Change of IPC guidance relating to respiratory protection for AGPs if patient covid -ve
Dear NHS England,
During the latter half of 2020 a change in guidance was issued to NHS (probably by IPC Cell) in that when performing certain AGPs it would no longer be necessary to follow airborne precautions (FFP3 or equivalent RPE) if the patient had tested covid-negative and that droplet precautions (FRSMs) should be used instead.
1) Please would you provide a copy of any documents that were published advising of this change in guidance.
2) Please would you also provide any associated documents which helped to formulate this guidance e.g. any correspondence or notes of any meetings/'huddles' at which this was decided. In particular I should to have sight of the risk assessment which underpinned this decision as I am interested to know whether extant data concerning the rate of 'false negatives' in PCR testing was taken into account in making this decision since this would (or should) have been a material factor.
Yours faithfully,
David Osborn
Dear David Osborn,
We refer to your email of 14 April 2023 in which you requested information
under the FOI Act from NHS England.
Your request
You made the following request:
“During the latter half of 2020 a change in guidance was issued to NHS
(probably by IPC Cell) in that when performing certain AGPs it would no
longer be necessary to follow airborne precautions (FFP3 or equivalent
RPE) if the patient had tested covid-negative and that droplet precautions
(FRSMs) should be used instead.
1) Please would you provide a copy of any documents that were published
advising of this change in guidance.
2) Please would you also provide any associated documents which helped to
formulate this guidance e.g. any correspondence or notes of any
meetings/'huddles' at which this was decided. In particular I should to
have sight of the risk assessment which underpinned this decision as I am
interested to know whether extant data concerning the rate of 'false
negatives' in PCR testing was taken into account in making this decision
since this would (or should) have been a material factor.”
Decision
Regarding your first question, NHS England does not hold this information.
This information would be held by the UK Health and Security Agency
(UKHSA) who were responsible for the creation and distribution of this
guidance. As such, you may wish to contact the UKHSA directly: [1]UK
Health Security Agency - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
For your second query, NHS England may hold information relevant to your
request. However, we are unable to process this request without further
clarification.
Under Section 1(3) of the FOI Act, an authority is not obliged to comply
with an FOI request when it reasonably requires further information in
order to identify and locate the information requested.
As such, we would be grateful if you could clarify:
• As there were multiple changes to guidance issued to the NHS
during 2020 and the 'latter half' of the year we would be unable to
confirm which documents are being referred to. if you can confirm a
specific date for guidance change or confirm which documents you are
seeking, as of the first query UKHSA may hold the information you are
seeking.
Please be assured we are keen to assist with your enquiry. However, we
cannot guarantee that Section 12 or any other exemptions under the FOI act
will not apply to any further information requested.
Please send your clarified request to [2][NHS England request email] quoting
your reference number as it appears in the subject bar.
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information
NHS England
PO Box 16738
REDDITCH
B97 9PT
Tel: 0300 311 22 33
Email: [3][NHS England request email]
Dear FOICRM (NHS ENGLAND - X24),
Thank you for your response.
I understand your difficulty in tracing documents over such a wide range of dates.
Obviously I cannot possibly tell you the exact dates of the documents I am seeking, as I have no way of known upon what dates meetings may have been held to discuss the issue (i.e. FRSMs to be worn instead of FFP3s when performing AGPs on patients who had tested Covid-negative).
However, I am pleased to tell you that I can narrow down the date range significantly for you.
This change in guidance occurred between version 3.2 IPC guidance issued on 18 June 2020 and version 1 ‘COVID-19 Guidance for the Remobilisation of services within health and care settings: IPC recommendations’ issued on 20 August 2020, where the requirement for RPE for AGPs on Covid negative patients was dropped (paragraph 7.2**).
The principles and policy behind IPC guidance was formulated by the group known as the 4-nations IPC Cell.
So, to be precise, the specific information that I am seeking may be found in the following, which I would ask you to send me:
1) the Microsoft Word document of version 1 as it was circulated between colleagues in the IPC Cell just before it was finalised and published on 20 Aug 2020; and
b) minutes/notes of the IPC Cell meetings (or 'huddles' as they sometimes called them).
I would imagine that any discussion about this particular change in policy would have been discussed during the month immediately proceeding publication on 20 August.
I am pleased to hear that you are keen to assist me with my enquiry and I would like to make the enquiry as burden-free for you as possible. Therefore, rather than you having to pore through these files, please would you just send these minutes/notes of IPC Cell meetings between 20 July and 20 August to me and I will extract the necessary information.
Yours sincerely,
David Osborn
PS You ask me to quote a "reference in subject bar" - I see no subject bar.
This may be embedded in the URL as one of the two numbers shown? : https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/9...
Dear FOICRM (NHS ENGLAND - X24),
Further to your response 16 May 2023, I accept your answer to the 1st part of my FoI.
However, you asked me to narrow down the time-frame for the documents I was seeking for the 2nd part.
I dutifully provided you with this information on the 4th of June which should have been sufficient for you to find the relevant documents. However I have not had any reply.
To repeat, and for the avoidance of doubt, the documents that I am asking you to provide are:
1) the Microsoft Word document of version 1 as it was circulated between colleagues in the IPC Cell just before it was finalised and published on 20 Aug 2020 (it was usual practice for them to circulate the documents using 'track changes' to add various comments or alterations); and
2) the minutes/notes of the IPC Cell meetings (or 'huddles' as they sometimes called them).
I would imagine that any discussion about this particular change in policy would have been discussed during the month immediately proceeding publication on 20 August.
In my note to you on 4th June I said "I am pleased to hear that you are keen to assist me with my enquiry and I would like to make the enquiry as burden-free for you as possible. Therefore, rather than you having to pore through these files, please would you just send these minutes/notes of IPC Cell meetings between 20 July and 20 August to me and I will extract the necessary information." However, to make the burden easier for your good selves I am happy to narrow the timeframe to 1st to 20th August 2020. I would imagine this will contain the necessary background to my enquiry which, you will remember, concerned the changing requirement that, when performing certain AGPs, it would no longer be necessary to follow airborne precautions (FFP3 or equivalent RPE) if the patient had tested covid-negative and that droplet precautions
(FRSMs) should be used instead.
In view of the delay in your replying to my communication of 4th June I would ask for a speedy and substantial reply to this enquiry.
Yours sincerely,
David Osborn
Dear David Osborn,
NHS England has assessed your communication as a request under the Freedom
of Information (FOI) Act 2000. Your request is being dealt with under the
terms of the FOI Act and will be answered within twenty working days. Your
reference number is FOI-2307-2002623.
For further information regarding the FOI Act, please refer to the website
of the [1]Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). For further information
regarding NHS England, and the information we publish, please visit [2]our
website.
If you have any queries about this request or wish to contact us again,
please email [3][NHS England request email] and the message will be
forwarded appropriately. Please remember to quote the above reference
number in any future communications.
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information
NHS England
PO Box 16738
REDDITCH
B97 9PT
Tel: 0300 311 22 33
Email: [4][NHS England request email]
Dear NHS England,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of NHS England's handling of my FOI request 'Change of IPC guidance relating to respiratory protection for AGPs if patient covid -ve'.
Whilst I accepted that you could not deal with the first part of my FOI request, you have not responded to the second part of my request where you are in a position to provide the information requested.
Three months have elapsed and this is not acceptable. This is the reason why I am requesting an internal review and, as a part of that review I trust you will provide the document(s) requested.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...
Yours faithfully,
David Osborn
*THIS IS AN AUTOMATED RESPONSE - YOUR EMAIL WILL BE RESPONDED TO BY A MEMBER OF
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Dear David Osborn
You submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request on 09/07/2023.
This request reads:
Further to your response 16 May 2023, I accept your answer to the 1st part
of my FoI.
However, you asked me to narrow down the time-frame for the documents I
was seeking for the 2nd part.
I dutifully provided you with this information on the 4th of June which
should have been sufficient for you to find the relevant documents.
However I have not had any reply.
To repeat, and for the avoidance of doubt, the documents that I am asking
you to provide are:
1) the Microsoft Word document of version 1 as it was circulated between
colleagues in the IPC Cell just before it was finalised and published on
20 Aug 2020 (it was usual practice for them to circulate the documents
using 'track changes' to add various comments or alterations); and
2) the minutes/notes of the IPC Cell meetings (or 'huddles' as they
sometimes called them).
I would imagine that any discussion about this particular change in policy
would have been discussed during the month immediately proceeding
publication on 20 August.
In my note to you on 4th June I said "I am pleased to hear that you are
keen to assist me with my enquiry and I would like to make the enquiry as
burden-free for you as possible. Therefore, rather than you having to pore
through these files, please would you just send these minutes/notes of IPC
Cell meetings between 20 July and 20 August to me and I will extract the
necessary information." However, to make the burden easier for your good
selves I am happy to narrow the timeframe to 1st to 20th August 2020. I
would imagine this will contain the necessary background to my enquiry
which, you will remember, concerned the changing requirement that, when
performing certain AGPs, it would no longer be necessary to follow
airborne precautions (FFP3 or equivalent RPE) if the patient had tested
covid-negative and that droplet precautions (FRSMs) should be used
instead.
NHS England may hold information relevant to your request and have sought
to provide a response to you although regretfully this has not yet been
possible and your case remains open. We apologise for the fact that we
have, so far, been unable to respond to your request.
We are writing to you regarding the Freedom of Information (FOI) you
submitted to NHS England, we sincerely apologise for the delay in a
response being sent to you and to ensure we can respond appropriately we
have commissioned Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit
(MLSCU) to progress your request.
MCLSU are a fellow NHS organisation who work alongside NHS England with a
great deal of experience in handling FOI requests; your information has
remained confidential and secure within the NHS England systems.
Due to the time that has passed since you initially requested the
information we would like to establish if you still require NHS England to
review what information is available. Should you wish for MLCSU to
continue processing your request we ask that you confirm this by
responding to this email at [1][email address] by no later than 27
November 2023. If we do not hear from you by this date, we will consider
that you no longer wish to pursue your request and your case will be
withdrawn.
Once again, please accept NHS England’s apology for the oversight and
subsequent delay.
Yours sincerely,
Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit, FOI Team.
On behalf of NHS England
Dear FOICRM (NHS ENGLAND - X24),
Thank you for your reply 13 Nov 23.
It is disappointing that this has taken so long to process. I submitted this FoI SEVEN months ago.
However, now that you have involved a third party MSCSLU I hope for a speedier response.
For the avoidance of doubt, I would expect the information to be provided within 20 working days i.e. by 19th December at which time I shall need to refer the request to the Information Commissioners' Office.
In your message you ask me to confirm that I still require the information requested.
I confirm that I do.
In your message you asked me to confirm this by sending an email to a specified email address.
I cannot do this since (as you should be aware) when FoI requests are submitted via WhatDoTheyKnow.com (WDTK) any email addresses are automatically removed by their system. Besides, I do not wish the response to be sent to my email - the information should be returned by the WDTK system.
I am relying upon whoever receives this message (whether at NHS England or MSCSLU) to ensure that this message is properly forwarded to whoever is tasked to provide the information.
Yours sincerely,
David Osborn
Dear David Osborn,
Thank you for your email of 9 July 2023 in which you requested information
under the FOI Act from NHS England.
Your request
Further to your response 16 May 2023, I accept your answer to the 1st part
of my FoI.
However, you asked me to narrow down the time-frame for the documents I
was seeking for the 2nd part.
I dutifully provided you with this information on the 4th of June which
should have been sufficient for you to find the relevant documents.
However I have not had any reply.
To repeat, and for the avoidance of doubt, the documents that I am asking
you to provide are:
1) the Microsoft Word document of version 1 as it was circulated between
colleagues in the IPC Cell just before it was finalised and published on
20 Aug 2020 (it was usual practice for them to circulate the documents
using 'track changes' to add various comments or alterations); and
2) the minutes/notes of the IPC Cell meetings (or 'huddles' as they
sometimes called them).
I would imagine that any discussion about this particular change in policy
would have been discussed during the month immediately proceeding
publication on 20 August.
In my note to you on 4th June I said "I am pleased to hear that you are
keen to assist me with my enquiry and I would like to make the enquiry as
burden-free for you as possible. Therefore, rather than you having to pore
through these files, please would you just send these minutes/notes of IPC
Cell meetings between 20 July and 20 August to me and I will extract the
necessary information." However, to make the burden easier for your good
selves I am happy to narrow the timeframe to 1st to 20th August 2020. I
would imagine this will contain the necessary background to my enquiry
which, you will remember, concerned the changing requirement that, when
performing certain AGPs, it would no longer be necessary to follow
airborne precautions (FFP3 or equivalent RPE) if the patient had tested
covid-negative and that droplet precautions
(FRSMs) should be used instead.
Decision
NHS England can confirm that we do hold some information in relation to
part 2 of your request.
We understand that you are happy with the response to part one of your
request, however attached the document in this FOI request.
We have conducted a more thorough search for the information requested in
your request part two, and can confirm that the relevant data has been
retrieved.
A total of five minutes/notes of IPC cell meetings for the period from 20
July 2020 to 20 August 2020 are listed below and attached.
27/07/2020
28/07/2020
29/07/2020
05/08/2020
12/08/2020
Please note that we consider that the names, job titles and contact
details of all NHS England staff members Band 9 or below and the names,
job titles and contact details of third parties’ amount to personal data
and are therefore withholding this information under section 40 (2) of the
FOI Act.
Section 40(2) states that requested information is exempt from disclosure
if the first or the second condition at section 40(3A)(a) of the FOI Act
is satisfied.
This is on the grounds that it amounts to personal data and the first
condition under section 40(3A)(a) is satisfied, namely that disclosure
would amount to a breach of the first data protection principle (personal
data should be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner) as
the individuals concerned would have a reasonable expectation that these
particular items of personal information would not be disclosed into the
public domain.
Section 40 is an absolute exemption and consideration of the public
interest test in disclosure is not required.
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of any internal review, you may
complain to the Information Commissioner for a decision on whether your
request for information has been dealt with in accordance with the FOI
Act.
A request for an internal review should be submitted in writing to
[1][NHS England request email]
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information
NHS England
Dear FOICRM (NHS ENGLAND - X24),
Just a note to thank you for the information provided.
Yours sincerely,
David Osborn
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