Decision process re Evusheld preventative treatment

The request was partially successful.

Dear Department of Health and Social Care,

Following last week’s announcement by Stephen Barclay that DHSC has decided not to rollout Evusheld treatment for the immunocompromised and immunosuppressed communities in Autumn 2022 (it being required to go through the lengthy NICE stages which mean spring/summer 2023 at the earliest), I would like to know the following regarding the decision making process used to come to this decision:
- who within DHSC made the decision? Was there a panel of members? If so please provide their names and areas if clinical/medical expertise.
- please provide details of the evidence /studies/tests considered in determining that the long term efficacy of Evusheld against the Omicron variant is not yet proven. (There are lab studies and long terms real life studies available that show it’s efficacy against Omicron which 32 other countries have chosen to follow )
- what factors were used in making the decision? Was economic cost one of the factors?
- why has Evusheld gone through a different process/order of events to all other Covid treatments ? Who made the decision for this?
- was consideration given to issuing immediate interim approval for Evusheld pending the full NICE review? Who was involved in this decision and what was their clinical/medical expertise ?
- I am aware that the COVID-19 Neutralising Monoclonal Antibodies (nMABs) and Antivirals Access Independent Advisory Group had generated the patient groups at highest clinical risk from Covid. I believe this group had no involvement in the decision not to rollout Evusheld for Autumn 2022. Please confirm.

I look forward to your response
Carole Waldon

Yours faithfully,

Carole Waldon

Department of Health and Social Care

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launched a COVID-19 ‘hub’, which can be found
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Dear Department of Health and Social Care,

I note that I have yet to receive a response to my FOI request regarding the “Decision Process re Evusheld Preventative Treatment”. This should normally have been done by 13th September 2022.

Please advise when I can expect to receive a reply. If there is a continued non-response, I will need to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.

Yours faithfully,

Carole Waldon

FreedomofInformation, Department of Health and Social Care

Dear Ms Waldon,

Thank you for your email about your Freedom of Information request (ref: FOI-1415351).

We apologise for the length of time it has taken to process your FOI request. Unfortunately, the Department's response is not yet complete and we will issue our response as soon as possible.

Please accept our apologies for the delay.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information Team
Department of Health and Social Care

-----Original Message-----
From: Carole Waldon <[FOI #886817 email]>
Sent: 14 September 2022 08:10
To: FreedomofInformation <[DHSC request email]>
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Decision process re Evusheld preventative treatment

[You don't often get email from [FOI #886817 email]. Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]

Dear Department of Health and Social Care,

I note that I have yet to receive a response to my FOI request regarding the "Decision Process re Evusheld Preventative Treatment". This should normally have been done by 13th September 2022.

Please advise when I can expect to receive a reply. If there is a continued non-response, I will need to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.

Yours faithfully,

Carole Waldon

-----Original Message-----

This is an acknowledgement - please do not reply to this email.

Thank you for contacting the Department of Health and Social Care.

If your enquiry is in relation to the pandemic, the Government has

launched a COVID-19 'hub', which can be found

at [1]https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo... and is regularly updated.

The answers to many other questions can be found on [2]GOV.UK,

the [3]Department of Health and Social Care website or by visiting

the [4]NHS website. We may not respond to you if the answer to your

enquiry can be found on either of these websites. Where a reply is

appropriate, we aim to send a response within 20 working days.

Please note that the department cannot arrange vaccinations. [5]This

webpage gives information on vaccination. You can also contact your GP,

clinical commissioning group or call 119.

If you have symptoms of COVID-19 you must get tested as soon as possible.

The swab test takes less than a minute and is pain-free. Results from test

sites are generally received within 24 hours of the test being

administered. Further information, including what symptoms to look out

for, can be found [6]here.

If your business is interested in helping the Government increase

COVID-19 testing capacity, please visit [7]this webpage. Please note that

the service that was set up for businesses to offer other COVID-19 support

has closed. If you have a product to sell to the NHS, please visit

[8]https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo....

Since 15 February 2021, anyone travelling to the UK from a red-list

country has been required to quarantine in a managed quarantine facility

for a period of ten days. There will be periods where no countries are

listed, but the red list remains ready to be stood up should the global

epidemiological situation change. In these circumstances, there is

guidance available on a range of queries.

To find out how to apply for a medical or compassionate exemption, please

visit

[9]https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo....

If you have been in quarantine and have a complaint about the hotel,

please raise your concerns with the hotel itself in the first instance. If

your complaint is unresolved, please email the complaints team at

[10][email address].

If you are writing in connection with an NHS or social care service please

note that the department does not manage health and social services

directly, nor does it process complaints. It also cannot give clinical

advice or intervene in matters concerning patient care or social services.

If you wish to make a complaint about a healthcare professional, an NHS

organisation or a social care provider, please visit [11]this link.

If you would like to raise your concerns about a COVID-19 testing

provider, or have any other NHS Test and Trace enquiries, you can

contact [12]NHS Test and Trace enquiries, feedback and complaints.

Our [13]Personal information charter and [14]privacy notice explain how we

treat your personal information.

This e-mail and any attachments is intended only for the attention of the

addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not

permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all

copies and inform the sender by return e-mail. Any views expressed in this

message are not necessarily those of the Department of Health and Social

Care. Please note: Incoming and outgoing email messages are routinely

monitored for compliance with our policy on the use of electronic

communications.

References

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Dear Department of Health and Social Care,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Health and Social Care's handling of my FOI request 'Decision process re Evusheld preventative treatment'.

My 15th August 2022 FOI request should have been responded to by 13th September. I sent a follow up request on 14th September and got a reply apologising for the delay in DHSC response. It is now Sept 28th and still no response from the DHSC which is totally unacceptable.
Please initiate an internal review immediately.

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

Yours faithfully,

Carole Waldon

FreedomofInformation, Department of Health and Social Care

Dear Ms Waldon

Thank you for your email. I apologise for the length of time it is taking to respond to your FOI request (our ref: FOI-1415351).

DHSC does not conduct internal reviews until a response to the initial case has been issued. Although organisations can choose to conduct an internal review to assess the handling process where they have taken more than 20 working days to respond, DHSC uses the internal review process once the initial case is complete to ensure that any exemptions that have been used have been applied correctly, and that all information within the scope of the request was considered.

We will therefore not be conducting an internal review. We will respond to your FOI request as soon as we are able.

Yours sincerely
FOI team

-----Original Message-----
From: Carole Waldon <[FOI #886817 email]>
Sent: 28 September 2022 08:50
To: FreedomofInformation <[DHSC request email]>
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Decision process re Evusheld preventative treatment

[You don't often get email from [FOI #886817 email]. Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]

Dear Department of Health and Social Care,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Health and Social Care's handling of my FOI request 'Decision process re Evusheld preventative treatment'.

My 15th August 2022 FOI request should have been responded to by 13th September. I sent a follow up request on 14th September and got a reply apologising for the delay in DHSC response. It is now Sept 28th and still no response from the DHSC which is totally unacceptable.
Please initiate an internal review immediately.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...

Yours faithfully,

Carole Waldon

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #886817 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the latest advice from the ICO:
https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...
https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
This e-mail and any attachments is intended only for the attention of the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies and inform the sender by return e-mail. Any views expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the Department of Health and Social Care. Please note: Incoming and outgoing email messages are routinely monitored for compliance with our policy on the use of electronic communications.

hide quoted sections

Dear FreedomofInformation,

Your response is an oxymoron! You cannot do an internal review until an initial response is issued. Surely such a delay in an initial response merits an internal review for the cause of the delay.

I have no choice now but to refer the matter to the Information Commissioners Office as the DHSC is failing to meet its obligations under the FOIA.

Yours sincerely,

Carole Waldon

Carole Waldon left an annotation ()

I have today , 28th Sept 2022, filed a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office due to the continued non response by DHSC to my 15th August 2022 FOI request and their refusal to conduct an internal review of the non response situation

Department of Health and Social Care

2 Attachments

Dear Ms Waldon,

Please find attached the Department of Health and Social Care's response
to your FOI request (our ref: FOI-1415351).

Yours sincerely, 

Freedom of Information Team
Department of Health and Social Care

------------------------------------------------------------

Please do not reply to this email. To contact the Department of Health and
Social Care, please visit [1]www.gov.uk/dhsc

 
This e-mail and any attachments is intended only for the attention of the
addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not
permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all
copies and inform the sender by return e-mail. Any views expressed in this
message are not necessarily those of the Department of Health and Social
Care. Please note: Incoming and outgoing email messages are routinely
monitored for compliance with our policy on the use of electronic
communications.

References

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Dear Department of Health and Social Care,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Health and Social Care's handling of my FOI request 'Decision process re Evusheld preventative treatment'.

I note that you claim a s22 exemption to providing the information. You do not give any indication of the timing of when additional information is to be released to the public (your Department has already been stating for weeks that additional information/evidence will be released but nothing has been issued yet).

My main concern is that you need to satisfy that a s22 exemption is applicable to each of my separate questions in my FOI request. I do not believe you can apply a s 22 exemption for each of the points and you should be able to provide answers to some of them currently. Please explain in detail why a blanket s22 exemption should apply to the entirety of my request.

I sent a complaint to ICO on 28 Sep 2022 regarding your handling of my request and that complaint still stands in my view.

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

Yours faithfully,

Carole Waldon

FreedomofInformation, Department of Health and Social Care

2 Attachments

Dear Ms Waldon,

We recently received notification from the Information Commissioner's Office that you had not received a reply to your FOI request of 15 August to the Department of Health and Social Care. I can confirm that a reply was sent to the above email address on 30 September.

I am re-sending a copy of the reply, and the attachment that accompanied it.

I hope this is helpful.

Kind regards,

Freedom of Information Team
Department of Health and Social Care

This e-mail and any attachments is intended only for the attention of the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies and inform the sender by return e-mail. Any views expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the Department of Health and Social Care. Please note: Incoming and outgoing email messages are routinely monitored for compliance with our policy on the use of electronic communications.

Dear FreedomofInformation,

I can confirm that I did receive your 30th Sept 2022 response. However I then requested an internal review on 30th Sept 2022 on your response to which I have not yet had a reply. I look forward to receiving that response shortly.

Yours sincerely,

Carole Waldon

Department of Health and Social Care

This is an acknowledgement - please do not reply to this email.

Thank you for contacting the Department of Health and Social Care. 

If your enquiry is in relation to the pandemic, the Government has
launched a COVID-19 ‘hub’, which can be found
at [1]www.gov.uk/coronavirus and is regularly updated. 

The answers to many other questions can be found on [2]GOV.UK,
the [3]Department of Health and Social Care website or by visiting
the [4]NHS website. We may not respond to you if the answer to your
enquiry can be found on either of these websites. Where a reply is
appropriate, we aim to send a response within 20 working days.
 
Please note that the department cannot arrange vaccinations. [5]This
webpage gives information on vaccination. You can also contact your GP,
clinical commissioning group or call 119.

 

If you have symptoms of COVID-19 you must get tested as soon as possible.
The swab test takes less than a minute and is pain-free. Results from test
sites are generally received within 24 hours of the test being
administered. Further information, including what symptoms to look out
for, can be found [6]here.
 
If your business is interested in helping the Government increase
COVID-19 testing capacity, please visit [7]this webpage. Please note that
the service that was set up for businesses to offer other COVID-19 support
has closed. If you have a product to sell to the NHS, please visit
[8]https://www.supplychain.nhs.uk/.   
  
Since 15 February 2021, anyone travelling to the UK from a red-list
country has been required to quarantine in a managed quarantine facility
for a period of ten days. There will be periods where no countries are
listed, but the red list remains ready to be stood up should the global
epidemiological situation change. In these circumstances, there is
guidance available on a range of queries.

To find out how to apply for a medical or compassionate exemption, please
visit
[9]www.gov.uk/guidance/exemptions-from-managed-quarantine-for-compassionate-reasons.

If you have been in quarantine and have a complaint about the hotel,
please raise your concerns with the hotel itself in the first instance. If
your complaint is unresolved, please email the complaints team at
[10][email address].
 
If you are writing in connection with an NHS or social care service please
note that the department does not manage health and social services
directly, nor does it process complaints. It also cannot give clinical
advice or intervene in matters concerning patient care or social services.
If you wish to make a complaint about a healthcare professional, an NHS
organisation or a social care provider, please visit [11]this link.

 
If you would like to raise your concerns about a COVID-19 testing
provider, or have any other NHS Test and Trace enquiries, you can
contact [12]NHS Test and Trace enquiries, feedback and complaints. 

Our [13]Personal information charter and [14]privacy notice explain how we
treat your personal information.

 

This e-mail and any attachments is intended only for the attention of the
addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not
permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all
copies and inform the sender by return e-mail. Any views expressed in this
message are not necessarily those of the Department of Health and Social
Care. Please note: Incoming and outgoing email messages are routinely
monitored for compliance with our policy on the use of electronic
communications.

References

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2. https://www.gov.uk/
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
4. https://www.nhs.uk/
5. https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...
6. https://www.gov.uk/getting-tested-for-co...
7. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/help-the-gov...
8. https://www.supplychain.nhs.uk/
9. https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...
10. mailto:[email address]
11. https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-t...
12. https://enquiries.test-and-trace.nhs.uk/...
13. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
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Department of Health and Social Care

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Waldon,

Your requested internal review of FOI-1415351 is now complete. Please see
the attached letter for the outcome.

Yours sincerely,

FOI Internal Reviews
Department of Health and Social Care

------------------------------------------------------------

Please do not reply to this email. To contact the Department of Health and
Social Care, please visit [1]www.gov.uk/dhsc

This e-mail and any attachments is intended only for the attention of the
addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not
permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all
copies and inform the sender by return e-mail. Any views expressed in this
message are not necessarily those of the Department of Health and Social
Care. Please note: Incoming and outgoing email messages are routinely
monitored for compliance with our policy on the use of electronic
communications.

References

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