List of hospitals
Dear Department of Health,
Please could you provide me with a complete list of NHS hospitals in the UK, with, for each hospital, the NHS Trust which is responsible for that hospital given.
An Excel spreadsheet is my preferred format.
Yours faithfully,
Susan Davis
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Our ref: DE00000770397
Dear Ms Davis,
Please see attached the Department of Health's response to your Freedom of
Information request.
Yours sincerely,
Danny Lamond
Freedom of Information
Department of Health
Dear Department of Health,
Thank you very much for your reply.
For the hospitals which were run by PCTs prior to 1 April, please can you provide me with the names of the successor bodies which now run these.
Yours faithfully,
Susan Davis
Thank you for contacting the Department of Health.
This is an acknowledgement - please do not reply to this email.
Where a reply is appropriate, we aim to send one within 18 working days,
or 20 working days if your query is a Freedom of Information request or
complaint.
If you have contacted the Department of Health about a current health or
social care campaign, please visit the [1]Department's website where a
response may have been published.
If your enquiry is about a medical matter, please contact NHS Direct on
0845 4647 or visit [2]NHS Choices, or contact your GP surgery.
For general health information you may also find it helpful to refer to
[3]GOV.UK, the UK Government’s Official information website, which
includes the Department of Health's [4]'What we do' section. You can also
view our [5]performance against quarterly service targets.
Please note that the Department of Health does not process complaints
about the NHS or social services. If you wish to make a complaint about a
healthcare professional, an NHS organisation or a social care provider,
please visit the [6]'Complaints procedure' page on the GOV.UK website.
You can find out more about the Department’s commitments from our
[7]Personal Information Charter.
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.
References
Visible links
1. Department's website
http://transparency.dh.gov.uk/category/t...
2. http://www.nhs.uk/
3. https://www.gov.uk/
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
5. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/corre...
6. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
7. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
Dear Department of Health,
Please could you let me have an update on your progress in responding to my request. You responding with the majority of the information within the 20-day limit, but I am still awaiting information on PCT replacement bodies.
Yours faithfully,
Susan Davis
Dear Department of Health,
I have not heard back in response to my email of 14 May. Please could you let me have an update on your prgoress in completing your response to my request?
Yours faithfully,
Susan Davis
Our ref: DE00000778224
Dear Ms Davis,
Please see attached the Department of Health's response to your Freedom of
Information request.
Yours sincerely,
Danny Lamond
Freedom of Information
Department of Health
Dear Danny,
Thank you very much for your reply. I am really surprised by the content of that reply and I want to double-check that you've correctly understood what I am asking for.
Previously, you kindly supplied me with a list of hospitals which are run by trusts other than the PCTs, but which also included around 180 other hospitals which were run by PCTs, but which are now run by other bodies which have replaced the PCTs.
I want to know the names of the bodies which are running these remaining 180 or so hospitals.
The implication of what you are telling me is that the Department of Health does not have a record of which bodies are now running these hospitals, and I find that so difficult to believe that I feel I have to ask you to confirm that this is indeed the case.
If you do not, please can you advise whether there is another public body which does have a record of this information.
Yours faithfully,
Susan Davis
Thank you for contacting the Department of Health.
This is an acknowledgement - please do not reply to this email.
Where a reply is appropriate, we aim to send one within 18 working days,
or 20 working days if your query is a Freedom of Information request or
complaint.
If you have contacted the Department of Health about a current health or
social care campaign, please visit the [1]GOV.UK website, the UK
Government’s official information website, where a response may have been
published.
If your enquiry is about a medical matter, please contact NHS 111 or visit
[2]NHS Choices, or contact your GP surgery.
For general health information you may also find it helpful to refer to
[3]GOV.UK, which includes the Department of Health's [4]'What we
do' section. You can also view our [5]performance against quarterly
service targets.
Please note that the Department of Health does not process complaints
about the NHS or social services. If you wish to make a complaint about a
healthcare professional, an NHS organisation or a social care provider,
please visit the [6]'Complaints procedure' page on the GOV.UK website.
You can find out more about the Department’s commitments from our
[7]Personal Information Charter.
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/announceme...
2. http://www.nhs.uk/
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
5. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/corre...
6. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
7. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
Dear Department of Health,
I have not heard back from you in response to my email of 21 May regarding my request. I would appreciate a reply please.
Yours faithfully,
Susan Davis
Dear Department of Health,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Health's handling of my FOI request 'List of hospitals'.
The request has been refused on the grounds that the Department of Health does not hold any records of which bodies now run the hospitals which were formerly run by PCTs. This is such an implausible claim that I believe that it can only be an error.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/li...
Yours faithfully,
Susan Davis
Our ref: DE00000783253
Dear Ms Davis,
Please see attached the Department of Health's response to your Freedom of
Information request.
Yours sincerely,
Danny Lamond
Freedom of Information
Department of Health
Dear Ms Davis
Thank you for your email dated 17 June as below.
You will have now received a reply dated 19 June to your latest FOI
request from my colleague, Danny Lamond at the Department of Health.
May I ask you to clarify whether you would like me to continue to process
this request for an Internal Review in light of this recent response from
the Department?
A response from you by Close of Play Friday 21 June if possible would be
much appreciated.
Yours sincerely
Tony Doole
Senior Casework Manager
Freedom of Information Team
[1]Inactive hide details for Susan Davis
<[FOI #154381 email]>Susan Davis
<[FOI #154381 email]>
Susan Davis To FreedomofInformation/OIS/DOH@DOH
<[FOI #154381 email]> cc
Subject Internal review of Freedom of
17/06/2013 23:13 Information request - List of
hospitals
Dear Department of Health,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information
reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Health's
handling of my FOI request 'List of hospitals'.
The request has been refused on the grounds that the Department of Health
does not hold any records of which bodies now run the hospitals which were
formerly run by PCTs. This is such an implausible claim that I believe
that it can only be an error.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on
the Internet at this address:
[2]http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/li...
Yours faithfully,
Susan Davis
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Dear Tony,
Thank you for your email. My internal request and Danny's reply crossed in the post. Please hold off from starting an internal review just yet, as it sounds as though we may be able to make more progress in re-shaping my request (or agreeing a new follow-up request) based on what Danny told me and some subsequent research I've done.
Danny told me that the PCTs were required to divest all of their hospitals prior to their close-down, so confirming that these must be run by a body of some sort somewhere.
I did a Google search for a selection of the hospitals that were formerly run by PCTs to see if I could find out which bodies ran them through that route.
It seems that many of them are now run by some of the Health Foundation Trusts which already appeared on the list originally supplied to me. However, some also appear to be run by other bodies: for example, Paulton hospital in Somerset appears to be run by a non-profit organisation called "Sirona Health and Care" which hasn't featured in any of the lists provided so far. It's not entirely clear whether Sirona is part of the NHS or has a similar status to private hospitals to which the NHS contracts work out.
What I am ultimately trying to establish is a full list of NHS trusts which run hospitals. It doesn't matter too much if I don't have a complete list of each hospital for every trust, but I want to ensure I have full coverage of all trusts, so that the FoI requests I am making to these trusts do not miss any out.
Can you think of another way of confirming whether the list of trusts I already have is the complete list, or whether there are others which are not included?
Yours sincerely,
Susan Davis
Dear Ms Davis
Thank you for your email as below.
As you have requested, I can confirm that we will not be processing your
earlier request for an Internal Review.
The Department of Health will be treating part of your Internal review
request as a fresh initial request as follows:
What I am ultimately trying to establish is a full list of NHS trusts
which run hospitals. It doesn't matter too much if I don't have a complete
list of each hospital for every trust, but I want to ensure I have full
coverage of all trusts, so that the FoI requests I am making to these
trusts do not miss any out.
We will respond to you in within the next 20 working days.
Yours sincerely
Tony Doole
Senior Casework Manager
FOI Team, Department of Health
[1]Inactive hide details for Susan Davis
<[FOI #154381 email]>Susan Davis
<[FOI #154381 email]>
Susan Davis To FreedomofInformation/OIS/DOH@DOH
<[FOI #154381 email]> cc
Subject Re: Internal review of Freedom
20/06/2013 17:21 of Information request - List of
hospitals DH Case references DE
00000778224 & DE 00000783253
Dear Tony,
Thank you for your email. My internal request and Danny's reply crossed in
the post. Please hold off from starting an internal review just yet, as it
sounds as though we may be able to make more progress in re-shaping my
request (or agreeing a new follow-up request) based on what Danny told me
and some subsequent research I've done.
Danny told me that the PCTs were required to divest all of their hospitals
prior to their close-down, so confirming that these must be run by a body
of some sort somewhere.
I did a Google search for a selection of the hospitals that were formerly
run by PCTs to see if I could find out which bodies ran them through that
route.
It seems that many of them are now run by some of the Health Foundation
Trusts which already appeared on the list originally supplied to me.
However, some also appear to be run by other bodies: for example, Paulton
hospital in Somerset appears to be run by a non-profit organisation called
"Sirona Health and Care" which hasn't featured in any of the lists
provided so far. It's not entirely clear whether Sirona is part of the NHS
or has a similar status to private hospitals to which the NHS contracts
work out.
What I am ultimately trying to establish is a full list of NHS trusts
which run hospitals. It doesn't matter too much if I don't have a complete
list of each hospital for every trust, but I want to ensure I have full
coverage of all trusts, so that the FoI requests I am making to these
trusts do not miss any out.
Can you think of another way of confirming whether the list of trusts I
already have is the complete list, or whether there are others which are
not included?
Yours sincerely,
Susan Davis
Dear Tony,
Thank you for your email. I am fine with that approach. Can I read into this that you feel that there is a strong likelihood that you will be able to provide a complete response to this new request?
Please remember that public bodies have a duty to work with requestors to help them frame their requests: if you feel this new request is only likely to be partially successful and I still won't end up with a full list of trusts at the end of it, can you think about whether there are other ways in which we might approach this.
If you genuinely don't know, and need to process the request in order to answer that question, that's fine. I'm still surprised though that the DoH doesn't have fundamental information like this at its fingertips.
Yours faithfully,
Susan Davis
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<div><div>
<span>Thank you for contacting the Department of Health.</span>
</div>
<div>
<br />This is an acknowledgement - please do not reply to this email. </div>
<div>
<br />
<span>Where a reply is appropriate, we aim to send one within 18 working days, or 20 working days if your query is a Freedom of Information request or complaint.</span>
</div>
<div>
<br />
<span>If you have contacted the Department of Health about a current health or social care campaign, please visit the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/announceme...>GOV.UK website</a>, the UK Government’s official information website, where a response may have been published.</span>
</div>
<p>If your enquiry is about a medical matter, please contact NHS 111 or visit <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/">NHS Choices</a>, or contact your GP surgery. </p>
<div>
<span>For general health information you may also find it helpful to refer to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...>GOV.UK</a>, which includes the Department of Health's <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...>'What we do'</a> section.  You can also view our <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/corre...>performance</a> against quarterly service targets. <br /></span>
<br />
</div>
<font face="Arial">
<div dir="ltr">Please note that the Department of Health does not process complaints about the NHS or social services. If you wish to make a complaint about a healthcare professional, an NHS organisation or a social care provider, please visit the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...>'Complaints procedure' page</a> on the GOV.UK website. </div>
<div>  <br /><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 9pt">You can find out more about the Department’s commitments from our <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...>Personal Information Charter</a>.</span></div>
</font></div><br>
<br clear="both">
<BR>
<BR>
Our ref: DE00000791396
Dear Ms Davis,
Please see attached the Department of Health's response to your Freedom of
Information request.
Yours sincerely,
Danny Lamond
Freedom of Information
Department of Health
Dear Department of Health,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Health's handling of my FOI request 'List of hospitals'.
All that the Department has done in response to my revised request is to regurgitate the answer it gave in response to my original request. You have not attempted to address my central point which is that it is inconceivable that the Department of Health does not hold a list of NHS Trusts or Hospitals. If you can provide me with a convincing explanation as to how you can operate the department without holding such a list, I will be happy to withdraw this request. At the moment, the situation you describe is totally implausible, and the only possible explanations are that you are attempting deliberately to subvert the FoI regulations, or that the person handling the request has not carried out that work competently. I am almost certain that the problem is not with me: I have raised over 600 FOI or EIR requests, all of which have either been successful, or unsuccessful for valid reasons.
As a suggestion for how to resolve this issue, perhaps you could provide a list of your responsibilities and for each of these, a reason why it is not necessary to hold a list of Trusts in order to discharge that responsibility. However that is merely an attempt to help you: please do not adopt the same approach you adopted with my previous attempt to help you by turning this into a new request, as taken together those two action could be perceived as deltaing tactics rather than a genuine attempt to engage with me as a requester. Simply regurgitating information you have already provided is not going to reach a conclusion as you should be aware from previous correpondence. If necessary, I would be prepared to involve the media: I'm sure that avoiding a newspaper headline like "Department of Health doesn't know where all its hospitals are" would be sufficient incentive to provide that list?
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/l...
Yours faithfully,
Susan Davis
Dear Ms Davis,
I can confirm that the Department has received your request for an
Internal Review of your Freedom of Information request (Our reference:
DE00000791396). This is now being processed by a member of the Freedom of
Information team, who will respond to you in due course.
Yours sincerely,
Jamie Scott
Freedom of Information Officer
Department of Health
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.
Dear Department of Health,
Thank you for confirming that you will hold an internal review. I notice that the second and third sentences of my penultimate paragraph contain some typos. I must remember not to type emails after midnight. These sentences should read:
"However that is merely an attempt to help you: please do not adopt the same approach you adopted with my previous attempt to help you by turning this into a new request, as taken together with those two actions this could be perceived as a delaying tactic rather than a genuine attempt to engage with me as a requester. Simply regurgitating information you have already provided is not going to reach a conclusion as you should be aware from previous correspondence."
Yours faithfully,
Susan Davis
Dear Ms Davis
Please find attached a letter containing the outcome of the Internal
Review into the above-mentioned case.
Yours sincerely
Anthony Doole
Senior Casework Manager
Freedom of Information Team
Incoming and outgoing e-mail messages are routinely monitored for
compliance with the Department of Health's policy on the use of electronic
communications. For more information on the Department of Health's e-mail
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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.
Dear Doole, Tony,
Thank you very much for your reply and for confirming that the Department of Health does at least have some degree of awareness of all of the bodies which are responsible for the delivery of healthcare services. I'm sure you can appreciate my incredulity at the claims that this was not the case. You will note that I have been attempting to obtain information from you since 24 March, some four months ago. I very much hope that you will communicate the results of the Internal Review to all of the staff members who had previously responded to me, so that they can learn from the errors they have made in the handling of the request.
I accept that you have now handled this request appropriately by resorting to a valid FoI exemption, and you may close it.
Yours sincerely,
Susan Davis
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