Information on Intrim Medical and Rescue Services

The request was partially successful.

Dear Care Quality Commission,
Due to the fact that your Inspector fails to understand she is a public servant and has no authority to withhold public information from a member of the public, I require you to furnish me with;

1))The reasons you have revoked the authority of Intrim Medical and Rescue Services to carry out regulated activities

2) The number of and nature of each complaint made against this service

3) Whether patients were harmed

4) Whether there are other enforcing authorities ie police currently investigating

Any delay outside of your statutory response time or refusal to supply/claim of exemption will be appealled and publicised.

Yours faithfully,

Simon J Hoyle

Information Access, Care Quality Commission

1 Attachment

Our Ref: CQC IAT 1516 0162

 

Dear Mr Hoyle

 

I acknowledge receipt of your correspondence dated 12 June 2015 in which
you made a request for information in relation to [1]Intrim Medical &
Rescue Services Limited.

 

I have attached a document which explains the role of CQC in the
regulation of the care services we regulate which you may find useful.

                   

Within your correspondence you make the following requests for
information:

 

“1))The reasons you have revoked the authority of Intrim Medical and
Rescue Services to carry out regulated activities

 

2) The number of and nature of each complaint made against this service

 

3) Whether patients were harmed

 

4) Whether there are other enforcing authorities ie police currently
investigating

 

Any delay outside of your statutory response time or refusal to
supply/claim of exemption will be appealled and publicised.”

 

Clarification required for part of your request

 

CQC requires clarification before we can proceed with part 2 of your
request where you ask for the “The number of and nature of each
complaint…” CQC has received about Intrim Medical & Rescue Services
Limited.

 

CQC does not formally handle or investigate complaints about the care
services we regulate.

 

CQC does however receive information of concern from individuals.
Information of concern is logged by CQC in three different ways:

 

1.    As information of concern

 

2.    As safeguarding information

 

3.    As whistleblowing information

 

(Whistleblowing is the term used when someone who works for an employer
raises a concern about malpractice, risk (for example about patient
safety), wrongdoing or possible illegality, which harms, or creates a risk
of harm, to people who use the service, colleagues or the wider public.)

 

What information CQC can provide

 

We could therefore provide you with the overall numbers of concerns (for
each of the above) that we have received for about Intrim Medical & Rescue
Services Limited. We can also summarise the nature of the concerns that
were raised, for example, concerns raised about leadership and management
of the care service or concerns raised about the administration of
medication (these are merely examples not actual concerns).

 

If you require this information please let us know by reply. We also
require you to specify the time period that you require this information
for, for example, do you need this information for the last three months
or for a specific calendar year?

 

Requests can often be unclear or ambiguous with different potential
interpretations and where a public authority is not clear as to what is
being asked for, it can, in accordance with section 1(3) of FOIA, ask the
applicant to clarify their request.

 

CQC will not proceed with responding to any part of your request until we
have received the clarification requested above. Once this is received, we
will notify you of the new due date for response.

 

If we do not receive a reply by 13 July 2015, CQC will assume that you do
not wish to continue with your request at this point in time.

 

Advice and assistance

 

You may also wish to consider making a request for information directly to
any other relevant public authorities. The local authority may hold
complete details of any safeguarding concerns that have been referred to
them in their role as the lead authority for safeguarding.

 

Whilst safeguarding is a key priority for CQC, arrangements for
safeguarding adults fall under the Department of Health policy framework
of “[2]No Secrets” guidance (2000), which gives councils the
responsibility for establishing and coordinating local multi-agency
procedures for responding to allegations of abuse of adults.

 

The local authority will therefore hold complete records about any
safeguarding investigations.

 

The Police are also subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 so you
may wish to consider making a request to any relevant local Police
authority for any recorded information they may hold.

 

If you need any independent advice about your rights under information
legislation, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

 

The ICO is the UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information
rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and
data privacy for individuals.

 

The contact details for the ICO are:

 

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

SK9 5AF

 

Tel: 01625 545 745

E-mail: [3][email address]

Website: [4]www.ico.org.uk

 

There is useful information on the ICO website explaining how you can
access official information:

 

[5]www.ico.org.uk/for_the_public/official_information

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any advice or
assistance in clarifying your request.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Paul Douglas
Information Access Officer
Legal Services & Information Rights

Customer & Corporate Services Directorate

Care Quality Commission
Citygate

Gallowgate
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 4PA

Telephone: 0191 233 3505
Internal: 333505
Fax: 03000 200 240

 

The Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of health and
adult social care services in England. [6]www.cqc.org.uk. For general
enquiries, call the National Customer Service Centre (NCSC) on 03000
616161 or email [7][email address].

 

Statutory requests for information made under access to information
legislation such as the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 should be sent to: [8][CQC request email]

 

 

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.cqc.org.uk/provider/1-171571551
2. http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsands...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.ico.org.uk/
5. http://www.ico.org.uk/for_the_public/off...
6. http://www.cqc.org.uk/
7. mailto:[email address]
8. mailto:[CQC request email]

Dear Information Access,

Thank you for your reply where you are being predictably bureaucratic and obstructive.

By complaint, I as a sensible person using plain English inferred any report made to you by any person or organisation raising an issue of concern that falls within your remit to investigate, for instance rhe report made as the result of the transporting of a mental health patient which was raised as a safeguarding concern.

Therefore please cease playing semantics. I have asked you for details of all reports made to you about this service.

In addition, please state the name and professional qualification of the inspector(s) who have conducted inspections and initiated enforcement action

Yours in anticipation of being messed around further
Simon Hoyle

Information Access, Care Quality Commission

Dear Mr Hoyle

 

I acknowledge receipt of your correspondence dated 15 June 2015.

 

I am sorry that you feel my e-mail was bureaucratic and obstructive. This
was never my intention. I was merely trying to provide advice and
assistance to you.

 

There was no ulterior motive or an intention to play semantics as you
suggest. I have handled a number of requests from applicants who have
asked for information relating to complaints and on each occasion I have
clarified with each applicant the role of CQC in handling complaints. I
have not treated you any differently from any other applicant.

 

I have interpreted your reply for part 2 of your request to be for "The
number and nature of all concerns reported to CQC about Intrim Medical &
Rescue Services Limited". If I have interpreted this incorrectly please
let me know by reply.

 

I also note that you have made an additional request which I will add to
the other four parts of your original request for information.

 

Your requests are as follows:

 

“1. The reasons you have revoked the authority of Intrim Medical and
Rescue Services to carry out regulated activities

 

2. The number and nature of all concerns reported to CQC about Intrim
Medical & Rescue Services Limited

 

3. Whether patients were harmed

 

4. Whether there are other enforcing authorities ie police currently
investigating

 

5. Please state the name and professional qualification of the
inspector(s) who have conducted inspections and initiated enforcement
action"

 

CQC will respond as soon as possible, but in any event, within 20 working
days following date of receipt of your clarification as outlined by the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

You can therefore expect a response by no later than close of business 13
July 2015 respectively. We will write to you before the deadline for
response if we are unable to meet it.

 

The information you have requested may be subject to an exemption from the
right to know. Should this occur, you will be notified accordingly when we
next write to you.

 

I would like to make you aware of the Information Commissioner’s Office
“do’s and don’t’s” which helps applicants make effective requests for this
information:

 

[1]www.ico.org.uk/for-the-public/official-information

 

You may find this information useful for making future requests for
information.

 

Regards

 

Paul Douglas
Information Access Officer
Legal Services & Information Rights

Customer & Corporate Services Directorate

Care Quality Commission
Citygate

Gallowgate
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 4PA

Telephone: 0191 233 3505
Internal: 333505
Fax: 03000 200 240

 

The Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of health and
adult social care services in England. [2]www.cqc.org.uk. For general
enquiries, call the National Customer Service Centre (NCSC) on 03000
616161 or email [3][email address].

 

Statutory requests for information made under access to information
legislation such as the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 should be sent to: [4][CQC request email]

 

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.org.uk/for-the-public/off...
2. http://www.cqc.org.uk/
3. mailto:[email address]
4. mailto:[CQC request email]

Dear Sir

I have absolutely no idea why you have wasted your time and mine writing this response. It does not advance matters, it does not help matters and it does not resolve matters.

It was plainly evidence what I was asking for at the outset. Please, cease procrastinating and reply only in answer to the questions put to you, which I trust are now put in plain enough English that you now understand them.

This particular request has a wide audience of interested parties including the local press who I understand may be, if they have not already, made a similar request, and those other parties, like me, are less than happy to have further delays whilst you seek "clarification".

This FOI request has come about because of the very poor attitude of one of your inspectors who whilst in full flow of self importance whilst forgetting she is on the public payroll and is a public servant, I simply put the phone down and set about this FOI request within minutes of ending that call.

If you obstruct me further, I will simply escalate the matter. I trust you will now get on with complying with the law in respect of this FOI request.

Yours in anticipation of a "we are committed to this and that" reply.

Simon Hoyle
Progressively more annoyed member of the public exercising a lawful right.

Dear Sirs

This is a polite reminder that your response must be published and sent to me by close of business Monday 13th.

I trust there will be no problems, delays, refusals, further procrastination otherwise the matter will be referred to the Information Commissioner without further reference to you. I do not see why this had taken 4 weeks to respond to as clearly you have an open enforcement file and court judgement for this provider.

Simon Hoyle

Information Access, Care Quality Commission

3 Attachments

Our Ref: CQC IAT 1516 0162

 

Dear Mr Hoyle

 

I write in response to your request for information relating to Intrim
Medical & Rescue Services Limited.

 

A copy of our response to your request is contained within the attached
zip file.

 

I also note that in your e-mail of Friday 10 July, you have stated that if
there are any “problems, delays, refusals, further procrastination
otherwise the matter will be referred to the Information Commissioner
without further reference to you”. I should advise you that my
understanding of the legislation is that before any complaint to the
Information Commissioner is made, CQC must have conducted an internal
review of your request first. You may wish to seek further advice from the
ICO in this regard.

 

Details of how to request an internal review are stated in our final
response.

 

Yours sincerely

 

On behalf of Paul Douglas

 

Russell Wynn

Senior Information Access Officer

Legal Services & Information Rights

Care Quality Commission

Citygate
Gallowgate
Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 4PA

 

Telephone: 0191 233 3587

Fax: 03000 200 240

The Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of all health and
adult social care in England. [1]www.cqc.org.uk. For general
enquiries, call the National Customer Service Centre (NCSC) on 03000
616161 or email [2][email address].
 
Statutory requests for information made under access to information
legislation such as the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 should be sent to: [3][CQC request email].

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.cqc.org.uk/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[CQC request email]