NHS Scotland Boards performing COVID-19 rRT-PCR tests.

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates,

Which NHS Scotland Boards were recorded as performing COVID-19 Real Time Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (rRT-PCR) tests (i.e. "the antigen test") as part of the UK-Wide Programme from Week 44 2020 to date?

Yours faithfully,

J Grove

Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates

Our Reference: 202000120336
Your Reference: request-711282-979a6a9c

Dear J Grove,

Thank you for your correspondence sent on 06/12/2020. Your query will be
passed to the relevant area for consideration and has been given a
reference number of 202000120336. Please quote this number in all
correspondence. The Scottish Government aim to respond, where necessary,
as quickly as possible and within the stated timescale as indicated on our
website
(http://www.gov.scot/about/contact-inform...).

Yours sincerely
MiCase
Correspondence system for SG and partner agencies

The Scottish Government takes your privacy seriously. You may have written
to us because you have a question or want to make a complaint. Our privacy
notice
(https://beta.gov.scot/publications/conta...),
available on our website, sets out how we use your personal data, and your
rights when communicating with us. It is made under Article 13 of the
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
********************************************************************** 
This e-mail (and any files or other attachments transmitted with it) is
intended solely for the attention of the addressee(s). Unauthorised use,
disclosure, storage, copying or distribution of any part of this e-mail is
not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient please destroy the
email, remove any copies from your system and inform the sender
immediately by return.
Communications with the Scottish Government may be monitored or recorded
in order to secure the effective operation of the system and for other
lawful purposes. The views or opinions contained within this e-mail may
not necessarily reflect those of the Scottish Government.
**********************************************************************
 

Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates

1 Attachment

Please find attached a response to your correspondence.
********************************************************************** 
This e-mail (and any files or other attachments transmitted with it) is
intended solely for the attention of the addressee(s). Unauthorised use,
disclosure, storage, copying or distribution of any part of this e-mail is
not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient please destroy the
email, remove any copies from your system and inform the sender
immediately by return.
Communications with the Scottish Government may be monitored or recorded
in order to secure the effective operation of the system and for other
lawful purposes. The views or opinions contained within this e-mail may
not necessarily reflect those of the Scottish Government.
**********************************************************************
 

Dear Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates,

Please provide the NHS boards where the tesing occurs the information provided in the Data Tables (with positive and negative test data) just details "Scotland" as the source without detailing the NHS Board where this result was sourced. Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

J Grove

Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates

Our Reference: 202100134723

Dear J Grove ,

Thank you for your correspondence sent on 09/01/2021. Your query will be
passed to the relevant area for consideration and has been given a
reference number of 202100134723. Please quote this number in all
correspondence. The Scottish Government aim to respond, where necessary,
as quickly as possible and within the stated timescale as indicated on our
website
(http://www.gov.scot/about/contact-inform...).

Yours sincerely
MiCase
Correspondence system for SG and partner agencies

The Scottish Government takes your privacy seriously. You may have written
to us because you have a question or want to make a complaint. Our privacy
notice
(https://beta.gov.scot/publications/conta...),
available on our website, sets out how we use your personal data, and your
rights when communicating with us. It is made under Article 13 of the
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
********************************************************************** 
This e-mail (and any files or other attachments transmitted with it) is
intended solely for the attention of the addressee(s). Unauthorised use,
disclosure, storage, copying or distribution of any part of this e-mail is
not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient please destroy the
email, remove any copies from your system and inform the sender
immediately by return.
Communications with the Scottish Government may be monitored or recorded
in order to secure the effective operation of the system and for other
lawful purposes. The views or opinions contained within this e-mail may
not necessarily reflect those of the Scottish Government.
**********************************************************************
 

Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates

1 Attachment

Please find attached a response to your correspondence.
********************************************************************** 
This e-mail (and any files or other attachments transmitted with it) is
intended solely for the attention of the addressee(s). Unauthorised use,
disclosure, storage, copying or distribution of any part of this e-mail is
not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient please destroy the
email, remove any copies from your system and inform the sender
immediately by return.
Communications with the Scottish Government may be monitored or recorded
in order to secure the effective operation of the system and for other
lawful purposes. The views or opinions contained within this e-mail may
not necessarily reflect those of the Scottish Government.
**********************************************************************
 

Dear Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates's handling of my FOI request 'NHS Scotland Boards performing COVID-19 rRT-PCR tests.'.

Thanks for the provision of the link and the data that it contains however I fear there has been a misinterpretation of my request and therefore I have to express my dissatisfaction with the response and make this internal review request.

I do not want the individual demographic data for each NHS Health Board I wish to have the records of which NHS Boards are performing the RT-PCR tests that report “COVID-19 positive tests". To avoid any confusion I want to know which NHS Health Boards have the responsibility for generating “COVID test data". This generation of test data could be done internally in the NHS Health Board's own laboratories or performed by external organisations with the NHS Health Board contractually ensuring the accuracy and acceptability of the test data that it receives and further processes.

As such there should be a record of each “RT-PCR test performing" NHS Health Board in Scotland such that a list of these NHS Health Boards can be provided.

To explain the request in more detail by using an example if NHS Lothian Health Board perform RT-PCR tests but NHS Highland Health Board do not perform these tests (or contractually procure these tests from an external organisation) then the response to this FOI request will include NHS Lothian Health Board but exclude NHS Highland Health Board.

If the information requested does not exist (i.e. that the health boards providing RT-PCR test result data cannot be traced) then the formal response to this request should be a section 17(1) exemption that under the FOISA 2002 the information requested is not recorded by the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates.

Thanks for conducting this internal review.

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

Yours faithfully,

J Grove

Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates

Our Reference: 202100235413

Dear J Grove ,

Thank you for your correspondence sent on 01/09/2021. Your query will be
passed to the relevant area for consideration and has been given a
reference number of 202100235413. Please quote this number in all
correspondence. The Scottish Government aim to respond, where necessary,
as quickly as possible and within the stated timescale as indicated on our
website
(http://www.gov.scot/about/contact-inform...).

Yours sincerely
MiCase
Correspondence system for SG and partner agencies
The Scottish Government takes your privacy seriously. You may have written
to us because you have a question or want to make a complaint. Our privacy
notice
(https://beta.gov.scot/publications/conta...),
available on our website, sets out how we use your personal data, and your
rights when communicating with us. It is made under Article 13 of the
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
********************************************************************** 
This e-mail (and any files or other attachments transmitted with it) is
intended solely for the attention of the addressee(s). Unauthorised use,
disclosure, storage, copying or distribution of any part of this e-mail is
not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient please destroy the
email, remove any copies from your system and inform the sender
immediately by return.
Communications with the Scottish Government may be monitored or recorded
in order to secure the effective operation of the system and for other
lawful purposes. The views or opinions contained within this e-mail may
not necessarily reflect those of the Scottish Government.
**********************************************************************
 

Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates

Dear J Grove

Thank you for your email below in which you have requested a review of our response to your request for:

Which NHS Scotland Boards were recorded as performing COVID-19 Real Time Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (rRT-PCR) tests (i.e. "the antigen test") as part of the UK-Wide Programme from Week 44 2020 to date?

We responded to your request (202100120336) on 8 January 2021. Following our response we considered your reply on 9 January 2021 to be a request for review under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act as we considered that you expressed dissatisfaction with our initial response. Your review asked:

Please provide the NHS boards where the testing occurs the information provided in the Data Tables (with positive and negative test data) just details "Scotland" as the source without detailing the NHS Board where this result was sourced.

As we have already undertaken a review (202100134723) we are unable to undertake a further review of this request. We explained in our review response to you on 17 June 2021, if you are unhappy with the outcome of the review undertaken, you have the right to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner about our decision within 6 months of the review decision.
Information on how to make an appeal, along with an application form, is available on the Commissioner's website at:
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR....

You can also contact the Commissioner at:

The Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
E-mail: [email address]
Telephone: 01334 464610

Kind regards
Sarah

Sarah Walkinshaw | FOI Manager | Freedom of Information Unit | Scottish Government | 2W | St Andrews House | Regent Road | Edinburgh | EH1 3DG

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