Alcohol related incidents- statistics

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust did not have the information requested.

Dear University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust,

I am making this request under the Freedom of Information Act. I would like to request the following information:
1. The number of alcohol related attendances to A&E due to violence over the past 3 years
2.The number of alcohol related attendances to A&E due to general injuries over the past 3 years
3.The statistics for alcohol related attacks on staff over the past 3 years

I look forward to hearing from you within 20 working days.

Yours faithfully,

Courtney Howard

FOI - Freedom of Information, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

Corporate and Legal Affairs – Corporate and Committee Services

Our Reference: GB/FOI/37825

29 March 2018

Dear Ms Howard,

Request for Information

Thank you for your request for information, as submitted via email on Sunday 25 March 2018 and received by the Trust on Monday 26 March 2018. Within UHL NHS Trust, Freedom of Information Act requests are managed centrally by the Corporate and Committee Services Team, and I confirm that your request is now being handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The Trust will endeavour to provide a response within the required 20 working-day deadline. I will, of course, keep you informed should this not prove possible for any reason. If we require any clarification on your request, we will contact you as soon as possible.

All requesters are advised that the Trust may make a charge for providing the information to them, to cover the cost of photocopying, postage and packaging etc – I confirm that where these costs are below £5.00 in total, no charge will be made. All requesters are also advised that there may also be a charge payable to cover costs of locating the information they have requested, as laid down in the Freedom of Information Act Regulations published by the Government in December 2004. Naturally, if such a charge is to be applied to your request, you will be informed as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Gill Belton
Corporate and Committee Services Officer
Belgrave House, Leicester General Hospital site
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

Information contained in emails may be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and confidentiality cannot therefore be guaranteed. Please ensure that all emails are accurate and appropriate, and are retained / deleted in accordance with good practice and any policies of the Trust.

If you are not the intended recipient of this email, please inform the sender, delete the email from your system and destroy any copies you may have made.

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FOI - Freedom of Information, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

Corporate and Legal Affairs – Corporate and Committee Services

Our Reference: GB/FOI/37825

20 April 2018

Dear Ms Howard,

Request for Information

Thank you for your Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request, as received on 25 March 2018 and acknowledged on 29 March 2018. For information, the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust is one of the largest and busiest NHS teaching Trusts in the country incorporating the Leicester Royal Infirmary, Glenfield and Leicester General hospitals. Our three hospitals have around 15,000 staff serving around 1.2 million people across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, and a further two to three million people from the rest of the UK who come to us for treatment from one of our specialist services. During 2016/17 we treated 1,406,300 patients (that’s 3,852 patients each day) – 56,500 (or 4%) more patients than in 2015/16.

Following consultation with colleagues from the Operations Directorate and the Corporate Medical Directorate, I confirm that the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust holds information covered by your FOI request. In your Freedom of Information Act request, you asked for the following information and the Trust’s response is provided below following each section of your request:-

I am making this request under the Freedom of Information Act. I would like to request the following information:
1. The number of alcohol related attendances to A&E due to violence over the past 3 years.
2. The number of alcohol related attendances to A&E due to general injuries over the past 3 years.

In respect of questions 1 and 2 of your request, I am advised that the only way in which to extract this data would be to undertake a manual review of all relevant patient records (i.e. A&E attendances) over the past three years, as this data is not held electronically. This is because when a patient attends A & E with an injury, the actual nature of the presenting problem / injury (e.g. laceration to the arm) will be recorded, but whether this was alcohol related and / or due to violence is often not recorded. Therefore many electronic records of attendances to A&E over the past three years will not have the cause of the injury (i.e. due to violence) recorded against them. This means that any electronic searches undertaken using the search terms ‘alcohol’ and ‘assault / violence’ will return low and inaccurate numbers. In addition, there is nothing to distinguish between ‘violence’ and ‘general injuries’ on A&E attendance records and the Trust therefore cannot determine whether an injury was caused by assault / violence or just general mishaps / accidents based upon the detail captured at attendance level. Therefore, I am advised that, in order to undertake the work necessary to respond to questions 1 and 2 of your request, a total of 250,000 A&E attendance records over the past three years (April 2015-March 2018) would need to be manually reviewed. Estimating at least 15 minutes to review each record, it would take approximately 62,500 hours to undertake the work required to respond to your request. As this significantly exceeds the ‘appropriate limit’ of 18 hours, as provided for under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Section 12 refers), the Trust does not intend to undertake this work.

3. The statistics for alcohol related attacks on staff over the past 3 years.

There is no current requirement for UHL to record ‘alcohol related attacks’ on staff where this has been considered to be a causative factor. The Trust therefore does not hold readily available data in this respect. In order to ascertain any such attacks, the Trust would need to manually review each reported incident of verbal and physical assaults on staff over the past three years. As in the case of questions 1 and 2, such a manual review would significantly exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of 18 hours (Section 12 refers) and therefore the Trust does not intend to undertake this work.

I am sorry that the Trust has not been able to provide the information requested for the reasons documented above. If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me. If you are dissatisfied with the Trust’s response, you can contact the Director of Corporate and Legal Affairs on Tel. No. 0116 258 8615 to request a copy of UHL’s Freedom of Information Act complaints procedure.

We must advise you that where we have provided information we have done so subject to the provisions of the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005. Accordingly you must not re-use this information without having the consent of the Trust. Where the Trust is prepared to provide its consent then it may levy a charge for doing so. Should you wish to re-use documents provided then you must make your request in writing stating your name and your address for correspondence together with the document that you wish to re-use and the purpose for which the information is to be re-used.

In the event that you remain dissatisfied with the way in which the Trust has handled any complaint that you may wish to make, we would advise you of your right to complain to the Information Commissioner at the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely,

Gill Belton
Corporate and Committee Services Officer
Belgrave House, Leicester General Hospital site
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

Information contained in emails may be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and confidentiality cannot therefore be guaranteed. Please ensure that all emails are accurate and appropriate, and are retained / deleted in accordance with good practice and any policies of the Trust.

If you are not the intended recipient of this email, please inform the sender, delete the email from your system and destroy any copies you may have made.

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