FOI request for copy of the audio recording or a transcript of a 999 call.

Dear South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust,

This is an FOI request for a copy of the audio recording from the phone call made to the emergency services 999-phoneline on June 30, 2018, from address number 9 or 11 Muggleton Road in Amesbury, Wiltshire. The phone call was made by either Mr. Charlie Rowley or Ms. Dawn Sturgess (since sadly deceased) and is of public interest. Failing a copy of the audio recording being available a transcript of the phone call would be an adequate alternative. Thank You.

Yours Sincerely,

Michael Martin.

Information Governance, South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Thank you for your email, please accept this as acknowledgement that we
have received your request.

 

Due to unprecedented levels of demand it may take longer than usual to
process your request. See below for further guidance:

 

Coroners:

·         If you have requested a copy of a Clinical Record, we will aim
to provide this to you within 24 hours (excluding weekends when the office
is closed)

·         If you have requested a statement, this may take several weeks
due to current levels of emergency demand .

 

Police:

·         If you require evidence for the prevention and detection of a
crime, we will aim to provide this to you within ten days, whilst
expediting any time-sensitive investigations.

 

·         If you need to speak to our staff about an incident, we will ask
them to make direct contact with you. Please supply the ambulance incident
number (if known) along with date and address of incident, and patient
name, along with details of patient/caller consent obtained. If your
enquiry relates to Domestic Abuse please contact our Safeguarding Team who
will process your request.  

 

GPs:

·         If you require a copy of an ambulance Clinical Record for one of
your patients, we will aim to provide this to you within a week.

 

Patients/Solicitors/Medical Agencies/Family Members:

·         If you require a copy of a Clinical Record or a 999 phone call,
we will aim to provide this to you within a month, which is our Statutory
timeframe for processing Subject Access Requests. Where possible we will
provide it sooner than this but please be patient with us during these
busy times – we are working as quickly as possible to get to your request
but we must prioritise our Police and Coroner colleagues at this time.
Please make sure your email contains the name, address and date of the
incident you are interested in, as this will significantly speed up the
process.

 

Staff / Internal Requests for Advice:

If you are a member of SWAST staff requiring advice and support on an
IG-related matter, a member of the team will aim to make direct contact
with you within a week to discuss your needs.

 

Freedom of Information Requests:

Please accept this as acknowledgment that your FOI has been received and
will be processed as soon as possible. We aim to respond within 20 working
days as per the statutory timeframe however there may be occasions where
this is not possible due to current demand, please accept our apologies. 

 

Contacting Us:

As a team we are predominantly Working from Home so please communicate
with us via email (rather than telephone) where possible; again this will
increase the speed at which we are able to work, avoid duplication of
duties, and ensures we have an audit trail of any requests received.  

 

Thank you all for your patience and support at this time.

 

Best wishes,

The SWAST Information Governance Team

 

Information Governance, South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

2 Attachments

Dear  Michael

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information Request.

 

We will deal with this request in accordance with your right of access to
information we hold under the Freedom of Information Act and I attach a
leaflet containing further information about both your rights and our
obligations under this legislation.

 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to email us at
[1][South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust request email]

 

Kind regards,

Clare Lunk | Assistant Information Governance Manager
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

 

Direct Line 0300 369 0132 | Web [2]www.swast.nhs.uk | E-Mail
[email address]

Trust Headquarters, South Western Ambulance Service, Unit 3, Abbey Court,
Eagle Way, Sowton Industrial Estate,, EX2 7HY

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust request email]
2. http://www.swast.nhs.uk/

Dear Information Governance,

Can you please review my FOI request: 'This is an FOI request for a copy of the audio recording from the phone call made to the emergency services 999-phoneline on June 30, 2018, from address number 9 or 11 Muggleton Road in Amesbury, Wiltshire. The phone call was made by either Mr. Charlie Rowley or Ms. Dawn Sturgess (since sadly deceased) and is of public interest. Failing a copy of the audio recording being available a transcript of the phone call would be an adequate alternative.'

This FOI request has not been provided a response with the information requested. Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,

Michael Martin.

Information Governance, South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Thank you for your email, please accept this as acknowledgement that we
have received your request.

 

Due to unprecedented levels of demand it may take longer than usual to
process your request. See below for further guidance:

 

Coroners:

·         If you have requested a copy of a Clinical Record, we will aim
to provide this to you within 24 hours (excluding weekends when the office
is closed)

·         If you have requested a statement, this may take several weeks
due to current levels of emergency demand .

 

Police:

·         If you require evidence for the prevention and detection of a
crime, we will aim to provide this to you within ten days, whilst
expediting any time-sensitive investigations.

 

·         If you need to speak to our staff about an incident, we will ask
them to make direct contact with you. Please supply the ambulance incident
number (if known) along with date and address of incident, and patient
name, along with details of patient/caller consent obtained. If your
enquiry relates to Domestic Abuse please contact our Safeguarding Team who
will process your request.  

 

GPs:

·         If you require a copy of an ambulance Clinical Record for one of
your patients, we will aim to provide this to you within a week.

 

Patients/Solicitors/Medical Agencies/Family Members:

·         If you require a copy of a Clinical Record or a 999 phone call,
we will aim to provide this to you within a month, which is our Statutory
timeframe for processing Subject Access Requests. Where possible we will
provide it sooner than this but please be patient with us during these
busy times – we are working as quickly as possible to get to your request
but we must prioritise our Police and Coroner colleagues at this time.
Please make sure your email contains the name, address and date of the
incident you are interested in, as this will significantly speed up the
process.

 

Staff / Internal Requests for Advice:

If you are a member of SWAST staff requiring advice and support on an
IG-related matter, a member of the team will aim to make direct contact
with you within a week to discuss your needs.

 

Freedom of Information Requests:

Please accept this as acknowledgment that your FOI has been received and
will be processed as soon as possible. We aim to respond within 20 working
days as per the statutory timeframe however there may be occasions where
this is not possible due to current demand, please accept our apologies. 

 

Contacting Us:

As a team we are predominantly Working from Home so please communicate
with us via email (rather than telephone) where possible; again this will
increase the speed at which we are able to work, avoid duplication of
duties, and ensures we have an audit trail of any requests received.  

 

Thank you all for your patience and support at this time.

 

Best wishes,

The SWAST Information Governance Team

 

Information Governance, South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

1 Attachment

Dear Michael

 

I refer to our acknowledgement on 28/9/21  in respect of your request for
information under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.  

 

Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay. Due to the complexity
of the request we required expert input from a number of sources including
our external Data Protection Officer as well as advice  and information
from other teams within SWAST.

 

On review of the request our DPO concluded that, due to the nature of the
999 incident itself (poison toxins being used in the public domain) the
request therefore relates to Environmental Information and should
therefore be processed as an Environmental Information Regulations request
rather than a Freedom of Information Request. We have therefore processed
the request as an EIR; see below response which has been drafted in
adherence this specific legislation.

 

 

Information requested Trust response
This is an FOI request for a copy The Trust does not believe we are at
of the audio recording from the liberty to disclose this information
phone call made to the emergency for the following reasons outlined
services 999-phoneline on June 30, below.
2018, from address number 9 or 11
Muggleton Road in Amesbury, Regulation 12(5)(f) The interests of
Wiltshire. The phone call was made the person who provided the
by either Mr. Charlie Rowley or Ms. information 
Dawn Sturgess (since sadly
deceased) and is of public This exception allows the Trust to
interest. Failing a copy of the refuse disclose information if this
audio recording being available a would adversely affect the interests
transcript of the phone call would of someone who supplied the
be an adequate alternative. information, and that person:

·         was not under, and could not
be put under, any obligation to supply
it;

·         supplied it expecting that
it would not be disclosed to a third
party; and

·         has not agreed to the
information being supplied.

In this case, a 999 caller would not
expect the information they supplied
to be disclosed for any reasons other
than direct care purposes and vital
interests. An EIR request falls
outside of this scope, as this
effectively an information release
into the public domain.

 

To elaborate further; under the UK
Data Protection Act 2018 the Trust is
not at liberty to disclose personal
information relating to a living
individual without explicit consent.
We do not have the authority of
Charlie Rowley to release such
information, and he would not expect
us to release a 999 call in the
context of an EIR. Doing so could
reasonably give rise to a Data
Protection Breach claim against our
Trust.

 

Although Dawn Sturgess is deceased we
still owe a duty of confidentiality to
the deceased, under the Common Law
Duty of Confidentiality. Therefore the
disclosure of any personal information
relating to her, particularly health
data (which would be classed as
Sensitive Data) would be
inappropriate.

 

Regulation 12 (5) (a) National
Security

Regulation 12(5)(a) provides an
exception to disclosing requested
information if it would adversely
affect international relations,
defence, national security or public
safety.

 

As you may be aware, the toxin used in
the Amesbury incident was of Russian
origin and as such the matter is of
diplomatic sensitivity; there are
still international investigations
ongoing into the matter. Releasing a
999 call relating to this incident
into the public could endanger
National Security by putting further
pressure on diplomatic relations
between Russia and the UK during these
ongoing investigations. 
   

 

Please note that, under the Re-use of Public Sector Information
Regulations, if you wish to publish or otherwise use this information
besides for your own means, you will need to seek our permission to do so.

 

Please feel free to contact me if you require further clarification of the
information provided, or to discuss any aspect of the way in which we have
responded to your request. 

However, if you are dissatisfied with our response, you also have the
right to make use of the following complaints procedures:

 

In the first instance you may write to the Chief Executive of this Trust

 

Mr William Warrender

South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Abbey Court

Eagle Way

Exeter  EX2 7HY

 

Mr Warrender will then either make arrangements for your complaint to be
reviewed and for the outcome to be communicated to you, or will convene a
panel of Trust Directors to consider an appeal against a decision to
withhold information.

 

If you are unhappy with the response to your complaint, or findings of the
Panel, you can contact the Information Commissioner at:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office,

Wycliffe House,

Water Lane,                                 

Wilmslow,

Cheshire.  SK9 5AF

 

Tel: 01625 545 700

Fax: 01625 524 510

 

Kind regards,

Clare Lunk | Acting Information Governance Manager
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

 

Direct Line 0300 369 0132 | Web [1]www.swast.nhs.uk | E-Mail
[email address]

Trust Headquarters, South Western Ambulance Service, Unit 3, Abbey Court,
Eagle Way, Sowton Industrial Estate,, EX2 7HY

References

Visible links
1. http://www.swast.nhs.uk/