Dear Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust,

Please provide me with the following detail per month for the period of January 2012 to the most recent month this year for which you have the data, preferably in Excel-compatile format, and in electronic format in any case:

(1) The list of NHS s136 suites, as defined in the the Mental Health Act (MHA), per borough covered by the trust.

(2) The list of NHS A&E departments, per borough covered by the trust.

(3) The breakdown, per s136 suite, of the number of days the s136 has been opened that month.

(4) The breakdown, per s136 suite and A& department, of the number of individuals detained under s136 of the MHA brought to each of the trust's s136 suites and A&E departments.

(5) The number of individuals detained under s136 of the MHA and admitted to hospital in the boroughs covered by the trust, following an MHA assessment.

(6) The breakdown, per s136 suite and A& department, by type of vehicle the individuals detained under s136 of the MHA were conveyed to that place of safety (i.e., ambulance, police vehicle, or other)

(7) The breakdown, per s136 suite and A& department, by gender of individuals detained under s136 of the MHA and conveyed to that place of safety.

(8) The breakdown, per s136 suite and A& department, by age range of individuals detained under s136 of the MHA and conveyed to that place of safety.

(9) The breakdown, per s136 suite and A& department, by ethnicity of individuals detained under s136 of the MHA and conveyed to that place of safety.

(10) The breakdown, per s136 suite and A& department, of whether individuals detained under s136 of the MHA and conveyed to that place of safety were considered to be suffering from the effects of drink or drugs

(11) The breakdown, per s136 suite and A& department, of whether individuals detained under s136 of the MHA and conveyed to that place of safety were restrained

Yours faithfully,

David Mery

Dear Camden and Islington 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 Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust's handling of my FOI request 'MHA s136'.

I am thankful for receiving the response from Jessica Robson, and also surprised to learn that your Trust does not operate any s136 suite. However the response specified 'Within the Trust [...], the places of safety for Camden and Islington are University College London Accident and Emergency Department, Royal Free Accident and Emergency Department and the Whittington Accident and Emergency Department.'

As these three A&E departments are places of safety, monthly breakdowns 'per A&E department' should have been provided to my original questions (4), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10) and (11). A full answer to my original question (5) should also have been provided.

The exemption used is that you do not hold the information requested. As this would mean you don't hold data on MHA assessment and intake of s136 patients in your Trust, it would appear that my request was not read or understood correctly.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/m...

I look forward to receiving your internal review and hopefully responses to my questions.

Yours faithfully,

David Mery

Dear Ms Jackson,

Thank you for your response, however it is in breach of the FoIA.

When you use the section 12 exemption you must explain your reasonable estimate. Also you must provide assistance under section 16 as to how the request may be limited to be answerable within the cost/time limitations.

You explained how the police must complete a form 434 when a police constable arrives in a place of safety with a person ‘detained’ under S136, however I am surprised you made no mention of the Section 136 Audit Form to be completed by the Bleep Holder/Nurse in Charge as described in the Trust joint policy on the use of section 136 of the Mental Health Act.

(For your information, the MPS do not tend to use custody suites as places of safety. During the calendar year 2012, only 1 man detained under MHA s136 was brought to a custody suite in Camden, and no one in Islington. More details at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d... )

Yours sincerely,

David Mery

Dear Camden and Islington 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 Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust's handling of my FOI request 'MHA s136'.

As it is more than a month since the FoI breaches raised in my email dated 2 October 2013 have been apparently ignored, if I do not hear further from you on this matter next week, I will have no other choice than to raise a complaint with the ICO.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/m...

Yours faithfully,

David Mery

Dear Mr Elliott,

Thank you for this response. I note that in this response you have managed to find a partial (i.e., not monthly as requested) answer to my question 5). Information that you had not provided either in your original response or review.

Yours sincerely,

David Mery