Monthly breakdown of NHS Joiners and Leavers data
Dear NHS Digital,
I would like to request a new format for the NHS Digital publication of NHS 'joiners and leavers' e.g.
Publication: https://digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB30165,
Spreadsheet: HCHS staff in NHS Trusts and CCGs,
Worksheet: Joiners, age & nationality; Leavers, age & nationality
The current publication presents the data as a 'year to date' (YTD) statistic.
I wish to evaluate the leavers and joiners (EU/EEA especially) 'since the EU referendum' and with particular interest in the most recent months and the YTD presentation does not allow this.
Please would you provide monthly totals for joiners and leavers, for each job, for EU and EEA HCHS staff, for a time period that covers the same length of period before the June 2016 referendum as you have data for since the June 2016 referendum? i.e. if you have 14 months of data since June 2016, please provide 14 months of data immediately preceding June 2016.
I understand that there is concern over releasing small statistics that might allow the identification of individuals. If dividing the data into the format that I have described presents a risk on this basis, then please consider grouping the data to avoid this rather than refusing the request outright.
For example, job types could be grouped (perhaps) or months could be grouped into pairs or triplets (quarter years) of data.
Any data that you can provide that breaks the data down further than year to date will be welcomed - please consider this the 'spirit' of this request, even if you cannot conform to the 'letter' of this request.
Best wishes,
Rob
Yours faithfully,
Robert Davidson
Ref: NIC-183243-W2K1W
Dear Robert Davidson,
I am writing to acknowledge that your request for information was received
by NHS Digital on 13/3/2018 and is currently being considered.
If NHS Digital is able to provide you with the information you have
requested, then under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act you are
entitled to receive it promptly and in any event no later than the 20th
working day following the date of receipt. However, we may need to contact
you to clarify your request. If this is required we aim to do this
promptly but no later than 7 days after receiving your initial request for
information.
May I take this opportunity to explain the FOI Act in more detail? The Act
provides a 'General right of access to information held by public
authorities'. However, it also defines a number of exemptions which may
prevent the release of some or all of the information you have requested.
Therefore, NHS Digital will assess your information request in light of
any relevant exemptions.
If exemptions do apply, then NHS Digital may decide not to release all, or
part, of the information you have requested. I shall inform you if this is
the case, and advise you of your rights of appeal.
If the information you request contains reference to a third party then
they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken as to whether to
release the information to you.
The response to your request will be sent to you by email, however if you
require your response in any other format, please contact us to discuss a
suitable format.
NHS Digital will not normally charge a fee to provide you with the
information you have requested, unless the cost of dealing with your
request is more than £450 as outlined in Section 12 of the FOI Act and
Section 3 of the The FOI and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees)
Regulations 2004. If it appears likely that your request will cost more,
then NHS Digital is able to refuse to supply the information. As per our
obligations under Section 16 of the FOI Act, every effort will be made to
provide you with details of how you may be able to reframe your request in
order for us to complete the required work within the (£450 / 18 person
hours) cost limit.
If you have any queries or should you wish to make a complaint about the
manner in which your request is being processed then please do not
hesitate to contact us at [1][email address] in the first instance. Any
complaints will be investigated in accordance with NHS Digital's
complaints procedure.
Further information about your rights under the Freedom of Information
Act, is available from the Information Commissioner's Office, Wilmslow,
Cheshire and on the NHS Digital website.
Kind Regards,
Contact Centre Team
NHS Digital
[2]www.digital.nhs.uk
0300 303 5678
[3][email address]
1 Trevelyan Square | Boar Lane | Leeds | LS1 6AE
NHS Digital provides information and technology for better health and
care. Find out more about who we are and what we do
at [4]www.digital.nhs.uk
NHS Digital Customer Service Contact Centre in Leeds, has been awarded
Customer Service Excellence Standard Certification, In accordance with the
requirements of the Cabinet Offices Customer Service Excellence Standard
Ref: NIC-183243-W2K1W
Dear Robert Davidson,
Many thanks for your recent request to NHS Digital.
We have now received a reply to this from our colleagues in the
Information Governance team.
Please see the attached file(s).
Kind Regards,
Contact Centre Team
NHS Digital
[1]www.digital.nhs.uk
0300 303 5678
[2][email address]
1 Trevelyan Square | Boar Lane | Leeds | LS1 6AE
HSCIC now operate under the new trading name of NHS Digital – clarifying
our role as the national information and technology partner for the health
and care system.
NHS Digital Customer Service Contact Centre in Leeds, has been awarded
Customer Service Excellence Standard Certification, In accordance with the
requirements of the Cabinet Offices Customer Service Excellence Standard
Dear HSCIC Enquiries,
Thank you for your response. You request more information because,
"Breaking down the information by month is possible. However, it may provide a distorted picture of
leavers and joiners due to some members of the workforce leaving and re-joining shortly after. As
such, depending on your requirements, it may be of more use for the information to be broken down
into three or six month periods. "
From what you say, it sounds like there is turnover in leavers/joiners because of contracts ending and then (near) immediate resigning. This might result in increased leavers in one month and then increased joiners (by the same amount) in the subsequent month. Merging the data to three month aggregates ought to negate this issue, to my understanding.
If it were to be common for NHS Trusts to create/renew contracts at one particular month e.g. April, then there could be a problem with aggregating in three month blocks if, for example, the blocks were split as A=Jan+Feb+Mar and B=Apr+May+Jun.
I suggest that the best way to account for such discrepancies would be to provide a 'rolling window' for each month which represents the sum of joiners (and separately leavers) for that month and the month on either side. This would allow investigation of changing trends for each month while avoiding the problem of seeing unusual data from an 'end contract' month or a 'renew contract month.'
If you are concerned about releasing monthly data to the public where it might be misconstrued, then please release the data in this format.
For the purposes of understanding the underlying data and any discrepancies that might be observed in the aggregate data, I would also like to request the monthly data. To confirm: with your advice taken, this data would not be used to infer monthly activity in NHS staffing but rather would only be used to explain unusual observations in the aggregate data.
If you are happy to release the monthly data then I could produce the 'rolling window' aggregate statistics myself.
If you believe the suggested aggregation would not be appropriate for any reason, then please respond with further advice.
Many thanks for your time.
Yours sincerely,
Robert Davidson
Ref: NIC-185669-G9J7G
Dear Robert Davidson,
I am writing to acknowledge that your request for information was received
by NHS Digital on 22/03/18 and is currently being considered.
If NHS Digital is able to provide you with the information you have
requested, then under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act you are
entitled to receive it promptly and in any event no later than the 20th
working day following the date of receipt. However, we may need to contact
you to clarify your request. If this is required we aim to do this
promptly but no later than 7 days after receiving your initial request for
information.
May I take this opportunity to explain the FOI Act in more detail? The Act
provides a 'General right of access to information held by public
authorities'. However, it also defines a number of exemptions which may
prevent the release of some or all of the information you have requested.
Therefore, NHS Digital will assess your information request in light of
any relevant exemptions.
If exemptions do apply, then NHS Digital may decide not to release all, or
part, of the information you have requested. I shall inform you if this is
the case, and advise you of your rights of appeal.
If the information you request contains reference to a third party then
they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken as to whether to
release the information to you.
The response to your request will be sent to you by email, however if you
require your response in any other format, please contact us to discuss a
suitable format.
NHS Digital will not normally charge a fee to provide you with the
information you have requested, unless the cost of dealing with your
request is more than £450 as outlined in Section 12 of the FOI Act and
Section 3 of the The FOI and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees)
Regulations 2004. If it appears likely that your request will cost more,
then NHS Digital is able to refuse to supply the information. As per our
obligations under Section 16 of the FOI Act, every effort will be made to
provide you with details of how you may be able to reframe your request in
order for us to complete the required work within the (£450 / 18 person
hours) cost limit.
If you have any queries or should you wish to make a complaint about the
manner in which your request is being processed then please do not
hesitate to contact us at [1][email address] in the first instance. Any
complaints will be investigated in accordance with NHS Digital's
complaints procedure.
Further information about your rights under the Freedom of Information
Act, is available from the Information Commissioner's Office, Wilmslow,
Cheshire and on the NHS Digital website.
Kind Regards,
Contact Centre Team
NHS Digital
[2]www.digital.nhs.uk
0300 303 5678
[3][email address]
1 Trevelyan Square | Boar Lane | Leeds | LS1 6AE
NHS Digital provides information and technology for better health and
care. Find out more about who we are and what we do
at [4]www.digital.nhs.uk
NHS Digital Customer Service Contact Centre in Leeds, has been awarded
Customer Service Excellence Standard Certification, In accordance with the
requirements of the Cabinet Offices Customer Service Excellence Standard
Ref: NIC-183243-W2K1W
Dear Robert Davidson,
Many thanks for your recent request to NHS Digital.
We have now received a reply to this from our colleagues in the
Information Governance team.
Please see the attached file.
Kind Regards,
Contact Centre Team
NHS Digital
[1]www.digital.nhs.uk
0300 303 5678
[2][email address]
1 Trevelyan Square | Boar Lane | Leeds | LS1 6AE
HSCIC now operate under the new trading name of NHS Digital – clarifying
our role as the national information and technology partner for the health
and care system.
NHS Digital Customer Service Contact Centre in Leeds, has been awarded
Customer Service Excellence Standard Certification, In accordance with the
requirements of the Cabinet Offices Customer Service Excellence Standard
References
Visible links
1. http://www.digital.nhs.uk/
2. mailto:[email%20address]
Dear NHS Digital Enquiries (NHS DIGITAL),
Thank you for your 'final response' and agreeing to release the data requested. In your PDF response, you say that a spreadsheet is attached but I do not find it attached.
Please can you try resending the spreadsheet?
Yours sincerely,
Robert Davidson
Ref: NIC-183243-W2K1W
Dear Robert
Thank you for your email and our apologies you were missing the Excel
Data.
I have now attached this to the email for you.
We hope this helps. If we can be of any further assistance, please do not
hesitate to get in touch.
Kind Regards,
Mark Langley
Contact Centre Team
NHS Digital
[1]www.digital.nhs.uk
0300 303 5678
[2][email address]
1 Trevelyan Square | Boar Lane | Leeds | LS1 6AE
You can find out more about our service, including our response times and
customer charter on the NHS Digital website:
[3]https://www.digital.nhs.uk/contact-us/cu...
NHS Digital Customer Service Contact Centre in Leeds, has been awarded
Customer Service Excellence Standard Certification, In accordance with the
requirements of the Cabinet Offices Customer Service Excellence Standard
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