Ambulance Incidents

Thank you for your email, please accept this as acknowledgement that we
have received your request.

Due to unprecedented levels of demand it may take longer than usual to
process your request. See below for further guidance:

Coroners:

·         If you have requested a copy of a Clinical Record, we will aim
to provide this to you within 24 hours (excluding weekends when the office
is closed)

·         If you have requested a statement, this may take several weeks
due to current levels of emergency demand .

Police:

·         If you require evidence for the prevention and detection of a
crime, we will aim to provide this to you within ten days, whilst
expediting any time-sensitive investigations.

·         If you need to speak to our staff about an incident, we will ask
them to make direct contact with you. Please supply the ambulance incident
number (if known) along with date and address of incident, and patient
name, along with details of patient/caller consent obtained. If your
enquiry relates to Domestic Abuse please contact our Safeguarding Team who
will process your request.  

GPs:

·         If you require a copy of an ambulance Clinical Record for one of
your patients, we will aim to provide this to you within a week.

Patients/Solicitors/Medical Agencies/Family Members:

·         If you require a copy of a Clinical Record or a 999 phone call,
we will aim to provide this to you within a month, which is our Statutory
timeframe for processing Subject Access Requests. Where possible we will
provide it sooner than this but please be patient with us during these
busy times – we are working as quickly as possible to get to your request
but we must prioritise our Police and Coroner colleagues at this time.
Please make sure your email contains the name, address and date of the
incident you are interested in, as this will significantly speed up the
process.

Staff / Internal Requests for Advice:

If you are a member of SWAST staff requiring advice and support on an
IG-related matter, a member of the team will aim to make direct contact
with you within a week to discuss your needs.

Freedom of Information Requests:

Please accept this as acknowledgment that your FOI has been received and
will be processed as soon as possible. We aim to respond within 20 working
days as per the statutory timeframe however there may be occasions where
this is not possible due to current demand, please accept our apologies. 

Contacting Us:

As a team we are predominantly Working from Home so please communicate
with us via email (rather than telephone) where possible; again this will
increase the speed at which we are able to work, avoid duplication of
duties, and ensures we have an audit trail of any requests received.  

Thank you all for your patience and support at this time.

Best wishes,

The SWAST Information Governance Team

Dear Mr Evans

Thank you for your Freedom of Information Request.

We will deal with this request in accordance with your right of access to
information we hold under the Freedom of Information Act and I attach a
leaflet containing further information about both your rights and our
obligations under this legislation.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to email us at
[1][South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust request email]

Ruth Opie | Information Governance Officer – Working from Home

South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

[2]cid:[email address]

Abbey Court, Eagle Way, Exeter EX2 7HY

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust request email]

Dear Mr Evans

Further to our acknowledgment email below, I have been asked to confirm if
you would like the data to be grouped by month?

Kind regards

Ruth

Ruth Opie | Information Governance Officer – Working from Home

South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

[1]cid:[email address]

From: Information Governance
Sent: 13 October 2021 12:19
To: [FOI #796250 email]
Subject: FOI 3932 Acknowledgement Freedom of Information Request

Dear Mr Evans

Thank you for your Freedom of Information Request.

We will deal with this request in accordance with your right of access to
information we hold under the Freedom of Information Act and I attach a
leaflet containing further information about both your rights and our
obligations under this legislation.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to email us at
[2][South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust request email]

Ruth Opie | Information Governance Officer – Working from Home

South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

[3]cid:[email address]

Abbey Court, Eagle Way, Exeter EX2 7HY

References

Visible links
2. mailto:[South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust request email]

Dear Mr Evans

A PDF copy of our response is also attached – we are aware of a formatting
issue on the WDTK website which may affect the legibility of the tabled
response below.

I refer to our acknowledgement on 13/10/21  in respect of your request for
information under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.  We
are able to provide the following information:

Information requested Trust response
The number of ambulance calls dealt The information request is already
with by you over the period January presented by the Trust within the
2020-present (excluding duplicates eg public domain through the
calls back for information/updates). Integrated Corporate Performance
Report that is available via the
How the calls were dealt with (ie hear following publically viewable link:
and treat, see and treat, treat and
transport etc).  

  [1]Welcome to SWASFT - About Us
(swast.nhs.uk)
Their source (ie 999, 111 etc).
 
 
These reports are set-up for the
financial reporting years. To
review the date range you are
seeking, you will need to open up
the March 2020 report to obtain the
data for Janurary to March 2020 but
some reporting areas such as A&E
incidents on Page 23 of the August
2021 report does also helpfully
provide data for the previous 2
years. Percentages on how the calls
were dealt with are covered on page
25 and the sources of these calls
are covered at the top of page 26.
Please note that the page numbers
are for the whole PDF document,
rather than the pages within
Appendix A that are listed within
the pdf.

Based on the above, the Trust is
engaging Section 21 of the FOI Act
(Information Reasonably Accessible
to the Applicant by Other Means).

Please note that, under the Re-use of Public Sector Information
Regulations, if you wish to publish or otherwise use this information
besides for your own means, you will need to seek our permission to do so.

Please feel free to contact me if you require further clarification of the
information provided, or to discuss any aspect of the way in which we have
responded to your request. 

However, if you are dissatisfied with our response, you also have the
right to make use of the following complaints procedures:

In the first instance you may write to the Chief Executive of this Trust

Mr William Warrender

South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Abbey Court

Eagle Way

Exeter  EX2 7HY

Mr Warrender will then either make arrangements for your complaint to be
reviewed and for the outcome to be communicated to you, or will convene a
panel of Trust Directors to consider an appeal against a decision to
withhold information.

If you are unhappy with the response to your complaint, or findings of the
Panel, you can contact the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner’s Office,

Wycliffe House,

Water Lane,                                 

Wilmslow,

Cheshire.  SK9 5AF

Tel: 01625 545 700

Fax: 01625 524 510

Kind regards,

Clare Lunk | Assistant Information Governance Manager
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Direct Line 0300 369 0132 | Web [2]www.swast.nhs.uk | E-Mail
[email address]

Trust Headquarters, South Western Ambulance Service, Unit 3, Abbey Court,
Eagle Way, Sowton Industrial Estate, EX2 7HY

References

Visible links
1. https://www.swast.nhs.uk/welcome/about-u...
2. http://www.swast.nhs.uk/