Child Death and Illness Stats

The request was partially successful.

Dear Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust,

My request under freedom of information laws is below:
1.      The full postcodes and the numbers of in-patients aged under 18 who have been are/receiving treatment for the following conditions in (a) to (f) below as in-patients:
 
a) Asthma
b) Cancer
c) Otitis media
d) All Acute lower respiratory infections, such as pneumonia and bronchiolitis.
e) Meningitis
f) All other causes of admissions with the exclusions of accidents or assaults, I do not request the causes for now.
  
2)      The numbers of children who have died in your care either in hospital under 18 for the same time period and same conditions with the full postcodes set out in (1) (a) to (f) above
 
I seek the information above for the following periods:
23rd March 2020 to 22nd March 2021
23rd March 2019 to 22nd March 2020
These dates tie in with the lockdown period.
2) Children who have died in your care either in hospital or at home as out-patients aged under 18 for the same time periods and same conditions with the full postcodes set out in 1 above.
It is accepted there are confidentiality issues here, but when Councils are planning substantial housing developments and schools close to roads it must be right to discover if there is a health risk to building homes in these locations. This information may be over the usual cost limits, but it is the public interest for the it to be published. They are many articles linking child illness pollution one at:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41416-0...
says
“A meta-analysis by Boothe et al.31 assessing childhood leukaemia in relation to multiple pollutants found an increased risk for post-natal exposure but no association with pre-natal exposure. Most studies found an association with childhood leukaemia overall, but the association tended to be stronger when examining just acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) or acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) for specific pollutants32. “

I seek the information in a similar format to a table supplied by Barking Havering & Redbridge University Hospitals Trust at Information on Child Cancers & other illnesses - a Freedom of Information request to Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust - WhatDoTheyKnow to me at 14th July 2021.

I wrote to you on 15th July 2021 and you replied saying you did have the data on types of child cancer. However, I apply again, this time to include asthma and asking for child cancer as a category rather than the types. I would be grateful if you could supply information about the conditions I seek.

Yours faithfully,

Andy Walker

FOI (ROYAL CORNWALL HOSPITALS NHS TRUST), Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

Dear Andy Walker,  

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST Ref: 16623

Thank you for your request for information as detailed below (if I have
misunderstood any part of your request, please let me know as soon as
possible, otherwise I shall continue to retrieve the information as
outlined):

1) The full postcodes and the numbers of in-patients aged under 18 who
have been are/receiving treatment for the following conditions in (a) to
(f) below as in-patients:

a) Asthma

b) Cancer

c) Otitis media

d) All Acute lower respiratory infections, such as pneumonia and
bronchiolitis.

e) Meningitis

f) All other causes of admissions with the exclusions of accidents or
assaults, I do not request the causes for now.

2) The numbers of children who have died in your care either in hospital
under 18 for the same time period and same conditions with the full
postcodes set out in (1) (a) to (f) above

I seek the information above for the following periods:

23rd March 2020 to 22nd March 2021

23rd March 2019 to 22nd March 2020

These dates tie in with the lockdown period.

3) Children who have died in your care either in hospital or at home as
out-patients aged under 18 for the same time periods and same conditions
with the full postcodes set out in 1 above.

It is accepted there are confidentiality issues here, but when Councils
are planning substantial housing developments and schools close to roads
it must be right to discover if there is a health risk to building homes
in these locations. This information may be over the usual cost limits,
but it is the public interest for the it to be published. They are many
articles linking child illness pollution one at:

[1]https://www.nature.com/articles/s41416-0...

says

“A meta-analysis by Boothe et al.31 assessing childhood leukaemia in
relation to multiple pollutants found an increased risk for post-natal
exposure but no association with pre-natal exposure. Most studies found an
association with childhood leukaemia overall, but the association tended
to be stronger when examining just acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) or
acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) for specific pollutants32. “

I wrote to you on 15th July 2021, and you replied saying you did have the
data on types of child cancer. However, I apply again, this time to
include asthma and asking for child cancer as a category rather than the
types. I would be grateful if you could supply information about the
conditions I seek.

Your request was received on 9^th May 2022, and I am dealing with it
under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Please be advised
the NHS is under considerable pressure dealing with the current pandemic
outbreak of Covid – 19.  Many administrative staff are being asked to work
from home or are being retrained to undertake other roles to help support
areas affected by the virus. The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust will
provide the response to your request at the earliest opportunity.

Please consider whether your request is appropriate at this time, if not
consider withdrawing it and asking again when things return to a normal
footing. This will further help us concentrate on delivering care to our
community in Cornwall.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I will
let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before I will proceed to deal with your request.

You will receive the information requested within 20 working days unless
the Royal Cornwall Hospital does not hold the information or there is a
reason for it to be withheld. I will write to you in any event.

If you have any requirements regarding the format any information should
be supplied in, e.g., the language to be used, audio, large print and so
on, then please let me know.

Further information about your rights is also available from the
Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 54 57 45

[2]www.ico.org.uk

In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any
queries or concerns (please remember to quote the reference number in any
future correspondence).

Yours sincerely

Holly

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Dear FOI (ROYAL CORNWALL HOSPITALS NHS TRUST),

Thank you for your reply, Please go ahead your email on the 9th May.

Yours sincerely,

Andy Walker

FOI (ROYAL CORNWALL HOSPITALS NHS TRUST), Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

1 Attachment

Dear Andy Walker,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST Ref: 16623

Your request for information has now been considered and the response is
attached.

Please accept our apologies for not getting this to you yesterday.

If you have any queries or concerns, then please do not hesitate to
contact me (please remember to quote the reference number above in any
future communications).

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
you should write to the Information Governance Manager, Kedhlow Building,
Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 3LJ or e-mail [1][Royal
Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust request email]

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint or review, you
may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.
Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the
complaints procedure provided by the Royal Cornwall Hospital.

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 54 57 45

[2]www.ico.org.uk

Yours sincerely

Holly

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Dear Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust's handling of my FOI request 'Child Death and Illness Stats'.

Thank you for the partial information you have provided which has been helpful to me as only one child death suggests the poor quality London air is a contributory factor in far higher death rates for my NHS local trust.
For your ease of reference, I copy your reason for declining my part 1 of my request,
“The Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust cannot determine whether an admission was for the treatment of a specific diagnosis. The question asks for ‘numbers of inpatients receiving treatment for the following conditions’, so although the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust may be able to identify patients with a specific diagnosis, the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust cannot determine if any treatment given was related to this diagnosis. The Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust therefore cannot answer question 1, both because the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust are unable to isolate treatments for these conditions. If we were able to provide the above information, we would withhold the full postcode. Under Section 40 (2) ‘Personal Information’ of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).” (my emphasis)

An extract from my original request is copied below:
“1) The full postcodes and the numbers of in-patients aged under 18 who have been are/receiving treatment for the following conditions in (a) to (f) below as in-patients:”
I accept your trust cannot identify whether treatment was provided, however your trust can identify patients with a specific diagnosis and I would be grateful if you could re-consider this issue and send me the specific diagnosis requested.
Should you require a new request please let me know.

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,

Andy Walker

FOI (ROYAL CORNWALL HOSPITALS NHS TRUST), Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

Dear Andy Walker

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST Ref: 16623

Thank you for your correspondence requesting a review of our decision to
withhold the disclosure of information, under Section (Exemption No.40(2))
of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000.

Your request was received 9^th June 2022 and I am dealing with it under
the terms of our complaints process, also known as an internal review. In
that review, we will:

• make a fresh decision based on all the available evidence that is
relevant to the date of the request, not just a review of the first
decision;
• ensure the review is done by someone who did not deal with the
request, where possible, and preferably by a more senior member of
staff; and
• ensure the review takes no longer than 20 working days in most cases,
or 40 in exceptional circumstances.

On completion of the internal review, we will either:

• disclose the information; or
• inform you that we have found that the public interest favours
maintaining the exemption (we will try, where possible to provide an
explanation as to why the balance of the public interest favours
non-disclosure)

If you have any queries or concerns then please do not hesitate to contact
me by writing to the Information Governance Manager, Kedhlow Building,
Royal Cornwall Hospital Truro, Cornwall, TR1 3LJ or email [1][Royal
Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust request email] (please remember to quote the
reference number above in any future communications).

If you are not content with how we are dealing with your request, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally,
the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints
procedure provided by the Royal Cornwall Hospital.

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 54 57 45

[2]www.ico.org.uk

Yours sincerely

Holly

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FOI (ROYAL CORNWALL HOSPITALS NHS TRUST), Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

2 Attachments

Dear Andy Walker,

Internal review of FOI Ref 16623

Thank you for your email of 9 June 2022 seeking an internal review of your
response to your request to information under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 (FOIA).

In seeking an internal review, you made the following comments: ‘I accept
your trust cannot identify whether treatment was provided, however your
trust can identify patients with a specific diagnosis and I would be
grateful if you could re-consider this issue and send me the specific
diagnosis requested.’

In undertaking this review, we have considered:

• Your original request
• Our response
• The exemption used
• Your reason for requesting an Internal Review

Outcome of your internal review:

The original request, made on 9 May 2022, was that Royal Cornwall
Hospitals NHS Trust supply the full postcodes and the numbers of
in-patients aged under 18 who have been are/receiving treatment for the
following conditions in (a) to (f) below as in-patients:

a) Asthma

b) Cancer

c) Otitis media

d) All Acute lower respiratory infections, such as pneumonia and
bronchiolitis.

e) Meningitis

f) All other causes of admissions with the exclusions of accidents or
assaults, I do not request the causes for now.

for the following periods:

23rd March 2020 to 22nd March 2021

23rd March 2019 to 22nd March 2020

We uphold the original decision that we are unable to determine whether an
admission was for the treatment of a specific diagnosis and that we
withheld full postcodes under Section 40(2) of the FOIA.

However, as you have now submitted a revised request for the full
postcodes and the numbers of in-patients aged under 18 who have been
are/receiving treatment for the specific conditions for the same time
periods, your request for information has now been considered and the
response is attached.

Please note that we have again carefully considered your request to
disclose the full postcodes relating to your request but have decided to
withhold the information under Section 40(2) of the FOIA. We are only
providing you partial postcodes due to the Trust believing that there is a
real risk of identification and therefore a strong likelihood of distress
being caused, and the principles of the Data Protection Act 2018 being
breached.

If you have any queries or concerns, then please do not hesitate to
contact me (please remember to quote the reference number above in any
future communications).

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
you should write to the Information Governance Manager, Kedhlow Building,
Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 3LJ or e-mail [1][Royal
Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust request email]

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint or review, you
may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.
Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the
complaints procedure provided by the Royal Cornwall Hospital.

If you remain dissatisfied with our response, you can appeal to the
Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Email: [2][email address]

Yours sincerely,

Gemma Mewton

Information Governance Officer

Information Governance & Business Support Unit

Kedhlow Building, Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro TR1 3LJ

Email: [3][email address]

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Dear FOI (ROYAL CORNWALL HOSPITALS NHS TRUST),

Thank you for your reply, the information will be helpful to campaign against High Rise in Redbridge.

Yours sincerely,

Andy Walker