Please be advised that we have received your request for information.

From 1^st July 2018, Ipswich and Colchester Hospitals merged to become
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust. Therefore, unless
otherwise specified, responses are on behalf of East Suffolk and North
Essex NHS Foundation Trust.

Your reference number is 8296

We shall deal with your request in accordance with the Trust's Freedom of
Information Act 2000 procedures.

In the meantime, if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to
contact us. Please direct any responses to the address supplied or email
[1][East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust request email] 

Should our response to your request breach the statutory timeframe and you
remain unhappy with our response you have the right to complain to the
Information Commissioners Office and you can contact them at

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Website: [2]www.ico.org.uk

There is no charge for making an appeal.

Kind regards,

Sam Edgington

Freedom of Information Team

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

[3][East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust request email]

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential. If you are
not the intended recipient, any reading, printing, storage, disclosure,
copying or any other action taken in respect of this e-mail is prohibited
and may be unlawful. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify
the sender immediately by using the reply function and then permanently
delete what you have received. Content of emails received by this Trust
will be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000,
subject to the specified exemptions, including The General Data Protection
Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Caldicott Guardian principles. East Suffolk
and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, Turner Road, Essex, CO4 5JL

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust request email]
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/
3. mailto:[East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust request email]
mailto:[East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust request email]

From 1^st July 2018, Ipswich and Colchester Hospitals merged to become
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust. Therefore, unless
otherwise specified, responses are on behalf of East Suffolk and North
Essex NHS Foundation Trust.

Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding information held by the East
Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust:

Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am writing
to request the following information. This information relates to NHS
Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response.  This information should
be readily available as part of the NHS EPRR annual assurance process.

Please note that this is a different request from my previous requests:
“EPRR Coordination of emergency and disaster management activities”, “EPRR
Planning”, “EPRR Communication and information management” and “EPRR Human
Resources”.

For clarity, to minimise the cost of my request and to prevent the
disclosure of any sensitive information, I have enumerated the information
I am requesting and specified how it could be provided.

Please note that the information requested is only records of the
existence of agreements and not the contents of the agreements themselves.

Given the potentially sensitive nature of this information, I ask you to
redact any exempt information instead of refusing disclosure. This would
be in accordance with guidance on best practice from the Information
Commissioner’s Office.

If you do not hold some of this information then I ask you to confirm
explicitly that you do not hold it.

Logistics

Agreements with local suppliers and vendors for emergencies and disasters

1. Any record of agreements (e.g. memoranda of understanding, mutual aid
agreements) with local suppliers, vendors and utility companies / agencies
to ensure procurement and delivery of essential medications, equipment and
supplies during times of shortage or increased demand, as in the case of
emergencies and disasters.  (Can be answered yes / no.)

Your enquiry has been dealt with in accordance with the Trust’s Freedom of
Information Act 2000 Policy and Procedures. We are pleased to enclose the
information you requested:

1. Any record of agreements (e.g. memoranda of understanding, mutual aid
agreements) with local suppliers, vendors and utility companies / agencies
to ensure procurement and delivery of essential medications, equipment and
supplies during times of shortage or increased demand, as in the case of
emergencies and disasters.  (Can be answered yes / no.)

Yes.

We do have these arrangements in place where these relationships have been
established through direct contracting, local processes and awards through
framework where the resulting contracts are owned and managed within the
organisation.  In some instances these relationships with suppliers are
managed nationally (for example through NHS supply chain) in these
instances assurances and arrangements are often coordinated at a regional
or national level through networks with which we engage.  In either
eventuality we seek assurance of supply chain resilience linked with the
clauses stated in the standard NHS contract.

If you have any queries about the enclosed information please contact us

The Public Sector Information Regulations provide a framework for public
sector organisations to licence the re-use of their information.  Please
request a re-use licence in order to re-use the information. Without the
necessary permission, you can breach our copyright.

Brief extracts of any material may be reproduced without our permission,
under the “fair dealing” provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988 for the purposes of research for non-commercial purposes; private
study; criticism; review and news reporting. All are subject to an
acknowledgement of ourselves as the copyright owner.  For guidance notes
on a range of copyright issues, see the Office of Public Sector
Information web site.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request you should write to us. Please also contact us if you require a
copy of our Freedom of Information Act 2000 Complaints Procedure.  Any
complaints you wish to make in relation to Environmental Information
Regulations (EIR) requests, must be sent to us within 40 working days of
receipt of this letter.

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint,
you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

The Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45

Website: [1]www.ico.org.uk

There is no charge for making an appeal.

We hope that we have been able to answer your query to your satisfaction
and that you find the information provided useful.

Kind regards,

Sam Edgington

Freedom of Information Team

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

[2][East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust request email]

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential. If you are
not the intended recipient, any reading, printing, storage, disclosure,
copying or any other action taken in respect of this e-mail is prohibited
and may be unlawful. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify
the sender immediately by using the reply function and then permanently
delete what you have received. Content of emails received by this Trust
will be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000,
subject to the specified exemptions, including The General Data Protection
Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Caldicott Guardian principles. East Suffolk
and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, Turner Road, Essex, CO4 5JL

References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.org.uk/
2. mailto:[East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust request email]
mailto:[East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust request email]