Trust losses and special payments: FOIA

The request was refused by South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Dear Sir or Madam,

This is a FOIA request. The Trust is required to provide information on losses and special payments in its annual report. I am writing to request additional, more detailed information regarding these losses and payments. I am making this request because I believe there is a clear and compelling public interest in understanding more about the types of losses and special payments the Trust makes.

1. Losses and special payments

Please provide a copy of your losses and special payments register or database for the year 2016-17. I would expect this information to include, but not necessarily be limited to:

a) Category of loss or special payment (e.g. bad debt, fruitless payment, compensation payment made under legal obligation) as defined in relevant losses and special payments policy or procedure documents.
b) A summary of the loss
c) Amount paid out in £ Sterling (or other currency)
d) Debtor name (where that debtor is a company or disclosure of a person’s name is permitted by the data protection provisions of s.40)

2. Bad debts

a) Please state how much bad debt was written off in the year 2016-17.
b) If, and only if, you hold the information in an easily retrievable format, i.e. not in individual case files, please state how much of this bad debt was non-NHS and/or private patient debt write offs and/or overseas visitors related.

This request is only concerned with information which is easily exportable and does not require the Trust to review individual case files, which might trigger the cost threshold (s.12). I am interested in any and all relevant information which is easily exportable and that provides greater clarity on how losses were accrued and special payments were made, but which is not published in your annual report. The information I am requesting should not, therefore, be caught by s.21 or s.22.

If you consider that some information is exempt from disclosure please cite the section of the FOIA you are using to redact information. Please also ensure any redactions you make are sufficiently granular and do not withhold information on a 'blanket' basis. When applying exemptions which contain a public interest test, please also explain, in line with the guiding principles of the Information Tribunal, how the public interest would be, or would be likely to be, materially prejudiced by disclosure.

I would be grateful if you could be mindful of your statutory duty to provide advice and assist to requesters (s.16) when responding to this request. I would prefer to receive all information electronically and in machine-readable formats (such as .xls) where applicable. I would also be grateful if you could acknowledge receipt of this request.

Thank you for the time you will invest in providing a response.

Gratefully,

Lucas Amin

foi.admin (SOUTH TEES HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST), South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Mr Amin

 

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 which was dated the 5^th September 2017 and received
by the Trust on the 5^th September 2017

 

Your request will be processed within a maximum of twenty working days
from when we received your request unless otherwise informed.

 

In the event that some or all of the information you have requested is
exempt from disclosure, we will notify you of this. We will also contact
you if during the process to locate and supply the information it emerges
that we do not have sufficient detail to locate the information or we are
unclear exactly what it is you have requested.

 

If you need to contact me further regarding this request it would be
helpful if the reference number above could be quoted in any future
communications. 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

Emma Taylor

Information Governance Advisor

 

Freedom of Information

Information Governance Department

 

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Tel:  01642 854291 Ex55477

 

show quoted sections

foi.admin (SOUTH TEES HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST), South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Amin

 

Request for Information – Ref 4692

With reference to your request for information made under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 please find attached a response on behalf of South
Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. 

 

If for any reason you are not satisfied with the information that we have
provided or you feel we have dealt with your request unfairly, you have a
right to complain.  Please send your complaint by email to
[1][email address] by post to: The Information Governance Manager,
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, The James Cook University
Hospital, Marton Road, Middlesbrough, TS4 3BW 

 

If you are still not satisfied, further information about your right to
complain under Section 50  of the Freedom of Information Act is available
from the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AFand on The Information Commissioner’s website
[2]www.ico.gov.uk.

 

 

 

Any information we provide following your request under the Freedom of
Information Act will not confer an automatic right for you to re-use that
information, for example to publish it. You are free to use any
information supplied for your own non-commercial research or private study
purposes. The information may also be used for any other purpose allowed
by a limitation or exception in copyright law, such as news reporting.
However, if you wish to re-use the information that we provide, for
example by publishing it in analogue or digital form, then you must make a
further request for its re-use as per the Re-Use of Public Sector
Information Regulations 2005 by contacting the Head of Information
Governance using the email address above .

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Claire Roberts

 

Freedom of Information

Information Governance Department

 

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Tel:  01642 854291 Ex54291

 

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections