Freedom of Information request - Staff Counselling Services and Occupational Health Referrals
Dear Cardiff University,
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, could you please provide me with the following information:
COUNSELLING AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES - UNIVERSITY STAFF
1. The total number of staff that accessed University counselling and mental health services in the last eight academic years (please present in a table showing figures for each academic year and breakdown by category (e.g. anxiety, bereavement loss, work-related etc...))
a) How many were academic staff?
b) How many were professional services staff?
c) How many were male?
d) How many were female?
2. Where data are available in the last eight years, please detail what was the average wait time for a staff member applying to see a counsellor to seeing a counsellor?
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
3. During the last eight academic years how many staff members were referred to Occupational Health (please highlight whether these were self-referrals, management referrals, or referrals falling into different categories)?
a) How many were academic staff?
b) How many were professional services staff?
c) How many were male?
d) How many were female?
4. How many staff members are currently on the waiting list to see Occupational Health?
If the decision is made to withhold some of this data using exemptions in the Data Protection Act, please inform me of that fact and cite the exemptions used.
If you need any clarification then please do not hesitate to contact me. If some parts of this request are easier to answer than others, I would ask that you release the available data as soon as possible.
I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request, and I look forward to hearing from you within the 20 working day statutory time period
Yours faithfully,
Nicky Michaels
Dear Nicky
I acknowledge receipt of your email received by this office on 7^th July
2017 in which you requested information regarding Counselling Services and
Occupational Health Referrals.
Your request will now be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 and has been allocated reference [Ref Number] which should be quoted
in all correspondence. We will respond to your request within 20 working
days starting the next working day after receipt, therefore you can expect
to receive a response no later than 8^th August 2017.
Where we consider that we will not be able to meet this deadline or if
further time is required to consider the public interest test we will
contact you as soon as possible and give you a revised date for response.
In some circumstances a fee may be payable and, if that is the case, we
will let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.
Yours sincerely
Steve Moss Steve Moss
Strategic Planning & Governance Adran Cynllunio Strategol a
Llywodraethu
Cardiff University Prifysgol Caerdydd
Friary House Friary House
Greyfriars Road Heol y Brodyr Llwydion
Cardiff CF10 3AE Caerdydd CF10 3AE
Tel: 029 208 70338 Ffon: 029 208 70338
E-mail: [1][email address] E-bost: [2][email address]
We welcome correspondence in Welsh or English - Rydym yn croesawu
gohebiaeth trwy’r Gymraeg neu’r Saesneg
The Data Protection Act is changing! To find out more join the GDPR Yammer
Group [3]here
Mae'r Ddeddf Diogelu Data yn cael ei disodli! I gael gwybod rhagor,
dilynwch Grŵp Yammer GDPR drwy glicio [4]yma
Dear Nicky
Further to our email dated 7^th July 2017, we are still considering your
Freedom of Information request. Unfortunately, owing to the time of year,
a high volume of staff are on annual leave and we will therefore be unable
to provide you with an outcome by the date which was previously stated. It
is estimated that a further 11 working days are required to fully consider
your request. Accordingly, you can expect to receive a response no later
than 23^rd August 2017. Please accept our apologies for this delay and for
any inconvenience caused.
Kind regards,
Steve Moss Steve Moss
Strategic Planning & Governance Adran Cynllunio Strategol a
Llywodraethu
Cardiff University Prifysgol Caerdydd
Friary House Friary House
Greyfriars Road Heol y Brodyr Llwydion
Cardiff CF10 3AE Caerdydd CF10 3AE
Tel: 029 208 70338 Ffon: 029 208 70338
E-mail: [1][email address] E-bost: [2][email address]
We welcome correspondence in Welsh or English - Rydym yn croesawu
gohebiaeth trwy’r Gymraeg neu’r Saesneg
The Data Protection Act is changing! To find out more join the GDPR Yammer
Group [3]here
Mae'r Ddeddf Diogelu Data yn cael ei disodli! I gael gwybod rhagor,
dilynwch Grŵp Yammer GDPR drwy glicio [4]yma
From: InfoRequest
Sent: 07 July 2017 14:11
To: 'Nicky Michaels' <[FOI #416728 email]>
Subject: FOI17-193 Counselling Services and Occupational Health Referrals
Dear Nicky
I acknowledge receipt of your email received by this office on 7^th July
2017 in which you requested information regarding Counselling Services and
Occupational Health Referrals.
Your request will now be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 and has been allocated reference [Ref Number] which should be quoted
in all correspondence. We will respond to your request within 20 working
days starting the next working day after receipt, therefore you can expect
to receive a response no later than 8^th August 2017.
Where we consider that we will not be able to meet this deadline or if
further time is required to consider the public interest test we will
contact you as soon as possible and give you a revised date for response.
In some circumstances a fee may be payable and, if that is the case, we
will let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.
Yours sincerely
Steve Moss Steve Moss
Strategic Planning & Governance Adran Cynllunio Strategol a
Llywodraethu
Cardiff University Prifysgol Caerdydd
Friary House Friary House
Greyfriars Road Heol y Brodyr Llwydion
Cardiff CF10 3AE Caerdydd CF10 3AE
Tel: 029 208 70338 Ffon: 029 208 70338
E-mail: [5][email address] E-bost: [6][email address]
We welcome correspondence in Welsh or English - Rydym yn croesawu
gohebiaeth trwy’r Gymraeg neu’r Saesneg
The Data Protection Act is changing! To find out more join the GDPR Yammer
Group [7]here
Mae'r Ddeddf Diogelu Data yn cael ei disodli! I gael gwybod rhagor,
dilynwch Grŵp Yammer GDPR drwy glicio [8]yma
Dear Nicky
I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information request dated 7^th
July 2017 in which you requested information regarding Counselling
Services and Occupational Health Referrals.
For ease of reference, I have reproduced your questions below and set out
our corresponding response:
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, could you please provide me
with the following information:
COUNSELLING AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES - UNIVERSITY STAFF 1. The total
number of staff that accessed University counselling and mental health
services in the last eight academic years (please present in a table
showing figures for each academic year and breakdown by category (e.g.
anxiety, bereavement loss, work-related etc...))
a) How many were academic staff?
b) How many were professional services staff?
c) How many were male?
d) How many were female?
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | *Internal |Gender| Academic/ | |Wait to see a |
| Year | Service | | | Workshop | |
| | Referrals |(M/F) |Professional|Participants| Counsellor |
| | | | | | (days) |
|-------+----------------+------+------------+------------+--------------|
|2016-17| N/A | N/A | N/A | 283 | N/A |
|-------+----------------+------+------------+------------+--------------|
|2015-16| **243 |68/170| 94/144 | 230 | ***N/A |
|-------+----------------+------+------------+------------+--------------|
|2014-15| 283 |92/184| 103/173 | 205 | 4.5 |
|-------+----------------+------+------------+------------+--------------|
|2013-14| 260 |79/178| 96/161 | 278 | 4 |
|-------+----------------+------+------------+------------+--------------|
|2012-13| 234 |64/158| 89/133 | 265 | 4 |
|-------+----------------+------+------------+------------+--------------|
|2011-12| 224 |64/153| 96/121 | 177 | 3.7 |
|-------+----------------+------+------------+------------+--------------|
|2010-11| 195 |48/122| 69/101 | 150 | 4 |
|-------+----------------+------+------------+------------+--------------|
|2009-10| 160 |45/101| 56/90 | N/A | 3.8 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
*These referrals are for the academic year periods (September-August)
**Referrals for this year stopped from May 2016 i.e. there were no further
referrals to the end of the academic year
***2015-16 – the relevant database is licensed and is no longer available
since the closure of the old internal service and subsequent expiry of
license.
Notes
1. The internal Staff Counselling Serviced closed in 2016, so there
are no referrals listed for 2016-17 (in the table above).
2. Available Employee Assistance Programme^# data is given below – (we
no longer collect this data).
3. Gender details are not available for workshop attendees. Further,
this information isn’t always available for counselling referrals i.e.
some counselling referrals will withhold this information from data
collection points.
4. Average waiting times to see a counsellor (from point of contact
with the service) are given, except for 2015-16. Manually calculating the
waiting times would take considerably more than 18 hours. The University
is not obliged to spend more than 18 hours (as set by the Freedom of
Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations
2004) collating such information and accordingly the exemption provided by
section 12(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 will apply.
5. In the Internal Staff Counselling Reasons for Referral table below,
note that an individual could present with more than one reason for
referral e.g. they could be seeking support for an addiction, stress, work
relationships and/or more. There is no data for 2016-17 (because of the
closure of the service).
Internal Staff Counselling Reasons for Referral (category)
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |2009-2010|2010-2011|2011-2012|2012-2013|2013-2014|2014-2015|2015-2016|2016-2017|
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Addictions |4 |4 |1 |5 |6 |15 |5 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Anxiety/stress |104 |122 |158 |161 |201 |231 |190 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Bereavement/loss |16 |23 |34 |44 |57 |49 |41 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Cognitive/learning |8 |2 |3 |7 |6 |5 |4 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Depression |78 |90 |87 |96 |119 |135 |99 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Eating Disorder |4 |7 |3 |6 |7 |7 |5 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Interpersonal/Relationship|60 |69 |72 |67 |84 |89 |72 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Living/Welfare |15 |14 |15 |21 |22 |21 |20 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Work/Academic |55 |56 |65 |70 |83 |87 |83 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Personality Problems |16 |9 |14 |24 |28 |22 |12 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Physical Problems |11 |10 |17 |8 |20 |13 |12 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Psychosis |4 |2 |1 |1 |3 |3 |1 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Self-Esteem |55 |63 |78 |71 |90 |113 |84 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Trauma/Abuse |11 |9 |11 |15 |7 |12 |12 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Other |15 |13 |10 |15 |22 |5 |9 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
| | | | | | | | | |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Job Situation |40 |35 |48 |49 |56 |61 |69 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Workload and Job Atunement|32 |33 |40 |42 |39 |57 |61 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Work Conditions |15 |12 |16 |18 |19 |19 |14 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Work Relationships |34 |41 |35 |44 |43 |58 |41 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Bullying/Harassment |13 |14 |22 |23 |18 |23 |10 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Traumatic Incidents |5 |5 |7 |8 |9 |4 |6 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Violence or Assault |0 |0 |1 |1 |1 |0 |1 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Health |22 |21 |15 |19 |20 |36 |34 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Career Issues |26 |22 |31 |33 |45 |41 |40 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Organisational/Employment |16 |19 |16 |16 |15 |13 |26 |N/A |
|Issues | | | | | | | | |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Formal Proceedings |5 |9 |6 |3 |8 |5 |8 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Life/Work Life Balance |33 |43 |45 |46 |47 |55 |73 |N/A |
|--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------|
|Other |10 |20 |15 |18 |25 |9 |12 |N/A |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Employee Assistance Programme Usage stats
^#Cardiff University’s Employee Assistance Programme provides access to
confidential, expert advice and information, counselling and online
support.
Both Care First and Optum (formerly PPC) are (external) Employee
Assistance Programme providers who have been used by Cardiff University
(Care First is our current provider). They provide a set of services
designed to help employers provide a balanced and healthy working
environment. Initially engaged in 2014 to provide
out-of-normal-working-hours counselling support (both are 24/7 services),
with the close of our internal counselling service (2016), Care First is
now our sole provider.
Care First (Since November 2015)
November 2015 - October 2016
- 62 referrals (New Clients); 41 female, 21 male.
- 123 *instances of support of which 90 (73%) have been to the 24/7
telephone counselling service, 16 (13%) have been individual face-to-face
counselling sessions, 14 (11%) have been information support and 3 (2%)
have been online counselling.
*Note that an ‘instance’ means one contact (e.g. 16 face-to-face
counselling sessions means 16 individual meetings, which could have all
been had by 2, 3 or more individuals.).
- 49 ‘personal’ issues (Bereavement (10%); Family (12%); General Finance
(2%); Health – Emotional (49%); Health – Physical (10%); Relationship
(17%).
- 40 ‘work’ issues – Bullying & Harassment by Managers (1); Changes at
Work (3); Grievance (1); Information (2); Performance – Target Related
(1); Relationships at Work with Colleague (1); Relationships at Work with
Manager (1); Role Ambiguity (1); Work Related Health – Emotional (12);
Work Related Health – Physical (4); Work Overload (3); Stress – Demands
(4); Stress – Relationships (2); Stress – Support (2); Stress – Change (2)
November 2016- April 2017
- 98 referrals (New Clients); 81 female, 17 male.
- 220 *instances of support of which 157 have been to the 24/7 telephone
counselling service, 44 have been individual face-to-face counselling
sessions, 17 have been information support and 2 have been online
counselling.
*Note that an ‘instance’ means one contact (e.g. 16 face-to-face
counselling sessions means 16 individual meetings, which could have all
been had by 2, 3 or more individuals.).
- 117 ‘personal’ issues - Bereavement (9); Family (35); General Finance
(0) Health – Emotional (61); Health – Physical (16); Relationship (31);
Debt (1); Domestic; Housing (3); Abuse/Violence (3); Retirement (2);
Traumatic Incident (5)
- 39 ‘work’ issues – Absence/Attendance (1); Bullying & Harassment by
Managers (3); Changes at Work (4); Performance – General (1); Performance
– Target Related (1); Relationships at work with Colleague (4);
Relationships at Work with Manager (6); Role Ambiguity (2); Traumatic
Incident (1); Work Related Health – Emotional (17); Work Related Health –
Physical (4); Stress – Demands (1); Stress – Relationships (1); Stress –
Change (1); Stress – Role (1)
Optum
Jan – Oct 2015 - total of 30 contact, 15 to telephone counselling, 7 to
face to face counselling, 8 for information.
Jan 2014 - end Dec 2014 - total of 23 contacts, 14 to telephone
counselling, 5 face to face, 4 for information.
- No other data is available
2. Where data is available in the last eight years, please detail what was
the average wait time for a staff member applying to see a counsellor to
seeing a counsellor?
Please see table above.
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
3. During the last eight academic years how many staff members were
referred to Occupational Health (please highlight whether these were
self-referrals, management referrals, or referrals falling into different
categories)?
The Occupational Health Service from 2009 to 2014 was an internal combined
service for students and staff. The referrals were not managed
electronically as many were paper copies only. The data requested above
could be retrieved from these records but as we currently hold in excess
of 15000 records, it would take significantly longer than 18 hours to
collate. The University is not obliged to spend more than 18 hours (as set
by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and
Fees) Regulations 2004) collating such information and accordingly the
exemption provided by section 12(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
will apply
However, we are able to provide partial information on referrals for the
years 2014-2017, as set out below:
No of
Year Referrals
This
is
part
year
from
June
2014 251 2014
2015 407
2016 381
Up to
8^th
August
2017 261 2017
a) How many were academic staff?
b) How many were professional services staff?
c) How many were male?
d) How many were female?
Data on this was not collected for the Internal Occupational Health
service between 2009 and 2014. This data could be retrieved, but only
through analysis of the records which would take considerably longer than
18 hours. The University is not obliged to spend more than 18 hours (as
set by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit
and Fees) Regulations 2004) collating such information and accordingly the
exemption provided by section 12(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
will apply.
4. How many staff members are currently on the waiting list to see
Occupational Health?
The current Occupational Health service does not operate a waiting list as
such. Each referral received by the [1][email address] is
processed and forwarded to IMASS for triaging by the duty nurse to assess
and to check for anomalies with the information on the form. After the
assessment and checks, the forms are passed to the scheduling team to
contact the staff member and offer the next available appointment. An
alternative date and time will be given if the time given is not
convenient to the member of staff. The clinic operates in the same way as
a doctors surgery, each person is given a date and time to see the OH
Adviser within a couple of days of the form being sent.
I trust this information satisfies your enquiry. The University has a
Freedom of Information Complaints Procedure should you feel dissatisfied
with this response or the way in which your request was handled.
Complaints must be made in writing and must set out why you believe the
University has not met its obligations under the Freedom of Information
Act. You may email your complaint to [email address] where it
will be forwarded to the Director of Strategic Planning and Governance who
will be responsible for overseeing the review.
If you remain dissatisfied following the outcome of your complaint, you
have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for
consideration. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at the
following address: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in
Cardiff University. If you require further assistance please feel free to
contact me.
Yours sincerely
Steve Moss Steve Moss
Strategic Planning & Governance Adran Cynllunio Strategol a
Llywodraethu
Cardiff University Prifysgol Caerdydd
Friary House Friary House
Greyfriars Road Heol y Brodyr Llwydion
Cardiff CF10 3AE Caerdydd CF10 3AE
Tel: 029 208 70338 Ffon: 029 208 70338
E-mail: [2][email address] E-bost: [3][email address]
We welcome correspondence in Welsh or English - Rydym yn croesawu
gohebiaeth trwy’r Gymraeg neu’r Saesneg
The Data Protection Act is changing! To find out more join the GDPR Yammer
Group [4]here
Mae'r Ddeddf Diogelu Data yn cael ei disodli! I gael gwybod rhagor,
dilynwch Grŵp Yammer GDPR drwy glicio [5]yma
Dear Steve,
Thank you so much for your very helpful response.
I wonder if you would be able to send through the original tables (whether in word or excel) - without the notes (which of course, I'm paying close attention to give meaning to the tables) as attachments please? The difficulty with the email format of the Whatdotheyknow.com site is that the information is thrown all over the place and virtually impossible to read...
Yours sincerely,
Nicky Michaels
Dear Nicky
No problem at all. Please find attached a Microsoft Word document
containing the three tables provided in our previous response. Hopefully
you’ll be able to view/interpret these more easily this time, but if you
encounter any further issues, please don’t hesitate to contact me again.
Kind regards,
Steve
Steve Moss Steve Moss
Strategic Planning & Governance Adran Cynllunio Strategol a
Llywodraethu
Cardiff University Prifysgol Caerdydd
Friary House Friary House
Greyfriars Road Heol y Brodyr Llwydion
Cardiff CF10 3AE Caerdydd CF10 3AE
Tel: 029 208 70338 Ffon: 029 208 70338
E-mail: [1][email address] E-bost: [2][email address]
We welcome correspondence in Welsh or English - Rydym yn croesawu
gohebiaeth trwy’r Gymraeg neu’r Saesneg
The Data Protection Act is changing! To find out more join the GDPR Yammer
Group [3]here
Mae'r Ddeddf Diogelu Data yn cael ei disodli! I gael gwybod rhagor,
dilynwch Grŵp Yammer GDPR drwy glicio [4]yma
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