Dear NHS Trust,

This FOI request relates to people admitted to psychiatric inpatient wards who are parents.
By ‘inpatient ward’ we refer to: any ward that provides primarily psychiatric care, that has provision for overnight use, including locked and unlocked wards; including male, female, and mixed wards; including rehabilitation and forensic wards.
We do not need data relating to wards that are (or were during time period in question) exclusively delivering care to patients with dementia, or exclusively delivering care to older adults, or exclusively delivering care to children and adolescents (CAMHS).
Where possible please provide data on forensic wards separately from other types of ward.
By ‘parent’, we refer to any individual who has a child/children aged under 18 years (this can include step/foster/adopted/biological children). These parents need not necessarily have current caring responsibility (e.g. their child/children could be in temporary foster care).
We also include as a ‘parent’ any individual who has any other formal residential caring responsibility for a child aged under 18 years (e.g. where a grandparent has parental responsibility for a grandchild).
We are seeking data covering the period from 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2019 inclusive.
Please provide the following data, as far as is reasonably possible:

1. Admissions Data
a. How many individual admissions (for one night or more) were made to each psychiatric inpatient ward in the Trust. This question refers to all patient admissions, not just parents.
If possible, please provide this information disaggregated by ward, and for each ward, please indicate:
• Ward gender type (male/female/mixed)
• Mean age of patients admitted during reporting period

b. How many of the patients reported under 1.a. were parents (as defined above)?
If possible, please provide this information disaggregated by ward, and for each ward, please indicate:
• Ward gender type (male/female/mixed)
• Mean age of patients admitted during reporting period

2. Parental Status Data Collection
a. What data are routinely collected on parental status when inpatients are admitted or during their care? For example, are any of the following recorded: parenthood status, parental responsibility, children’s age, involvement of statutory services, where child currently resides? Is any other related information routinely recorded?

3. Trust/ward policies and procedures
a. Please provide copies of Trust policy documents which include reference to the needs of psychiatric inpatients who are parents and their families (e.g. family visit policies).
b. Please provide copies of any internal guidelines/SOPs used by wards to manage child visits to wards.
c. Please provide a copy of each inpatient ward induction/welcome pack for inpatients.
d. Please provide a copy of any written information provided to carers of inpatients.
e. Please provide a copy of information provided to the carers of children of inpatients while they are inpatients (e.g. foster carer, grandparent).
f. Please provide a copy of any information provided to child(ren) of inpatients.
For items a-f, please state if no such materials exist.
4. Child visits.
a. During the reporting period, how many parents received at least one visit from their child/ren during their inpatient ward admission?
b. During the reporting period, how many individual visits were made by children to inpatient psychiatric wards?

5. Family-friendly facilities
a. Please provide a description of any family visit room(s) on each inpatient ward (include details of fixtures and fittings).
b. For each family room, state whether it is used solely for the purpose of family visits.
c. Please provide a photograph of each family room (a snapshot from a phone is fine).

Yours faithfully,

Sam Cartwright-Hatton

Dear [email address],

Thank you for your response to the FOI request. I note that you stated you were unable to provide the information for questions 4a & 4b. Please could you provide clarification as to why you are unable to provide this using the options below:-

Child visits.
a. During the reporting period, how many parents received at least one visit from their child/ren during their inpatient ward admission?

If you are unable to provide this data please state the reason in one of the following formats:
- We do not collect this data in any form.
- We do collect this data, but it is held in individual patient notes and therefore not accessible / within the appropriate limit as per Section 12 of FOIA.
- Other (please provide reason)

b. During the reporting period, how many individual visits were made by children to inpatient psychiatric wards?

If you are unable to provide this data please state the reason in one of the following formats:
- We do not collect this data in any form.
- We do collect this data, but it is held in individual patient notes and therefore not accessible / within the appropriate limit as per Section 12 of FOIA.
- Other (please provide reason)

Many thanks.
Yours sincerely,

Sam Cartwright-Hatton