AAC devices...

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear FOI team,

Following a redirected request https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p..., I believe your trust has some information I'm looking for...

I am an academic researcher, attempting to assess the provision of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices in Education in the UK (devices used to aid communication, typically for people with difficulty speaking). Could you please send me details of augmentative and alternative communication devices purchased by, or within your council between 31st March 2006 and 1st April 2012?

I would like the information broken down by both product name  (So for example Dynavox Xpress, iPod touch with TapToTalk, BigMack) and by year. Ideally price paid, but I can deduce that from the products if necessary. 

This is a follow up study - the first one consisted of several hundred freedom of information requests to NHS trusts to find the provision of AAC by the NHS.  Our consolidated data is in the following format:

23/04/2007
Platon Medical Ltd
TRUTONE ELECTROLARYNX COMPLETE KIT
1
 £395.00 
 £395.00 
17/05/2007
Speechmark Publishin Ltd
FRENCHAY E-TRAN FRAME & A4 INSTRUCTION CARD IN WALLET
1
 £85.00 
 £85.00 
14/12/2007

Inclusive Technology Ltd
GO TALK 9+
1
 £99.00 
 £99.00 
14/02/2008
Kapitex Healthcare Ltd
SERVOX DIGITAL COMMUNICATION AID
1
 £490.00 
 £490.00 
14/02/2008
Kapitex Healthcare Ltd
PRODUCTS UP TO 25
6
 £18.50 
 £111.00 
15/02/2008
Dynavox Systems Ltd
DYNAVOX V 512MB WITH CARRY CASE WIFI USB BLUETOOTH
1
 £5,000.00 
 £5,000.00 
15/04/2008

SMARTBOX
THE GRID 2  SOFTWARE
1
 £360.00 
 £360.00 
29/08/2008

Toby Churchill Ltd
LIGHTWRITER SL40
1
 £3,300.00 
 £3,300.00 
28/07/2010
Toby Churchill Ltd
LIGHTWRITER SL40
1
 £3,300.00 
 £3,300.00 
06/08/2010
Misco
SAMSUNG N510 NETBOOK PC
1
 £318.50 
 £318.50 
06/08/2010

and this would do nicely for me. Other excellent formats were provided by: 
Bradford and Airedale Teaching PCT (http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/co...)
Bromley PCT (http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/co...)
Bristol PCT ( http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/co...)
and Central Lancashire PCT
(http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/au...)

Just to make the process more efficient for you guys - it would be great to clarify a couple of things at this stage - I am aware that some trusts make use of commissioning trusts to do the actual purchase of the devices; when I have contacted the commissioning trusts I've been often redirected back to the PCT because the paperwork for previous years have been stored at the PCT - this redirection must be causing additional work for both trusts in the long run and it would be great to avoid it
(http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/au...
is an example of the problem)

Also, and again to make life easier for you, I should point about that since this request is being made via whatdotheyknow.com - email addresses are stripped out of replies to protect your privacy (because the responses are all available to public view- if you are to redirect my request to another body then it's ideal to just give the name of the body rather than just an email address

Yours faithfully,

Dr Joseph Reddington

FOI HHFT, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Dr Reddington,
Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request. I note that you have asked that our 'council' reply between certain dates; the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is a NHS provider of acute services and not a local authority. Could you please confirm whether you would like us to treat this as a Freedom of Information request, or whether it has been sent in error.

Yours sincerely,

Nicola Lappin
Freedom of Information Office
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

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Dear FOI HHFT,

Apologies - I had writen 'council' instead of trust entirely by accident. The reason (in case you are interested) is because I'm just about to start a relatively large study on councils - you are one of only a few sets of health data that I'm still tracking down.

Entirely my fault. On the other hand, if you are interested in reading how other NHS trusts responded to the requests you can view the report at http://www.cs.rhul.ac.uk/home/joseph/pap... (Section 3.3 might be of particular interest generally)

Yours sincerely,

Joe

FOI HHFT, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Dr Reddington,
Thank you for your email and confirming that you do with us to proceed with your Freedom of Information request.

Please accept this email as acknowledgement of your request to which we aim to reply within 20 working days.

Yours sincerely,

Nicola Lappin
Freedom of Information Office

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Lappin, Nicola, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

1 Attachment

Dear Dr Reddington,

Please find attached a formal response to your recent Freedom of
Information request.

 

Regards,

 

Nicola Lappin

Freedom of Information Office

Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital

Tel: 01256 473202

 

Disclaimer - This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential
and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they
are addressed. Any views or opinions expressed are those of the author and
do not represent the views of Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
unless otherwise explicitly stated. The information contained in this
e-mail may be subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. Unless the information is legally exempt from
disclosure, the confidentiality of this e-mail and your reply cannot be
guaranteed.

Dear Lappin, Nicola,

Sorry -there appears to be a mild confusion... I had intended that you include the purchases from Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust from before the merger one presumes the records stayed with the relevent departments. Please let me know when you are in a position to deliver this :)

Yours sincerely,

Joe

Dear Lappin, Nicola,

I've received no response since the 23rd April, which, as you are aware was the deadline for replies to this request - can you give me some information about what's causing the delay?

Yours sincerely,

Joe

FOI HHFT, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Dr Reddington,
Thank you for your email dated 1st May 2013.

Following on from your query to our formal response dated 23rd April, I am in the process of making some further enquiries and am awaiting responses. As soon as I am able, I will forward any additional information to you.

Regards,

Nicola Lappin
Freedom of Information Office
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital
Tel: 01256 473202

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FOI HHFT, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

1 Attachment

Dear Dr Reddington,
Thank you for your email dated 23rd April 2013. Please find attached a response to your query.

Yours sincerely,

Nicola Lappin
Freedom of Information Office

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