Hospital Chaplaincy Procedures

The request was partially successful.

Dear Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust,

I would like to request the following information on standards, policies and procedures relating to hospital chaplains in your Trust.

Could you please:

1. tell me whether policies or procedures exist to:

a. establish whether a patient admitted to any of your hospitals does or does not wish to receive contact from a hospital chaplain

b. ensure that patients (or their visitors, next-of-kin etc.) do not received unsolicited contact from chaplains

c. safeguard patients’ personal and medical data such that hospital chaplains by default do not have access to it

d. ensure that hospital chaplains, when given access to patient data, do not share any of it with third parties

If you answered yes to any of the above, please could you provide me with copies of the relevant policies or procedures

2. outline your approach for monitoring adherence to the policies and procedures above

3. provide me with a summary of the results of this monitoring for the last five years, including rates of compliance with the policies and procedures, and severity of any non-compliance events

4. provide me with details of any action taken in respect of any non-compliance identified (e.g. tightening of procedures, disciplinary action – in the latter case, taking care not to disclose any personal information)

Please could you release this information in electronic form by email via this WhatDoTheyKnow request.

Yours faithfully,

Susan Davis

James Allison,

Dear Susan,

Thank you for your request for information. We anticipate that we will be able to provide you with a response within 20 working days.

Kind Regards,
James

James Allison
Information Governance Facilitator
Information Management & Technology (IM&T)
Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust
6th Floor, 64 Victoria Street, SW1E 6QP
Email: [email address] | Web: www.clch.nhs.uk | Tel: 020 7798 1323
   

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Dear James,

Please could you let me have an update on your progress in responding to my FoI request? I believe the 20 day limit has now passed.

Thank you,

Susan

James Allison,

Dear Susan,

Thank you for your email and please accept my apologies for the delay in providing you with a response.

I have, to date, been unable to locate answers to all of your questions. Rather than simply provide a 'not held' response I am trying to ascertain whether we are able to provide a response to each question and at least provide a further point of contact where applicable.

The Trust does not provide acute healthcare, but it does operate from hospital sites which are owned by other Trusts. Chaplaincy services are 'advertised' as being available to patients at these locations, but the Trust does not have an overarching policy that covers what you have asked.

I'd prefer not to provide a blanket 'not held' answer if you would allow me a little more time to provide a full overview of CLCH services and their interactions with chaplains/chaplaincy services, unless your request relates specifically to acute, hospital led services?

Kind Regards,
James

James Allison
Information Governance Facilitator
Information Management & Technology (IM&T)
Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust
6th Floor, 64 Victoria Street, SW1E 6QP
Email: [email address] | Web: www.clch.nhs.uk | Tel: 020 7798 1323
   

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James, I'm happy to wait a while longer, so that I can get a more complete reply.

Yours,

Susan

James Allison,

1 Attachment

Dear Susan,

Please find the attached response to your recent request for information, with my apologies for the delay in providing you with a response. Thank you for your patience.

Your feedback is important to us. Please respond to this email and let us know if:

1) You are happy with the time taken to respond to your request - Yes/ No
2) Our response to your request has been properly explained - Yes/ No
3) We have given you adequate advice about what you can do next - Yes/ No

Kind Regards,
James

James Allison
Information Governance Facilitator
Information Management & Technology (IM&T)
Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust
6th Floor, 64 Victoria Street, SW1E 6QP
Email: [email address] | Web: www.clch.nhs.uk | Tel: 020 7798 1323
   

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