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
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Please find attached acknowledgement letter to your Freedom of Information
request.
Karen Greenacre
FOI Governance Officer | Chief Executive’s Directorate
Usual working days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Bernicia House | Goldcrest Way | Newburn Riverside Business Park
Newcastle Upon Tyne | NE15 8NY | 0191 430 2000
Unmatched quality of care every time we touch lives
[1]www.neas.nhs.uk | [2]Twitter: @NEAmbulance | [3]Facebook:
North-East-Ambulance-Service
The North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust accepts no
responsibility or liability for the contents of this email or any changes
made after the original email. Any views or opinions presented are solely
those of the sender and do not necessarily represent those of the North
East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust unless otherwise specifically
stated. If you are not the intended recipient (or responsible for
delivery) of this email and its attachments, please notify the sender and
delete the email and any copies made. The confidentiality of this email
cannot be guaranteed unless the contents are exempt from the FOI Act 2000.
References
Visible links
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2. https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...
3. https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...
Please find attached response letter to your Freedom of Information
request.
Karen Greenacre
FOI Governance Officer | Chief Executive’s Directorate
Usual working days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Bernicia House | Goldcrest Way | Newburn Riverside Business Park
Newcastle Upon Tyne | NE15 8NY | 0191 430 2000
Unmatched quality of care every time we touch lives
[1]www.neas.nhs.uk | [2]Twitter: @NEAmbulance | [3]Facebook:
North-East-Ambulance-Service
The North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust accepts no
responsibility or liability for the contents of this email or any changes
made after the original email. Any views or opinions presented are solely
those of the sender and do not necessarily represent those of the North
East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust unless otherwise specifically
stated. If you are not the intended recipient (or responsible for
delivery) of this email and its attachments, please notify the sender and
delete the email and any copies made. The confidentiality of this email
cannot be guaranteed unless the contents are exempt from the FOI Act 2000.
References
Visible links
1. https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...
2. https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...
3. https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...
Dear Karen,
Thank you for your response to my request, it is much appreciated.
And thank you for your link to the Board Papers. I unfortunately can't seem to get one of the links to work, and I've tried different browsers and to download the pdf directly. Would it be possible for you to check if there's an issue with it:
https://www.neas.nhs.uk/media/186810/com...
For Question 2, while I do appreciate the direction to the board papers, can I reduce the scope of this question in the hope that the information can be provided awithout exceeding s12 limits.
Reframed Question 2:
The time period remains the same: 1 August 2022 to 31 January 2023.
Limited ONLY to the three individuals below:
- Helen Ray, Chief Executive
- Stephen Segasby, COO
- Dr Kat Noble, Medical Director
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…)
However, one ambulance trust has said that due to some multi factor authentication issues such a query could only be done by the individuals themselves. If this is the case with NEAS, I would be concerned that asking for this search would take those individuals away from their operational work, albeit briefly. 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 on these people.
Yours sincerely,
Guy Basnett
Hi Guy
Thank you for your e-mail and please accept my apologies for the delay in replying to you.
I would confirm that we are dealing with your queries and will be in touch in due course.
Kind regards
Karen Greenacre
FOI Governance Officer | Chief Executive’s Directorate
Usual working days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Bernicia House | Goldcrest Way | Newburn Riverside Business Park
Newcastle Upon Tyne | NE15 8NY | 0191 430 2000
Unmatched quality of care every time we touch lives
www.neas.nhs.uk | Twitter: @NEAmbulance | Facebook: North-East-Ambulance-Service
Hi Karen,
Forgive the follow up, just checking in to see what any progress was on this?
Best wishes.
Yours sincerely,
Guy Basnett
I will reply to your e-mail on my return to work - Tuesday 4 April 2023.
The North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust accepts no
responsibility or liability for the contents of this email or any changes
made after the original email. Any views or opinions presented are solely
those of the sender and do not necessarily represent those of the North
East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust unless otherwise specifically
stated. If you are not the intended recipient (or responsible for
delivery) of this email and its attachments, please notify the sender and
delete the email and any copies made. The confidentiality of this email
cannot be guaranteed unless the contents are exempt from the FOI Act 2000.
Hi Guy
Thank you for your e-mail.
Apologies for the delay, but I would confirm that we are still dealing with your queries and will be in touch in due course.
I can however confirm that the following link to the February 2022 Trust Board papers does now work:
https://www.neas.nhs.uk/about-us/board-p...
Kind regards
Karen Greenacre
FOI Governance Officer | Chief Executive's Directorate
Usual working days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Bernicia House | Goldcrest Way | Newburn Riverside Business Park
Newcastle Upon Tyne | NE15 8NY | 0191 430 2000
Unmatched quality of care every time we touch lives
www.neas.nhs.uk | Twitter: @NEAmbulance | Facebook: North-East-Ambulance-Service
Dear Karen Greenacre,
Thanks for the updated link to the board papers, that's much appreciated. Would you be able to update me on how things are with the request for correspondence?
Yours sincerely,
Guy Basnett
I will reply to your e-mail on my return to work - Tuesday 16 May 2023.
The North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust accepts no
responsibility or liability for the contents of this email or any changes
made after the original email. Any views or opinions presented are solely
those of the sender and do not necessarily represent those of the North
East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust unless otherwise specifically
stated. If you are not the intended recipient (or responsible for
delivery) of this email and its attachments, please notify the sender and
delete the email and any copies made. The confidentiality of this email
cannot be guaranteed unless the contents are exempt from the FOI Act 2000.
Hi Guy
Thank you for your e-mail and once again apologies for the delay. We hope to be in a position to respond shortly.
Kind regards
Karen Greenacre
FOI Governance Officer | Chief Executive's Directorate
Usual working days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Bernicia House | Goldcrest Way | Newburn Riverside Business Park
Newcastle Upon Tyne | NE15 8NY | 0191 430 2000
Unmatched quality of care every time we touch lives
http://www.neas.nhs.uk/ | Twitter: @NEAmbulance | Facebook: North-East-Ambulance-Service
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