PICU beds available throughout England Dember 2016

The request was partially successful.

Dear NHS England,

Late on the 2nd December there were multiple rumours on twitter from clinicians in multiple regions of the UK that there were no PICU beds available in the entire of England. Another reported a single bed was available in Southampton.
This has since been rfuted on twitter by Simon Enright the NHS England who stated there were beds avilable on 2nd December and 3rd December and in one post reported the total bed usage was running at 85% of capacity.

As such we can trust clearly the data is readily available (in real time) for analysis.
Would you please provide that data. The information I am interested in is as follows:-

On each date (2nd and 3rd December how many PICU beds were avilable and at one times are the data collected (as even within 24 hours the availability will change).

What was the overal PICU capacity of the UK during that time (total available beds)

Does the capacity number exclude beds for which there is not staffing (in PICU/ICU if a bed cannot be nursed it is removed is it removed from the capacity as it is not available).

Which trusts were those empty beds in?

Were any patients who should be in PICU kept in an Emergency Department resus, a theatre or a recovery room for an excessive period of time due to lack of PICU beds.

Yours faithfully,

Jamie Fryer

FOI, England (NHS ENGLAND), NHS England

Dear Mr Fryer,

 

Thank you for your communication dated 3 December 2016.

 

NHS England has assessed your communication as a request under the Freedom
of Information (FOI) Act 2000. As such, please be assured that your
request is being dealt with under the terms of the FOI Act and will be
answered within twenty working days.

 

For further information regarding the FOI Act, please refer to the
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website. For further information
regarding NHS England and the information it publishes please visit our
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If you have any queries about this request or wish to contact us again,
please email [1][NHS England request email] and the message will be
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Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows:- PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [2][NHS England request email].

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Freedom of Information

Corporate Communications Team

Transformation and Corporate Operations Directorate

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Tel: 0300 311 22 33

Email: [3][NHS England request email]

 

‘High quality care for all, now and for future generations’

 

 

 

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References

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2. mailto:[NHS England request email]
3. mailto:[NHS England request email]

FOI, England (NHS ENGLAND), NHS England

Dear Mr Fryer,

 

Re:  Freedom of Information request (FOI-038590)

 

We are writing further to your Freedom of Information request dated 3
December 2016. 

 

Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your request.
NHS England is not in a position to respond to your request at this time.
We are still in the process of assessing your request and will provide you
with a full response as soon as possible. We will write to provide a
further update on or before 13 January 2017, if your response is not
complete by this time.

 

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Please be aware, if you
are dissatisfied with the handling of your request you have the right to
ask for an internal review by writing to us, within two months of the date
of this letter, to:-

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Email: [1][NHS England request email] 

 

Please quote your reference number as provided above.

 

Please note, that as you have not yet received a response to your request,
any Internal Review will only be able to review the handling of your case
to date, and is unlikely to expedite a response.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can be contacted
at:-

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Email: [2][email address]  

Website: [3]www.ico.gov.uk

 

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows:- PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [4][NHS England request email].

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Freedom of Information

Corporate Communications Team

Transformation and Corporate Operations Directorate

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Tel: 0300 311 22 33

Email: [5][NHS England request email]

 

‘High quality care for all, now and for future generations’

 

 

show quoted sections

References

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1. mailto:[NHS England request email]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
4. mailto:[NHS England request email]
5. mailto:[NHS England request email]

FOI, England (NHS ENGLAND), NHS England

Dear Mr Fryer,

 

Re:  Freedom of Information request (FOI-038590)

 

We are writing further to your Freedom of Information request dated 3
December 2016. 

 

Please accept our apologies for the further delay in responding to your
request. NHS England is still not in a position to respond to your request
at this time. We are still in the process of assessing your request and
will provide you with a full response as soon as possible. We will write
to provide a further update on or before 27 January 2017, if your response
is not complete by this time.

 

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Please be aware, if you
are dissatisfied with the handling of your request you have the right to
ask for an internal review by writing to us, within two months of the date
of this letter, to:-

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Email: [1][NHS England request email] 

 

Please quote your reference number as provided above.

 

Please note, that as you have not yet received a response to your request,
any Internal Review will only be able to review the handling of your case
to date, and is unlikely to expedite a response.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can be contacted
at:-

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Email: [2][email address]  

Website: [3]www.ico.gov.uk

 

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows:- PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [4][NHS England request email].

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Freedom of Information

Corporate Communications Team

Transformation and Corporate Operations Directorate

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Tel: 0300 311 22 33

Email: [5][NHS England request email]

 

‘High quality care for all, now and for future generations’

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[NHS England request email]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
4. mailto:[NHS England request email]
5. mailto:[NHS England request email]

Dear FOI, England (NHS ENGLAND),

The delays in answering this FOI are an absolute disgrace.

Simon Enright responded to the allegations of there not being a single available PICU bed within hours of it first being highlighted to state there was only - on that date 85% capacity being used.

And yet your department cannot retrieve that exact same data within 5 weeks of being asked - despite it being your legal responsibility to publish a response by last week. I can accept a small delay due to the Christmas holidays, but to delay until the end of January is clearly a stalling tactic. Why else would your communications officer so quickly be able to publish realtime data (if it was genuine) and you cannot publish any of it weeks after being asked?

I urge you to look at this request immediately and answer within the next week.

Yours sincerely,

Jamie Fryer

FOI, England (NHS ENGLAND), NHS England

Dear Mr Fryer,

 

Re:      Freedom of Information request (Our Ref: FOI-038590)

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request dated 2 December
2016. Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in responding to
your request.

 

Your exact request was:-

 

“Late on the 2nd December there were multiple rumours on twitter from
clinicians in multiple regions of the UK that there were no PICU beds
available in the entire of England. Another reported a single bed was
available in Southampton.

This has since been rfuted on twitter by Simon Enright the NHS England who
stated there were beds avilable on 2nd December and 3rd December and in
one post reported the total bed usage was running at 85% of capacity.

As such we can trust clearly the data is readily available (in real time)
for analysis.

Would you please provide that data. The information I am interested in is
as follows:-

On each date (2nd and 3rd December how many PICU beds were avilable and at
one times are the data collected (as even within 24 hours the availability
will change).

What was the overal PICU capacity of the UK during that time (total
available beds)

Does the capacity number exclude beds for which there is not staffing (in
PICU/ICU if a bed cannot be nursed it is removed is it removed from the
capacity as it is not available).

Which trusts were those empty beds in?

Were any patients who should be in PICU kept in an Emergency Department
resus, a theatre or a recovery room for an excessive period of time due to
lack of PICU beds.

 

NHS England holds information in relation to your request.

 

Over half of the demand for admission to intensive care is unplanned and
there is known variation in seasonal demand with higher admissions seen in
the winter months November to January.    

NHS England monitors bed capacity in two ways:

 

Part 1: Situation reports (SITREPS) which are collected from acute trusts
during winter and include data on areas such as A&E closures, patient
diverts and bed pressures including paediatric intensive care. 

The SITREP information for paediatric intensive care includes data about
Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4 bed capacity which should be reported by
Trusts.

The SITREP profiles for the 2 and 3 December 2016 are accessible here: 

[1]https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/st...

 

Part 2: Application of the Paediatric Intensive Care Surge Standard
Operating Procedure a copy of which is available here:

[2]https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning...

This procedure document relates more specifically to Level 3 paediatric
critical care provided in tertiary or specialist hospitals.   During known
busy periods and as part of the normal surge management processes NHS
England’s regional commissioning hubs monitor demand for paediatric
intensive care and for emergency transport which is undertaken by
specialist teams. 

Information regarding both is provided in response to this FOI.

What was the overall PICU capacity of the UK during that time (total
available beds)

 

The SITREP report for the 2 December confirms 430 Level 2, Level 3 and
Level 4 beds.

The SITREP report for the 3 ^ December confirms 394 Level 2, Level 3 and
Level 4 beds. However there was no data recorded for two hospitals on this
date which accounts for the reduction in both available and occupied beds
compared with the previous day.

 

Does the capacity number exclude beds for which there is not staffing (in
PICU/ICU if a bed cannot be nursed it is removed is it removed from the
capacity as it is not available).

 

Beds which are not staffed should not be reported in the SITREP.

 

Which Trusts were those empty beds in?

 

This information for Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4 beds can be identified
from the published SITREP report following the link referenced above.

 

There were no requests from any region for national escalation over the
weekend of 3 and 4 ^ December 2016.   

 

Were any patients who should be in PICU kept in an Emergency Department
resus, a theatre or a recovery room for an excessive period of time due to
lack of PICU beds.

 

This information is not held by NHS England. It is important to note that
all the specialist services will have local arrangements in place with
District General Hospitals within their network to manage periods of
localised pressure so the interpretation of the term “excessive” may vary
according to that local context. 

More broadly, NHS England is undertaking a national review of paediatric
intensive care across England. Paediatric Intensive Care capacity and
resilience are key areas of scrutiny for the review and commissioners are
working closely with the Paediatric Intensive Care Society (PICS), and
with provider trusts, and others, to look at this issue and explore
possible solutions across the whole pathway.

 

Copyright - NHS England operates under the terms of the open government
licence. Please see the NHS England Terms and conditions on the following
link [3]http://www.england.nhs.uk/terms-and-cond...

 

We hope this information is helpful. However, if you are dissatisfied, you
have the right to ask for an internal review by writing to us, within two
months of the date of this letter, to:

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Email: [4][NHS England request email]

 

Please quote the reference number FOI-038590 in any future communications.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can be contacted at:

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Email: [5][email address]  

Website: [6]www.ico.gov.uk

 

Please note there is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Please be aware that in line with the Information Commissioner’s directive
on the disclosure of information under the FOI Act, your request will be
anonymised and published on our website as part of our disclosure log.

 

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows:- PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [7][NHS England request email].

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Freedom of Information

Corporate Communications Team

Transformation and Corporate Operations Directorate

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Tel: 0300 311 22 33

Email: [8][NHS England request email]

 

‘High quality care for all, now and for future generations’

 

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/st...
2. https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning...
3. http://www.england.nhs.uk/terms-and-cond...
4. mailto:[NHS England request email]
5. mailto:[email address]
6. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
7. mailto:[NHS England request email]
8. mailto:[NHS England request email]