Clozapine

name removed 23 Oct 2012 made this Freedom of Information request to Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was successful.

name removed 23 Oct 2012

Dear Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust,

I am writing to make a Freedom of Information Request about Clozapine in your Trust.

1] With which pharmaceutical company/companies are you registered for Clozapine?

2] Which specific types of Clozapine do you use?

3] How many of your Responsible Clinicians are registered on the national Clozaril programme, serving your Trust?

4] How many of your Pharamacists are registered on the national Clozaril programme, serving your trust?

5] In 2011, how many of your patients were being prescribed Clozapine? If it helps, please state if they were in-patients or out-patients.

6] In 2011, how many of your patients, if any, had adverse reactions to Clozapine?

7] In 2011, how many of your patients were prescribed Clozapine when they had a known heart condition of Right Atrial Enlargement and Sinus Tachycardia as found on ECG?

8] What is your policy on prescribing Clozapine to people with known heart problems such as Right Atrial Enlargement and Sinus Tachycardia?

9] What is your policy on prescribing Amisulpride to people who develop parkinsonism whilst on Amisulpride and who lose a dramatic amount of weight in a matter of a fortnight or so?

10] Do you prescribe Bisoprolol to heart patients without first getting a cardiologist to examine the patient?

Thank you very much for your help,

Yours sincerely,

[first name removed] [last name removed]

Loizou, Nicholas,

1 Attachment

Dear [first name removed]

 

Please find attached the Trust’s acknowledgement of your request.

 

Regards

 

Nicholas Loizou

 

Nicholas Loizou | FOI Manager | Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust |
Email: [email address] | Phone: 020 3312 5585| Twitter:
http://twitter.com/ImperialNHS Rss:
http://www.imperial.nhs.uk/aboutus/news/...

 

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name removed 23 Oct 2012

Dear Nicholas,

Thank you very much for your help and acknowledgement of my FOI Request.

I have no connections with your Trust but I am seeking to find out what happens in trusts across England vis-a-vis Clozapine and heart conditions as everyone knows that the Clozaril programme has to monitor for agranulocytosis but there seems to be no regular monitoring of heart conditions which I believe SHOULD be there as a matter of patient safety.

Hence my request.

Thank you so much,

With best wishes,

[first name removed]

name removed 23 Oct 2012

Dear Nicholas,

I thank you for your prompt acknowledgement of receipt of my Freedom of Information Request of 24 January 2012.

On 18 February 2012, I received an email from the charity providing the FOI Service stating that the Response from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust is overdue.

May I request, please, an Internal Review, as I would like to have the data.

Thank you very much for your kind help,

Best wishes,

[first name removed]

[first name removed] [last name removed]

Campaigner for legal reform, liberty, truth and justice

Loizou, Nicholas,

1 Attachment

Dear [first name removed]

 

Our records show that the response to your request is due today. Please
find it attached.

 

Regards

 

Nicholas Loizou

 

Nicholas Loizou | FOI Manager | Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust |
Email: [email address] | Phone: 020 3312 5585| Twitter:
http://twitter.com/ImperialNHS Rss:
http://www.imperial.nhs.uk/aboutus/news/...

 

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name removed 23 Oct 2012

Dear Nicholas,Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust,

Thank you very much for your kind help in producing information and I am aware that you are now conducting a Review based on my original FOI Request wherein it was stated that Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust did not have the information.

Just so that it can be stated in writing to be an Internal Review, I am putting it on record that I am formally requesting the review you have so kindly agreed to undertake.

I am writing to request an internal review of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust's handling of my FOI request 'Clozapine'.

I look forward to receiving your information in due course as maybe the way in which I phrased the request was not clear enough, for which I do apologise, but very kindly you have now understood what I was requesting.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/cl...

With my gratitude, and best wishes,

[first name removed] [last name removed]

Campaigner for legal reform, liberty, truth and justice

Loizou, Nicholas,

Dear [first name removed]

 

After speaking to you to clarify elements of your request I can confirm
that as the Trust does not provide mental health services Clozapine and
Amisulpride are not proscribed to patients. I have also discussed the
points raised about Bisoprolol with the Trust’s Lead Pharmacist for
cardiac services resulting in the below advice.

 

If Bisoprolol were being used for treating heart failure (I assume this is
what is meant by ‘heart patient’, the patient would always be examined by
an appropriately trained doctor)

 

Patients with heart failure may be seen by general medical doctors/care of
the elderly/intensivists as well as cardiologists.  Provided appropriate
diagnostic tests were carried out e.g. Echocardiogram, sign off may not
necessarily be reserved to cardiologists.  It may also be prescribed for
hypertension, or atrial fibrillation and it is not expected that a
cardiologist needed to be involved in all patients as these are more
common diagnosis.

 

Your final question asked whether the Trust have had patients admitted to
us who have been treated for mental health conditions elsewhere, have
suffered adverse reactions to the drugs noted in your request and then
been admitted to us via A/E or referral from the Mental Health Trust.

 

Unfortunately the Trust does not hold this information in a centralised
record and the only way to recover it would be to check all individual
patient records for A/E and referrals from other NHS organizations which
note adverse reactions to drugs and then manually check those records to
see if the drugs specified are those noted in your request.

 

As one of the largest NHS Trust’s in the country treating approx 300,000
A/E patients a year this is a very large and resource intensive task. A
number of levels of data shifting would have to be implemented before any
estimation of patients with adverse prescription drugs effects could be
generated and then manually checked for this information. It is estimated
that this task would significantly exceed the time limits provided for in
the regulation to the Freedom of Information Act (Currently 18 hours £450)

 

I hope that this deals with your request to your satisfaction.

 

Regards

 

Nicholas Loizou

 

Nicholas Loizou | FOI Manager | Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust |
Email: [email address] | Phone: 020 3312 5585| Twitter:
http://twitter.com/ImperialNHS Rss:
http://www.imperial.nhs.uk/aboutus/news/...

 

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name removed 23 Oct 2012

13 March 2012

Dear Nicholas,

Thank you and your colleagues for your help - it is of great assistance.

With best wishes,

[first name removed]