Clarification on data relating to Out of County Mental Health patients
Dear NHS South Kent Coast Clinical Commissioning Group,
Question 1.
In Q 3 of my request for information dated 16th January from NHS South Kent Coast
Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) I asked:
How many referrals for 'specialist placements' for K&M (NHS) Mental Health
patients were made to the CCG:
a. in 2016?
b. in 2017?
c. in 2018?
and in your reply reference Our Ref: FOI.18.SKC238 dated 7 Mary 2019. You stated that
"I can confirm NHS South Kent Coast CCG does not hold this information. I can confirm no
referrals were made to the CCG, as this is a clinical decision made by the provider not the
CCG. You may wish to redirect this part of your request to Kent and Medway NHS.
I also sent a request to KMPT dated 26 February asking them:
How many K&M NHS Mental Health patients whose needs could not be met by
local mental health services provided by KMPT were referred to CCG's for placement:
a. in 2016?
b. in 2017?
c. in 2018?
However the reply to my request for information from KMPT dated 20th March stated
"This information would need to be requested from the CCG’s ..."
It appears that perhaps no-one does collect - or no-one publishes - this highly important data on service provision and scrutiny of expenditure on mental health patients within the private sector. It has been stated publicly that KMPT reduced the number of 'Out of County' placements to zero. As we are aware - for fact - that there are some placements out of county (including some very long term placements) it appears that perhaps these are reflected in the 'missing data'.
Please could you advise why noone appears to produce this data ? Or if they do please tell me where I can find it.
Question 2.
Does the CCG have an overall figure for the number of 'Out-of-County' Mental Health placements from KMPT there are in private institutions who have been placed in any type of bed you may refer to ... specialist, acute or other ? If not please tell me where I can find out these numbers for
a. 2016
b. 2017
c. 2018
d. CURRENT figures as of the date of this request
Thank you for your attention in this matter. Please note I will also be posting a similar FOI to KMPT asking for clarification.
Yours faithfully,
C Harrison
Dear C Harrison
RE: Freedom of Information Request
Please note that we will respond to Question 1 as a follow up question,
and will provide a response once we have confirmed the answer with the
CCG. We are treating Question 2 as a new request, the acknowledgement of
which is below.
I am writing to formally acknowledge your request for information
regarding out of county bed placements which will be processed under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. I can confirm your request was received
on 1 April 2019 by NEL on behalf of the Clinical Commissioning Groups
(CCGs) listed below. The references for your requests are shown alongside.
NHS South Kent Coast CCG EK016FOI.19.SKC012
An initial investigation is currently taking place into whether the
information you have requested is held by the CCGs and if so, whether it
can be released in accordance with the legislation.
Any fees applicable to this request will be detailed in writing as soon as
they can be determined. Your request will then be placed on hold and you
will have the choice of whether to proceed with your request. Should any
clarification of your request be required we will advise you accordingly.
If you require any assistance, or would like to discuss your request,
please do not hesitate to contact us quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information Team
NEL
[1][NHS South Kent Coast CCG request email]
Lower Marsh, 3^rd Floor
Waterloo, London, SE1 7NT
[2]www.nelcsu.nhs.uk
[3]@NELCSU
[4]LinkedIn
Dear C Harrison
Please find attached the responses to your recent Freedom of Information requests on behalf of the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) listed below. The references for your requests are shown alongside.
NHS South Kent Coast CCG FOI.19.SKC012
Kind regards
Jade
FOI Team
NEL
[NHS South Kent Coast CCG request email]
Kent House, 4th Floor
Station Road, Ashford, TN23 1PJ
www.nelcsu.nhs.uk
@NELCSU
LinkedIn
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