Fabricated and Induced Illness and/or Munchausen Allogations

Waiting for an internal review by Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust of their handling of this request.

Dear Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust,

Could you please supply the following information:

1) What are your statistics on Fabricated and Induced Illness and/or Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome cases between January 2010 and now?

2) How many of these cases have since been proven to be organic clinical/genetic conditions and not child protection issues?

3) What is Dr Danya Glaser's role in your Trust and her key responsibilities?

4) Where is Dr Danya Glaser's control group based for her research into spotting the early symptoms of FII?

5) How many wrongly-accused parents have received a full apology from your Trust after being cleared of FII/MBPS?

6) Why are so many parents suddenly accused of FII/MBPS when they complain about poor clinical care by one of your employees?

7) Are the complaints of these parents re-investigated and appropriate disciplinary action taken once parents are cleared of FII/MBPS and an organic clinical/genetic diagnosis given to the child?

8) Why do you heavily edit the medical notes released to parents under FOI requests on behalf of their children after parents have complained about poor care?

Yours faithfully

Jennifer Bond

Charles Smith, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

Date: 05/01/15
Our reference: FOIRQ2448

Dear Ms Bond,

Thank you for your e-mail of 30/12/15, which we received on 05/1/15.

Your request for information is being processed, and you should expect to receive a response by 02/02/15 . Should it be necessary to apply a fee for providing the information requested we will issue a fees notification before releasing any information.

If we anticipate any delays in responding to your request we will notify you in writing, stating the reasons for this and the date by which we expect to respond.

Your email will be used by Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust for the purpose of processing your request. The information you provide will be recorded for reference and may also be used to monitor and review our Freedom of Information systems, processes and policy.

Should you require any further information in the interim please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Charles Smith

Interim FOI Co-Ordinator
Great Ormond Street Hospital
F:     020-7829-7965
E:     [email address]
DX:  6640200 Bloomsbury 91 WC

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Charles Smith, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Ms Bond,

The Trust is processing your request, however, before we can proceed, please can you provide some clarification.

1) What are your statistics on Fabricated and Induced Illness and/or Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome cases between January 2010 and now?

Please clarify which exact statistics you require exactly ?

5) How many wrongly-accused parents have received a full apology from your Trust after being cleared of FII/MBPS?

Please specify a time period for this question.

Please note:
Once we have received your clarification we will send an acknowledgment and a date by which you should expect a response.
The Trust is not required to provide information where we have asked for clarification and the ‘clock’ restarts when clarification has been received.
If we do not hear from you in 30 working days, i.e. by 20/02/2015, we will close the request and you will be advised to make a new request if you still require the information.

Yours sincerely

Charles Smith

Interim FOI Co-Ordinator
Great Ormond Street Hospital
F:     020-7829-7965
E:     [email address]
DX:  6640200 Bloomsbury 91 WC

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Dear Charles Smith,

Please provide the statistics on the following:

1) All allegations/suspicions of of FII/MBPS* which have been documented from January 2010 until current time
2) All confirmed cases of FII/MBPS* that have been documented from January 2010 until current time.

*As FII and MBPS are the same theory (MBPS being more recently referred to as FII); please group your results together.

Please use the same time span of January 2010 until current time when providing the statistics of how many parents have received a full apology from your Trust after being cleared of FII/MBPS?

As these were the only clarifications you requested, I look forward to your timely response to the other six points by the original date of 2nd February 2015. I will await the above clarified responses due by 20th February 2015.

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Bond

Dear Charles Smith,

I note your response relating to the clarifications is actually due by 6th February 2015 and not the 20th February 2015.

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Bond

Charles Smith, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Ms Bond,

Thanks for your email clarifying your request.

We confirm that as there was no delay in your clarification the expected response date remains unchanged (i.e. 06/02/2015).

Yours sincerely,

Charles Smith

Interim FOI Co-Ordinator
Great Ormond Street Hospital
F:     020-7829-7965
E:     [email address]
DX:  6640200 Bloomsbury 91 WC

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Charles Smith, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

2 Attachments

Dear Ms Bond,

Please find attached our response to your FOI request.

Yours sincerely,

Charles

Charles Smith

Interim FOI Co-Ordinator
Great Ormond Street Hospital
F:     020-7829-7965
E:     [email address]
DX:  6640200 Bloomsbury 91 WC

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Dear Charles Smith,

Thank you for your response.

I find it hard to believe that a Trust of your size has no audit-able figures on FII/MSBP. Supporters of the FII/MSBP theory (we use ‘theory’, as it has no scientific basis as a condition in its own right) report very small cases per year. However in the past two years alone your hospital Trust has accused a record number of families. Could you please explain this sudden increase?

Sadly, families are often openly accused of FII/MSBP by members of staff at your Trust. Families report they are treated with disrespect, and their children suffer great emotional and/or physical harm as a result of the trauma unnecessarily placed upon these families.

Surely it would be essential practice to follow disciplinary procedures if a patient suffered negligent care and/or harm (emotionally or physically) by a member(S) of staff in your Trust who purposely raised a retaliation accusation following parent’s complaint concerning issues of poor/inappropriate care? The use of an FII/MSBP accusation cannot simply be used just because a parent raised a complaint about the care their complex child receives/is not receiving.

Again sadly, there are many patients’ records that appear tampered with either after submitting a complaint about a member of Trust staff, or after being accused of FII/MSBP. Families are not being issued with covering letters stating there are documents removed under the relevant Data Protection acts as required. Could you please clarify the reason for this?

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Bond

Dear Charles Smith,

Could you please also confirm what Gastroenterology training Dr Danya Glaser has undertaken in order to effectively chair meetings and consult with regards to the care of Gastroenterology patients?

We note that Dr Danya Glaser's postal address at the Trust is:

Great Ormond Street Hospital
Safeguarding Department
CP Offices, L3 Main Nurses Home
Great Ormond Street Hospital
Great Ormond Street
London
WC1N 3JH

Therefore, could you please reconfirm Dr Danya Glaser's role is within the Trust, as it would appear from her postal address that she is in fact part of the Child Protection Safeguarding team.

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Bond

Dear Charles Smith,

Please see my two responses yesterday. Please could you carry out an internal review based upon the information.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/f...

I look forward to receiving your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Bond

Charles Smith, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

06/02/2015

Our reference: FOIRQ2448

Dear Ms Bond,

Thank you for your e-mail of 6 February 2014.

Your request for internal review of our response to your request (our reference FOIRQ2448) is being processed, and you should expect to receive a response by 06/03/2015. Should it be necessary to apply a fee for providing the information requested we will issue a fees notification before releasing any information.

If we anticipate any delays in responding to your request we will notify you in writing, stating the reasons for this and
the date by which we expect to respond.

Your email will be used by Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust for the purpose of processing your request. The information you provide will be recorded for reference and may also be used to monitor and review our Freedom of Information systems, processes and policy.

Should you require any further information in the interim please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely

Charles

Charles Smith

Interim FOI Co-Ordinator
Great Ormond Street Hospital
F:     020-7829-7965
E:     [email address]
DX:  6640200 Bloomsbury 91 WC

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Dear Charles Smith,

I note the findings of the internal review are now overdue.

Therefore, could you please provide the requested information today.

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Bond

Tobi Danmole, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

Date: 10/03/2015                                      
Our reference: FOIRQ2448 
 
Dear Ms Bond,
 
Thank you for your email of 10/03/2015.
 
We apologise for the delay in responding to your request. The department
has been through a transitional period regarding staffing, and
unfortunately this has resulted in a backlog of FOI requests . The Interim
FOI Coordinator, Charles Smith, has left the team and will no longer be
dealing with FOI requests.
 
Myself, or my colleague Seni (copied in ) , will do our best to respond to
you as quickly as possible.
 
Thank you for your patience in this matter.
 
Yours Sincerely,
Tobi
 
Tobi Danmole
DPA/FOI Administrator
Legal Department, Level 1 Southwood-VCB Link Corridor
P:      020-7829-7926
F:      020-7829-7965
DX:   6640200 Bloomsbury 91 WC
 
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Dear Tobi Danmole,

Could you please provide the information from the internal review by the end of business today.

The delay is unacceptable, especially in light of your current investigation by the Care Quality Commission.

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Bond

Tobi Danmole, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Jennifer,

 

I sincerely apologise for the delay in responding to you. Unfortunately ,
the internal review is taking longer than anticipated , but I can assure
you that it is being processed by the relevant team. I will forward this
email on to my colleagues, and stress to them that the review is required
urgently. It is unlikely that we will be able to respond before the end of
the business day , but I will do my best to have the review sent to you as
quickly as possible.

 

Yours sincerely,

Tobi

 

Tobi Danmole

DPA  Administrator // FOI Co-ordinator

Legal Department, Level 1 Southwood-VCB Link Corridor

P:      020-7829-0276

F:      020-7829-7965

DX:   6640200 Bloomsbury 91 WC

 

 

 

 

 

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Dear Tobi Danmole,

I notice the internal review is still outstanding after a further two weeks.

Please ensure the response is provided within the next 7 days.

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Bond

Tobi Danmole, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Bond,

 

Please find attached the Internal Review. I sincerely apologise for the
delay in disclosing this to you.

 

Please note that Dr Glaser is currently away from the Trust , but I will
follow up on your queries relating to her as soon as she returns.

 

Best wishes,

Tobi

 

Tobi Danmole

DPA  Administrator // FOI Co-ordinator

Legal Department, Level 1 Southwood-VCB Link Corridor

P:      020-7829-0276

F:      020-7829-7965

DX:   6640200 Bloomsbury 91 WC

 

 

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Dear Tobi Danmole,

Thank you for your last response; although it is clearly disappointing you are unable to provide the actual figures.

I trust you are now in a position to provide the outstanding information from the request?

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Bond

Tobi Danmole, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Ms Bond,

 

I apologise for the delay in responding to your email. Dr Glaser is still
away from the Trust , as soon as she returns we will respond to this
element of the internal review:

 

“Could you please also confirm what Gastroenterology training Dr

Danya Glaser has undertaken in order to effectively chair meetings

and consult with regards to the care of Gastroenterology patients?

 

We note that Dr Danya Glaser's postal address at the Trust is:

 

Great Ormond Street Hospital

Safeguarding Department

CP Offices, L3 Main Nurses Home

Great Ormond Street Hospital

Great Ormond Street

London

WC1N 3JH

 

Therefore, could you please reconfirm Dr Danya Glaser's role is

within the Trust, as it would appear from her postal address that

she is in fact part of the Child Protection Safeguarding team.”

 

Yours sincerely,

Tobi

 

Tobi Danmole

DPA  Administrator // FOI Co-ordinator

Legal Department, Level 1 Southwood-VCB Link Corridor

P:      020-7829-7926 , ext. 0276

F:      020-7829-7965

DX:   6640200 Bloomsbury 91 WC

 

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Dear Tobi Danmole,

I wonder if you could please define exactly what you mean by ‘away from the Trust?'

We have evidence that Dr Danya Glaser is still actively arranging meetings in pursuance of her role as either a coordinator for complex Gastro cases or in her unacknowledged role within your Safeguarding department.

Does this mean that Dr Danya Glaser is using her position at GOSH to gain access to families without the knowledge of the Trust, and if this is the case will the Trust be taking action to protect the families from uncontrolled, unmonitored, unaudited and unauthorised contact of this kind?

Will the Trust take disciplinary action against Dr Danya Glaser if she has acted without authority or in excess of her authority?

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Bond

Tobi Danmole, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Bond ,

 

By away from the Trust , I meant on ‘Annual Leave.’  I can confirm ,
however , that Dr Danya Glaser is back from her annual leave.

 

Please find attached our response to your request.

 

Yours Sincerely,

Tobi

 

Tobi Danmole

DPA  Administrator // FOI Co-ordinator

Legal Department, Level 1 Southwood-VCB Link Corridor

P:      020-7829-7926 , ext. 0276

F:      020-7829-7965

DX:   6640200 Bloomsbury 91 WC

 

 

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Dear Tobi Danmole,

If, as you state, Dr Danya Glaser has no association with the Safeguarding Team at GOSH, would it constitute professional misrepresentation for Dr Glaser to be signing statements written in a child’s medical notes as ‘Dr Glaser- Safeguarding Team’ as recently as 2014?

If Danya Glaser’s role is one of coordination alone, would parents at GOSH be able to request that Dr Glaser did not coordinate their child’s care if they felt uncomfortable with the fact that, as a psychiatrist, she does not have the depth of medical understanding needed to guide and coordinate their child’s medical treatment and was making potentially life or death decisions about how their child’s care is coordinated? Parents may reasonably regard the hospital’s confirmation that Dr Glaser has no direct patient contact as constituting an unacceptable risk, given the need to understand the child’s wider needs, personality and wishes when deciding on what direction the care should take. In the circumstances, on what criteria does GOSH justify the degree of decision-making authority conferred on Dr Glaser?

Whilst the hospital has confirmed publicly and in writing that Dr Glaser is in no way associated with the safeguarding team at GOSH, her areas of expertise are widely published on the internet:

Psychosomatic disorders/Munchausen
Behaviourally disturbed adolescents and children
Severely disturbed children
Family therapy/child abuse cases (psychology)
Psychotherapy
Child abuse/family and child issues
Child emotional abuse
Child protection/risk assessment
Child adoption, foster care and wardship
Children in care / care proceedings
Child custody, contact and residence
Family functioning
Parent assessment / fitness to parent
Dysfunctional families / domestic violence
Families and mental illness/mental instability

Her working history is also widely available on the internet:

"She [Dr Glaser] has had a long-standing interest in child abuse and neglect.
This has included extensive clinical involvement with all aspects
including sexual abuse, emotional abuse and attachment, and
Fabricated or Induced Illness, and work on the interaction between
the law and child mental health. She has frequently acted as an
Expert Witness both in private and public law cases concerning
child care and welfare.

Dr Glaser carries out and has published research, teaches nationally
and internationally has written widely on various aspects of child
protection. Dr Glaser is president elect of the International Society
for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect and the Child
Psychiatry member of the Family Justice Council."

In view of Dr Glaser’s areas of expertise and experience as a psychiatrist who has built her career on raising suspicions about parents’ accounts of their child’s illness and discrediting those accounts, in some cases causing the children to be forcibly removed from their parents, would parents who do not feel comfortable with her expertise being exercised in their child’s case be able to request that Dr Glaser cease any involvement with their child’s care and have this request carried out with no direct or indirect consequences occurring for the child or family as a result of the request?

If parents are concerned by the fact that she wrote and published the article titled Early recognition and management of fabricated or induced illness in children published in the Lancet in 2014 whilst actively taking on new cases in Great Ormond Street under her role as the Chair for Complex Gastro meetings, how would they go about finding out if their child had been covertly used as part of her research?

As the Chair for Complex Gastro meetings, does her role extend to coordinating a child’s care within other teams within the hospital as well, such as surgical, rheumatology, neuromuscular, etc? Does she have any authority outside the hospital, for example in the community, using her role as the Chair for Complex Gastro meetings, for example other hospitals, community nurses, schools, social workers, early years settings?

Who does Dr Glaser report to in this role? What measures are being taken by the hospital to audit the effectiveness of her appointment as the Chair for Complex Gastro meetings and how has GOSH sought to gather parent and child feedback? Who made the decision to appoint the Chair for Complex Gastro meetings, what was the aim in employing Dr Glaser in this role and what evidence is there that this aim has been/is being achieved?

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Bond

Dear Tobi Danmole,

We note you are yet to provide a response.

Could you please do so by the 26th June 2015.

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Bond

Tobi Danmole, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Jennifer Bond ,

 

I sincerely apologise for not acknowledging  your request earlier.  Your
request for information is being processed, and you should expect to
receive a response by 02/07/2015;   (This is 20 working days from the 4^th
June 2015).

 

Should it be necessary to apply a fee for providing the information
requested we will issue a fees notification before releasing any
information.

 

If we anticipate any delays in responding to your request we will notify
you in writing, stating the reasons for this and the date by which we
expect to respond.

 

Your email will be used by Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS
Foundation Trust for the purpose of processing your request. The
information you provide will be recorded for reference and may also be
used to monitor and review our Freedom of Information systems, processes
and policy.

 

Should you require any further information in the interim please do not
hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely,

Tobi Danmole

 

Interim FOI Co-Ordinator

Great Ormond Street Hospital

P:      020-7829-7926

F:      020-7829-7965

E:      [email address]

DX:   6640200 Bloomsbury 91 WC

 

FOI Co-ordinator

Email    [Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust request email]

 

 

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Tobi Danmole, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Ms Bond,

 

I am emailing you to apologise for the delay in responding to your FOI
request.  I will be in contact with the relevant teams  to inform them
that the information is required urgently.

 

We will disclose our response to you as quickly as possible.

 

Yours sincerely,

Tobi

 

Tobi Danmole

DPA  Administrator // FOI Co-ordinator

P:      020-7829-8892 , ext. 8892  or   0276

F:      020-7829-7965

DX:   6640200 Bloomsbury 91 WC

 

Please note:  Due to maintenance issues the Legal Department is now
temporarily located at 55 Great Ormond Street (1^st floor) . During this
time, there may be delays/ interruptions to the service we offer. We
apologise sincerely for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

From: Tobi Danmole
Sent: 24 June 2015 12:14
To: Jennifer Bond
Cc: Senimili Kamikamica
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Fabricated and Induced
Illness and/or Munchausen Allogations

 

Dear Jennifer Bond ,

 

I sincerely apologise for not acknowledging  your request earlier.  Your
request for information is being processed, and you should expect to
receive a response by 02/07/2015;   (This is 20 working days from the 4^th
June 2015).

 

Should it be necessary to apply a fee for providing the information
requested we will issue a fees notification before releasing any
information.

 

If we anticipate any delays in responding to your request we will notify
you in writing, stating the reasons for this and the date by which we
expect to respond.

 

Your email will be used by Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS
Foundation Trust for the purpose of processing your request. The
information you provide will be recorded for reference and may also be
used to monitor and review our Freedom of Information systems, processes
and policy.

 

Should you require any further information in the interim please do not
hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely,

Tobi Danmole

 

Interim FOI Co-Ordinator

Great Ormond Street Hospital

P:      020-7829-7926

F:      020-7829-7965

E:      [1][email address]

DX:   6640200 Bloomsbury 91 WC

 

FOI Co-ordinator

Email    [2][Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust request email]

 

 

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Dear Tobi Danmole,

I find it extremely unacceptable that your Trust is unable to provide clear and prompt responses to information requests. It is also extremely apparent that either the true role of Dr Danya Glaser is not being divulged, or she is acting outside of her role without monitoring and therefore requires immediate investigation and disciplinary action taken.

We look forward to your full response with clear answers by 14th July.

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Bond

Dear Tobi Danmole,

As you are now over 10 weeks late in responding to my FOI request I would like request that you please provide a copy of all internal emails, memos or other documents discussing this
request and how it should be handled.

Please supply any documentation in which the decision was taken to not provide a response to this request.

Please also confirm how many other FOI requests received by GOSH on or before 4 June 2015 have also not had a response to the request for information as of this date.

I also still require the information that is now long overdue. If a response containing all the information requested is not received on or before the 2 October I shall refer this directly to the ICO due to persistent non-compliance with s10 of the Act.

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Bond