In-patient mental health bed closures
Dear East London NHS Foundation Trust,
In the last 10 years, please could you state
1] How many wards have been closed by your Trust in total?
2] Please list names of the wards closed, describe if they were adult/ old age/ forensic etc; their location and specify the number of bed lost with each of these wards?
3] How many new wards were opened by your Trust in total?
4] Please list names of the wards opened, describe if they were adult/ old age/ forensic etc, their location and specify the number of bed lost with each of these wards?
Yours faithfully,
Dr Amit Mukherjee
Our Ref: FOI DA4603
Dear Dr Mukherjee,
Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request received by the
Trust on 17 February 2023.
Your request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and will be answered within twenty working days. For
your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may prevent
release of the information you have requested. There will be an assessment
and if any of the exemption categories apply then it will not be released.
You will be informed if this is the case.
If the information you request was obtained from or relates to a third
party then they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on
whether or not to release the information to you.
In some cases there may be a fee payable for the information requested.
This will be considered and you will be informed of the fee payable if
this is the case. In this event the fee must be paid before the
information is processed and released. The 20 day time limit for responses
is put on hold until receipt of the payment. If you have any queries about
this request do not hesitate to contact us. Please remember to quote the
reference number above in any future communications.
Whilst we will make every effort to respond to your request within the
statutory timeframe of 20 working days, it may not be possible to respond
on time due to the pressures of COVID 19 and the need to ensure the
well-being of our staff and service users. We will write to you if we
anticipate a delay and hope in advance that you will accept our apologies
if this should occur.
Yours sincerely,
Keshia Harvey
Information Governance Manager
East London NHS Foundation Trust, Information Governance Department, The
Green, Roger Dowley Court, Russia Lane, London, E2 9NJ
If you are dissatisfied with the Trust’s response to your FOIA request
then you should contact us and we will arrange for an internal review of
this decision. If you remain dissatisfied with the decision following our
response to your complaint, you may write to the Information Commissioner
for a decision under Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113
Web: [1]www.ico.org.uk
Dear Dr Mukherjee,
Please find attached the Trust’s response to your Freedom of Information
request.
Kind regards,
Keshia Harvey
Information Governance Manager
Dear East London NHS Foundation Trust,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of East London NHS Foundation Trust's handling of my FOI request 'In-patient mental health bed closures'.
I am shocked at your response.
If it takes you more than 18 hours to comply with this relatively simple request then you must have pretty poor recording systems for this information and only reaffirms the notion that the ward structures/bed allocation etc. is notoriously badly recorded across the NHS .
Is there no way of an absolutely obvious and quick means of locating, retrieving or extracting the information?
I note that you have included the time required for administering this request, ie considering the exemption or redacting parts of the information, in your calculation. ICO advice indicates that this activity does not fall within the list of activities which are permitted to be included (see https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisatio...).
For this reason I believe the exemption is invalid, and request that you review your response.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/i...
Yours faithfully,
Dr Amit Mukherjee
Our Ref: FOI DA4603 – Internal Review Request
Dear Dr Mukherjee,
Thank you for your request for an internal review regarding you Freedom of
Information request, received by the Trust on 29 March 2023.
Your request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and will be answered within twenty working days. For
your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may prevent
release of the information you have requested. There will be an assessment
and if any of the exemption categories apply then it will not be released.
You will be informed if this is the case.
If the information you request was obtained from or relates to a third
party then they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on
whether or not to release the information to you.
In some cases there may be a fee payable for the information requested.
This will be considered and you will be informed of the fee payable if
this is the case. In this event the fee must be paid before the
information is processed and released. The 20 day time limit for responses
is put on hold until receipt of the payment. If you have any queries about
this request do not hesitate to contact us. Please remember to quote the
reference number above in any future communications.
Whilst we will make every effort to respond to your request within the
statutory timeframe of 20 working days, it may not be possible to respond
on time due to the pressures of COVID 19 and the need to ensure the
well-being of our staff and service users. We will write to you if we
anticipate a delay and hope in advance that you will accept our apologies
if this should occur.
Yours sincerely,
Keshia Harvey
Information Governance Manager
If you are dissatisfied with the Trust’s response to your FOIA request
then you should contact us and we will arrange for an internal review of
this decision. If you remain dissatisfied with the decision following our
response to your complaint, you may write to the Information Commissioner
for a decision under Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113
Web: [1]www.ico.org.uk
Dear Dr Mukherjee,
Please find attached a response to your internal review request.
Kind regards,
Keshia Harvey
Information Governance Manager
Please note my usual working days are Monday-Thursday
We work to defend the right to FOI for everyone
Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Donate and support our work.
Donate Now