contract extension time)?
4. What is the name and location of the laboratory(ies) the contracted service directs patient samples to? If more than one laboratory is used by the service, please confirm which samples go where.
5. Upon contract award for the service (or "pilot"), what laboratory ISO accreditation(s), if any, were required and how were these accreditations checked?
6. For each laboratory, please provide either an electronic copy of the up to date UKAS ISO accreditation certificate(s) or the UKAS laboratory number(s).
7. If CPA accreditation was required (legacy since 2013 and obsolete as of October 2018) how has the commissioning authority checked the laboratory(ies) now meets ISO standards?
8. In the event samples have been tested outside of accreditation, please confirm the number of users/samples impacted, any corrective actions (both clinically and contractually), and if/when patient recall will be carried out.
Yours faithfully,
Preventx
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Dear Preventx
Thank you for your request for information, received 24th June 2019.
We are processing your request in accordance with our Freedom of
Information and Environmental Information Request Procedure, which you can
find on our [2]website.
If we need more information in order to process your request, we will
contact you in due course.
You can expect a full response to your request within 20 working days.
Yours sincerely
Rachel O'Leary
Complaints & Information Governance Assistant
(01325) 406777
References
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2. https://www.darlington.gov.uk/your-counc...
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Dear Preventx
Request reference number: DBC-1072-19
Please find attached the Council’s response to your recent request for
information.
Kind regards
Diana Willsher
Complaints & Information Governance Assistant
(01325) 406777
References
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Dear Darlington Borough Council,
Thank you for your reply.
In response to our question asking "If CPA accreditation was required (legacy since 2013 and obsolete as of
October 2018) how has the commissioning authority checked the laboratory(ies) now meets ISO standards?"
You have responded "Through accredition with the United Kingdom Clinical Accreditation Services (UKAS)"
However, it is our belief that one of the services you commission is using a laboratory to test patient samples that is not accredited with UKAS. Please can you confirm how the accreditation status was checked? As you can imagine, this accreditation is crucial to evidencing patients samples are being tested correctly and failure to provide this assurance would be extremely concerning (especially as you have acknowledged that it was a condition of the contract).
Yours faithfully,
Preventx
Dear Darlington Borough Council,
Further to our previous request, your response mentioned that a Service Level Agreement between the prime contractor (CDDFT) and sub-contractor (SH24) exists and included the requirement of accreditation.
Please could you provide a copy of this Service Level Agreement.
Yours faithfully,
Preventx
[1]{"HashCode":1844345984,"Height":841.0,"Width":595.0,"Placement":"Header","Index":"Primary","Section":1,"Top":0.0,"Left":0.0}
Dear Preventx
Thank you for your further request for information, received 9th July
2019.
We are processing your request in accordance with our Freedom of
Information and Environmental Information Request Procedure, which you can
find on our [2]website.
If we need more information in order to process your request, we will
contact you in due course.
You can expect a full response to your request within 20 working days.
Yours sincerely
Rachel Seddon
Complaints & Information Governance Assistant
(01325) 406777
References
Visible links
2. https://www.darlington.gov.uk/your-counc...
[1]{"HashCode":1844345984,"Height":841.0,"Width":595.0,"Placement":"Header","Index":"Primary","Section":1,"Top":0.0,"Left":0.0}
Dear Preventx
Thank you for your request for information, received 09 July 2019.
We are processing your request in accordance with our Freedom of
Information and Environmental Information Request Procedure, which you can
find on our [2]website.
If we need more information in order to process your request, we will
contact you in due course.
You can expect a full response to your request within 20 working days.
Yours sincerely
Diana Willsher
Complaints & Information Governance Assistant
(01325) 406777
References
Visible links
2. https://www.darlington.gov.uk/your-counc...
[1]{"HashCode":1844345984,"Height":841.0,"Width":595.0,"Placement":"Header","Index":"Primary","Section":1,"Top":0.0,"Left":0.0}
Dear Preventx
Request reference number: DBC-1235-19
Please find attached the Council’s response to your recent request for
information.
Kind regards
Diana Willsher
Complaints & Information Governance Assistant
(01325) 406777
--
References
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[1]{"HashCode":1844345984,"Height":841.0,"Width":595.0,"Placement":"Header","Index":"Primary","Section":1,"Top":0.0,"Left":0.0}
Dear Preventx
Request reference: DBC-1248-19
Please find attached the Council's response to your recent request for
information.
Yours sincerely
Rachel Seddon
Complaints & Information Governance Assistant
(01325) 406777
References
Visible links
Dear Darlington Borough Council,
You have confirmed that:
"Laboratory/laboratories must be accredited with the United Kingdom Clinical Accreditation Services (UKAS) and Clinical Pathology Accreditation (CPA)."
And also stated that "This was checked during mobilisation and via receipt of Service Level Agreement between the prime contractor (CDDFT) and sub-contractor (SH24)"
However, it is a fact that for a number of months during the delivery of this service that laborary was not accredited for the testing provided. We are concerned as this would suggest a serious breach of both patient trust and the SLA that you have in place.
Given this, please may you reconsider you responses to our original FOI request, especially the final question:
“In the event samples have been tested outside of accreditation, please confirm the number of users/samples impacted, any corrective actions (both clinically and contractually), and if/when patient recall will be carried out?”
Yours faithfully,
Preventx
[1]{"HashCode":1844345984,"Height":841.0,"Width":595.0,"Placement":"Header","Index":"Primary","Section":1,"Top":0.0,"Left":0.0}
Dear Preventx
Thank you for your E-mail received on 06 August 2019. I have logged an
internal review into the handling of your request and will provide you
with a response within 20 working days.
Should you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely
Diana Willsher
Complaints & Information Governance Assistant
(01325) 406777
References
Visible links
This document was classified as: OFFICIAL
Request reference – DBC-1571-19
Please find attached the Council’s response to yourinternal review.
Regards
Sue Reynolds
Information Governance Officer
Neighbourhood Services and Resources Group
Darlington Borough Council, Town Hall
Darlington, DL1 5QT
Tel: (01325) 406777
[1]www.darlington.gov.uk
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