Ambulance call out data

Dear Freedom of Information Officer,

I am writing to request data from your systems that provide details of callout times, and also if it is available separately, the waiting times experienced following arrival at hospital.

If it helps your understanding of my request, I am seeking raw data from each callout grouped by calendar month. This is so I can perform analysis of the data to examine delays for different callout categories, any category changes during the response period, any additional delays due to hospital capacity, and adverse outcomes.

While I am asking for data on each call, I do not wish to identify cases or patients beyond the original circle of knowledge, and so am asking for the data to be grouped by month, with no specific dates provided, no patient names, and no locations.

In detail, this is the data I am requesting:

1. For each of the last six calendar months

(a) August 2022,
(b) September 2022,
(c) October 2022,
(d) November 2022,
(e) December 2022,
(f) January 2023

Please export data for EACH call in the month period with the following:

- the time the call was received, the category assigned, and broad medical issue
- any category changes and their times
- the sex and age of the patient if recorded
- the time of arrival by ambulance crews
- if the patient died during the response period or during transportation
- if the patient is transported to hospital, the time of arrival at hospital
- the time the crew was able to depart from hospital

My understanding is that this data can be exported from the management system, and that is my intention in the request, allowing it to be simply coded or exported. I am happy to discuss file types if needed, but would certainly be able to take common forms, such as csv, xls, txt, sql.

2. During the same time period, 1 August 2022 to 31 January 2023, please provide copies of any email communication by any member of your senior leadership team to either hospital trusts, NHS, council or Government that raises concerns of the risks to patients from delays in reaching patients or offloading patients at hospital. To assist, a search of communication by email could filter sent and received emails by domain ending (eg. nhs.uk, or gov.uk) and use keywords that include 'delay', 'delays', 'delayed', 'risk', 'risks', 'patient safety'.

If you need any further information, you can contact me using this system, by email to [email address] or by mobile on 07825 777 773.

Yours faithfully,

Guy Basnett

Dear Jeff,

Thank you for the reply

Firstly, thank you for providing the data.

You have provided six months worth of data, for which I am extremely grateful, however the request was for six months August-January inclusive, and your team has provided July-December inclusive.

Would it be possible to obtain the data for January 2023 as well?

Thank you for the links to the public discussion by the Trust Board and the links to reports and minutes, and for including a link to the Youtube video, which is all much appreciated.

On the s12 exemption can I please refine Question 2, as ICO guidance allows.

REFRAMED QUESTION 2:

Q2: Please provide a copy of emails that fit the criteria below:

Time period: 1 August 2022 to 31 January 2023.

Limited ONLY to the three roles below (I've provided names from your website, if these have changed please provide current holders of the roles):


- Jason Killens, Chief Executive 

- Lee Brooks, Executive Director of Operations

- Dr Brendan Lloyd, Executive Director of Medical and Clinical Services and Deputy Chief Executive

Limited ONLY to EMAILS that: 
- Were SENT to NHS Trusts, councils or government (eg. recipient domains ending .gov.uk or .nhs.uk) 
- Contain the phrase “patient safety” AND any of the keywords “delay” “delays” “delayed” “risk” “risks”.

I’m hoping that this will allow a simple query on those three individual’s accounts eg. 
(to: “.gov.uk” OR “.nhs.uk”) (“patient safety” AND “delay” OR “delays” OR…)

If however, such a query could only be done by the individuals themselves, I would be concerned that asking for this search would take those individuals away from their operational work, albeit briefly. My aim is to report to the public what I consider to be material in the public interest, that (potentially) shows matters of patient safety being raised following a period of reduced investment in the UK’s public services. I’d be grateful if it were possible to fulfil the request, but please do come back to me if you feel that it genuinely cannot without undue burden.

I would hope that this refined request could be cnsidered swiftly, on the same basis as an initial request.

However, should there be data you consider exempt under the the s35 (1)b exemption, please can I simultaneously put forward the view that ambulance services are vital and directly relate to matters of public health, and the communication requested relates to both how the Government has financed this public service and the impact on public safety, therefore favouring disclosure in a public interest test.

Thank you again for your help.

Yours sincerely,

Guy Basnett