CAMHS Neurodevelopmental Pathway Waiting List by Month
Dear Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust,
This is a Freedom of Information Request.
Please supply your answer in an excel spreadsheet.
Questions:
1. Please can you tell me the number of children and young people who had been referred to your CAMH neurodevelopmental / neurodiversity pathway for treatment on or by 31 January 2019 and who were still waiting to start treatment with your CAMH neurodevelopmental / neurodiversity pathway team as of 31 January 2019?
2. Please answer Question 1 again, but replacing all references to the date “31 January 2019” with the following dates:
28 February 2019
31 March 2019
30 April 2019
31 May 2019
30 June 2019
31 July 2019
31 August 2019
30 September 2019
31 October 2019
30 November 2019
31 December 2019
31 January 2020
29 February 2020
31 March 2020
30 April 2020
31 May 2020
30 June 2020
31 July 2020
31 August 2020
30 September 2020
31 October 2020
30 November 2020
31 December 2020
31 January 2021
28 February 2021
31 March 2021
30 April 2021
31 May 2021
30 June 2021
31 July 2021
31 August 2021
Please supply your answer in an excel spreadsheet.
I appreciate that you have 20 working days to respond to this request, but if you could respond sooner - given this is a very simple request - that would be very much appreciated.
Yours faithfully,
Frances Marshall
Dear Ms. Marshall,
I write to acknowledge receipt of your email in which you requested
information under the FOI Act 2000.
Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days, from the date of receipt, as
defined by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Currently your request for information may be delayed due to urgent
operational responses to dealing with Public Health priorities.
Our response to Freedom of Information Requests and Environmental
Information Regulation Requests may take longer for us to complete at this
present time due to COVID-19 implications.
The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has advised that although they
are unable to extend statutory timescales, they will advise people that
they may experience understandable delays when making requests during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, we do remain committed
to responding to your request and will respond as soon as we are able.
Should our response to your request breach the statutory timeframe and you
remain unhappy with our response you have the right to complain to the
Information Commissioners Office and you can contact them at;
Information Commissioners Office
[1]https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Fax: 01625 524510
The Act defines a number of exemptions which may prevent release of the
information you have requested. There will be an assessment and if any of
the exemption categories apply then the information will not be released.
You will be informed if this is the case within 20 working days, together
with your rights of appeal.
If the information you are requesting contains reference to a third party
then they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on whether or
not to release the information to you. You will be informed within 20
working days if this is the case.
If you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact
me. May l ask that you quote the above reference number on all your
correspondence?
PLEASE NOTE: As of 1^st June 2018 South Staffordshire and Shropshire
Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has merged with Staffordshire and
Stoke-on-Trent Partnership NHS Trust to become Midlands Partnership
Foundation Trust.
Yours sincerely
Aled Evans
FOI Officer
Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust
Trust HQ, St George’s Hospital
Corporation Street
Stafford
ST16 3AG
Tel: 01785 221104 Ext 7128998
Skype: 01785 301314 Extenstion: 301314
Email: [2][email address]
[3]www.mpft.nhs.uk [4]cid:image001.png@01D50B3D.BAF5F710
[5]@mpftnhs [6]cid:image002.jpg@01D50B3D.BAF5F710 [7]mpftnhs
[8]youtube_social_squircle_red [9]mpftnhs
[10]cid:image003.png@01D50B3D.BAF5F710
Dear Ms. Marshall,
Further to your recent request made under the Freedom of Information Act
2000, please see detailed below the Trust’s response:
1. Please can you tell me the number of children and young people who had
been referred to your CAMH neurodevelopmental / neurodiversity pathway for
treatment on or by 31 January 2019 and who were still waiting to start
treatment with your CAMH neurodevelopmental / neurodiversity pathway team
as of 31 January 2019?
2. Please answer Question 1 again, but replacing all references to the
date “31 January 2019” with the following dates:
28 February 2019
31 March 2019
30 April 2019
31 May 2019
30 June 2019
31 July 2019
31 August 2019
30 September 2019
31 October 2019
30 November 2019
31 December 2019
31 January 2020
29 February 2020
31 March 2020
30 April 2020
31 May 2020
30 June 2020
31 July 2020
31 August 2020
30 September 2020
31 October 2020
30 November 2020
31 December 2020
31 January 2021
28 February 2021
31 March 2021
30 April 2021
31 May 2021
30 June 2021
31 July 2021
31 August 2021
For questions 1 and 2:
The CAMHS neurodevelopmental pathway is not routinely recorded in a way to
allow the analysis to be done. With regard to the neurodiversity pathway
the service did not take over the contract until 1st October 2019 so
cannot provide data from 31st January 2019 plus a huge backlog of patient
was inherited which are part of the current data and there is no easy way
to strip these out to give accurate information in relation to wait times.
The only way of obtaining the information would be to manually check
through all patient records. Given that there are 20,026 CAMHS
Neurodevelopmental patients and 4,026 CAMHS Neurodiversity patients, which
even at 1 minute per client, would take 400 hours. The provision of this
information is therefore exempt under Section 12 of the FOI act which
states that this exemption will apply “where the cost of compliance is
estimated to exceed the appropriate limit”. This is based on a cost limit
of £450 with a calculation of £25 per hour.
We would be grateful if you could take a minute to fill out our Freedom of
Information Customer Satisfaction Survey (attached) and let us know about
your experience.
Please contact me (Aled Evans) in the first instance if you have any
queries or questions regarding the Trust's response. However, if you have
any complaints about the handling of your enquiry, please contact:
Ms Lian Stibbs, Head of Information Governance and Records Access
Management, Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust, Trust Headquarters St
George's Hospital Corporation Street Stafford, ST16 3SR
Email: [1][email address]
You also have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545700
Website: [2]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
PLEASE NOTE: As of 1^st June 2018 South Staffordshire and Shropshire
Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has merged with Staffordshire and
Stoke-on-Trent Partnership NHS Trust to become Midlands Partnership
Foundation Trust.
Yours sincerely
Aled Evans
FOI Officer
Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust
Trust HQ, St George’s Hospital
Corporation Street
Stafford
ST16 3AG
Tel: 01785 221104 Extension: 7128998
DD: 01785 301314 Extension: 301314
Email: [3][email address]
[4]www.mpft.nhs.uk [5]cid:image001.png@01D50B3D.BAF5F710
[6]@mpftnhs
[7]cid:image002.jpg@01D50B3D.BAF5F710 [8]mpftnhs
[9]youtube_social_squircle_red [10]mpftnhs
[11]cid:image003.png@01D50B3D.BAF5F710
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/
3. mailto:[email address]
4. https://www.mpft.nhs.uk/
6. https://twitter.com/mpftnhs
8. https://www.facebook.com/mpftnhs/
10. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCluwSjH...
Dear Aled Evans and Lian Stibbs
I am writing to request an internal review of Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust's handling of my FOI request 'CAMHS Neurodevelopmental Pathway Waiting List by Month'.
Within the What Do They Know software programme I use I can’t direct my response to any other email addresses, so Aled, while I am requesting an internal review I will require you (as you are obliged to under FOIA) to forward this email to whoever within your organisation can conduct internal reviews.
Firstly, with regards to the neurodiversity pathway, I am happy for you to provide data from 1 October 2019, when you took over the contract, rather than from 31 January 2019. This is no issue for me.
I am sorry to hear that you have inherited a huge backlog, and that this is a part of your data. I categorically do not want you to “strip” this data out in any way. As you say, these numbers relate to potentially unwell or disabled children and young people who you are now responsible for. You’ll note in my questions that I am not asking for “wait times”, I am simply asking for the number of children and young people waiting to be seen at the end of each month. The fact that you may have a large number of neurodiversity patients on your books (4,026) only strengthens the importance of making this data available to the public. It also appears from your response that you are acknowledging - as I believe to be the case - that the neurodiversity data is routinely recorded (as it ought to be) so I see no reason why you cannot provide it.
With relation to both the neurodiversity and neurodevelopmental pathway, I find it impossible to believe that the data is “not routinely recorded in a way to allow the analysis to be done” and that “the only way of obtaining the information would be to manually check through all patient records”.
The reason I feel this way is because I have been speaking confidentially to clinicians on the ground, who have been describing to me the status of these particular waiting lists in granular detail. And it is the sheer number of young people waiting on neurodiversity and neurodevelopmental waiting lists - which they have described to me - that has triggered me to submit this FOI.
The very fact you can tell me that there are 20,026 CAMHS neurodevelopmental patients and 4,026 CAMHS Neurodiversity patients makes clear that these are not patient records which require purely manual checking. Moreover, how could clinicians on the ground be telling me how many children and young people they have waiting for assessment and treatment on these pathways, if you are telling me you do not record this data?
In short, I wholeheartedly reject your use of S12(1) on the basis that I believe your reasoning to be untrue - it would not require manual checking of each patient file to assemble the statistics I require. It may be that you need to use a proxy measure of “treatment”, even relying simply on your internal categorisation of “assessment” to come to distinct monthly figures. Or, alternatively, rely on the proxy measure of “two meaningful contacts” as a measure of “treatment” - I realise in the case of these pathways that the aim may not be to “treat” the young person, but more to adequately diagnose them, and put in place supportive interventions.
I look forward to receiving the data in spreadsheet form.
Sincerely,
Frances Marshall
Dear Ms. Marshall,
I write to acknowledge receipt of your email in which you requested
information under the FOI Act 2000.
Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days, from the date of receipt, as
defined by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Currently your request for information may be delayed due to urgent
operational responses to dealing with Public Health priorities.
Our response to Freedom of Information Requests and Environmental
Information Regulation Requests may take longer for us to complete at this
present time due to COVID-19 implications.
The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has advised that although they
are unable to extend statutory timescales, they will advise people that
they may experience understandable delays when making requests during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, we do remain committed
to responding to your request and will respond as soon as we are able.
Should our response to your request breach the statutory timeframe and you
remain unhappy with our response you have the right to complain to the
Information Commissioners Office and you can contact them at;
Information Commissioners Office
[1]https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Fax: 01625 524510
The Act defines a number of exemptions which may prevent release of the
information you have requested. There will be an assessment and if any of
the exemption categories apply then the information will not be released.
You will be informed if this is the case within 20 working days, together
with your rights of appeal.
If the information you are requesting contains reference to a third party
then they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on whether or
not to release the information to you. You will be informed within 20
working days if this is the case.
If you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact
me. May l ask that you quote the above reference number on all your
correspondence?
PLEASE NOTE: As of 1^st June 2018 South Staffordshire and Shropshire
Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has merged with Staffordshire and
Stoke-on-Trent Partnership NHS Trust to become Midlands Partnership
Foundation Trust.
Yours sincerely
Aled Evans
FOI Officer
Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust
Trust HQ, St George’s Hospital
Corporation Street
Stafford
ST16 3AG
Tel: 01785 221104 Ext 7128998
Skype: 01785 301314 Extenstion: 301314
Email: [2][email address]
[3]www.mpft.nhs.uk [4]cid:image001.png@01D50B3D.BAF5F710
[5]@mpftnhs [6]cid:image002.jpg@01D50B3D.BAF5F710 [7]mpftnhs
[8]youtube_social_squircle_red [9]mpftnhs
[10]cid:image003.png@01D50B3D.BAF5F710
Dear Ms. Marshall,
Further to your recent request made under the Freedom of Information Act
2000, please see detailed below the Trust’s response:
I am writing to request an internal review of Midlands Partnership NHS
Foundation Trust's handling of my FOI request 'CAMHS Neurodevelopmental
Pathway Waiting List by Month'.
Within the What Do They Know software programme I use I can’t direct my
response to any other email addresses, so Aled, while I am requesting an
internal review I will require you (as you are obliged to under FOIA) to
forward this email to whoever within your organisation can conduct
internal reviews.
Firstly, with regards to the neurodiversity pathway, I am happy for you to
provide data from 1 October 2019, when you took over the contract, rather
than from 31 January 2019. This is no issue for me.
I am sorry to hear that you have inherited a huge backlog, and that this
is a part of your data. I categorically do not want you to “strip” this
data out in any way. As you say, these numbers relate to potentially
unwell or disabled children and young people who you are now responsible
for. You’ll note in my questions that I am not asking for “wait times”, I
am simply asking for the number of children and young people waiting to be
seen at the end of each month. The fact that you may have a large number
of neurodiversity patients on your books (4,026) only strengthens the
importance of making this data available to the public. It also appears
from your response that you are acknowledging - as I believe to be the
case - that the neurodiversity data is routinely recorded (as it ought to
be) so I see no reason why you cannot provide it.
With relation to both the neurodiversity and neurodevelopmental pathway, I
find it impossible to believe that the data is “not routinely recorded in
a way to allow the analysis to be done” and that “the only way of
obtaining the information would be to manually check through all patient
records”.
The reason I feel this way is because I have been speaking confidentially
to clinicians on the ground, who have been describing to me the status of
these particular waiting lists in granular detail. And it is the sheer
number of young people waiting on neurodiversity and neurodevelopmental
waiting lists - which they have described to me - that has triggered me to
submit this FOI.
The very fact you can tell me that there are 20,026 CAMHS
neurodevelopmental patients and 4,026 CAMHS Neurodiversity patients makes
clear that these are not patient records which require purely manual
checking. Moreover, how could clinicians on the ground be telling me how
many children and young people they have waiting for assessment and
treatment on these pathways, if you are telling me you do not record this
data?
In short, I wholeheartedly reject your use of S12(1) on the basis that I
believe your reasoning to be untrue - it would not require manual checking
of each patient file to assemble the statistics I require. It may be that
you need to use a proxy measure of “treatment”, even relying simply on
your internal categorisation of “assessment” to come to distinct monthly
figures. Or, alternatively, rely on the proxy measure of “two meaningful
contacts” as a measure of “treatment” - I realise in the case of these
pathways that the aim may not be to “treat” the young person, but more to
adequately diagnose them, and put in place supportive interventions.
This has been reviewed by Lian Stibbs (Head of Information Governance and
Records Access Management), the Business Intelligence Team and the Senior
Managers of CAMHS.
The 20,026 CAMHS neurodevelopmental patients actually relate to the total
number of YP who have been referred into the core CAMHS and CAMHS eating
disorder service, of which a smaller percentage will have
neuro-developmental or neuro-disability. It is unlikely we will be able
to identify all of the YP who meet this. There are also the Children’s
Learning Disabilities team within whom some cases will apply, but again
not all.
The 4,026 CAMHS Neurodiversity patients actually relate to the total
number of YP who have been referred into the Autism service, which will
include those on the Neurodiversity pathway, however not all of the
referrals will be accepted and have a neuro-disability/diversity. There
will also be some that will be accepted for assessment who would not meet
the diagnostic criteria.
In both cases it would be very difficult to give numbers of referrals that
have a diagnosis for Neurodevelopmental/Neurodiversity as only way to
determine this reliably would require a manual checking of all records,
within the services above and also across wider Community Paediatric teams
in the Trust.
You have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545700
Website: [1]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
PLEASE NOTE: As of 1^st June 2018 South Staffordshire and Shropshire
Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has merged with Staffordshire and
Stoke-on-Trent Partnership NHS Trust to become Midlands Partnership
Foundation Trust.
Yours sincerely
Aled Evans
FOI Officer
Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust
Trust HQ, St George’s Hospital
Corporation Street
Stafford
ST16 3AG
Tel: 01785 221104 Extension: 7128998
DD: 01785 301314 Extension: 301314
Email: [2][email address]
[3]www.mpft.nhs.uk [4]cid:image001.png@01D50B3D.BAF5F710
[5]@mpftnhs
[6]cid:image002.jpg@01D50B3D.BAF5F710 [7]mpftnhs
[8]youtube_social_squircle_red [9]mpftnhs
[10]cid:image003.png@01D50B3D.BAF5F710
References
Visible links
1. http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.mpft.nhs.uk/
5. https://twitter.com/mpftnhs
7. https://www.facebook.com/mpftnhs/
9. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCluwSjH...
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