Planting good new stories
Dear East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust,
I have been told that a Mr Hartley from your Trust has been stating how many good new stories have recently been appearing in the press and media. I think this is possibly intended to counter all the very negative press about delays and expenses etc
Can you tell me,
Which department he works for?
What is the cost to the Trust of that dept?
Since Dr Marsh arrived in January 2014, how many times has Mr Hartley or his dept contacted the press and media with good news or positive stories each month? As an example, if the Trust took on 7 new dispatch staff (presumably to replace others who had left) and that "story" was given to the press and media, how many times was that passed on? i.e. 1 story to 10 organisations = 10 contacts.
Kindly compare this to the same months in 2013.
Hopefully vast amounts of time, money and resources aren't being wasted on trying to promote positive spin
Yours faithfully,
J Lowe
Dear J Lowe
Thank you for your email dated 5th September 2014 where you requested information regarding the East of England Ambulance Service.
Your request will be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and we will respond to you within twenty working days. Your request has been allocated the following reference: F18489 and I would be grateful if you could quote this reference in any future correspondence with the Trust.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely
FoI Officer
East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Dear J Lowe
Further to your email dated 5th September 2014, Mr Hartley works for the Communications team. This team is responsible for media relations, internal communications, the website, intranet, social media, corporate publications and stakeholder engagement. The team has recently been restructured to reduce the number of posts and release money back into frontline services. The Communications budget (both pay and non-pay) is £280,000.
The Trust’s Communications team promotes positive stories about the Trust so the public can see the lifesaving work of our staff and volunteers and how the Trust is moving forward, in addition to public safety messages we issue. Staff also want to see the good work of the Trust being publicised to the public. All the stories the Trust publishes are available on its website. To calculate how many organisations each individual press release had been sent to would require someone to go through every single press release and email distribution and this would take over 18 hours. As this would therefore exceed the appropriate limit as defined by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 we are unable to answer this part of your request.
I am obliged to advise you that if you are dissatisfied with the Trust’s response to your request you have a right to complain to the Trust and should set out your concerns to the Freedom of Information Officer, EEAST, Hospital Approach, Broomfield, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 7WS or by email to [East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust request email]. If you remain dissatisfied following this, you have a right under Section 50 of the FOIA to seek a determination from the Information Commissioner on whether the Act has been properly applied by the Trust. For more information, please see www.ico.gov.uk.
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further information.
Kind regards
FoI Officer
East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Dear East of England Ambulance Service
In that case and to make it easier for you and to help you comply with the FOI act, I will accept the number of stories given to the media for June, July and August 2014. Surely you haven't been in contact with them that often that you can't calculate how many times you have done this?
I can not understand why you want to spend so much money on PR when as you say, this information is available on your website.
I have also been told that you have recently advertised for someone else to join Mr Hartley's team.
What is the salary for this post as I'm sure it could have paid for another paramedic?
I'm not sure how telling the public that you have recruited replacement staff for one of your control rooms constitutes a story or is indeed worthy of using up some of the time of this £280,000 team
Yours sincerely,
J Lowe
Dear East of England Ambulance Service
I note you haven't agreed to provide information as per my suggestion to enable you to comply with my foi request.
Kindly confirm you will do so or I will file a separate and amended request.
Yours sincerely,
J Lowe
Dear J Lowe
Further to your email, and with my apologies for the delay in replying, please find the Trust's response below.
In that case and to make it easier for you and to help you comply with the FOI act, I will accept the number of stories given to the media for June, July and August 2014. Surely you haven't been in contact with them that often that you can't calculate how many times you have done this?
Please visit our website to see the stories we have released to the media. This does not include incidents.
I can not understand why you want to spend so much money on PR when as you say, this information is available on your website.
This is not an FoI question as it is not requesting recorded information held by the Trust, however Chris Hartley would be very happy to meet you to discuss such matters with you.
I have also been told that you have recently advertised for someone else to join Mr Hartley's team.
Correct.
What is the salary for this post as I'm sure it could have paid for another paramedic?
Band 5.
I'm not sure how telling the public that you have recruited replacement staff for one of your control rooms constitutes a story or is indeed worthy of using up some of the time of this £280,000 team Clearly, the Trust puts out more than this one story.
This is not an FoI question as it is not requesting recorded information held by the Trust, however Chris Hartley would be very happy to meet you to discuss such matters with you.
Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards
FoI Officer
East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust
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Dear East of England Ambulance Service
I wanted to know how many times you had contacted the media, not how many times you posted stories on your website. Kindly supply the information I requested.
This article indicates you were going to reduce your spending on PR
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct...
"Yesterday a spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service said: “The Trust’s communications team has already reduced the cost of its services since these figures were released by more than £50,000, money which will be reinvested into frontline services."
Now it looks as if that assurance was incorrect as you have recruited yet another person (at the same rate of pay as a paramedic) to join Mr Hartley's rather expensive team.
I also note your Trust's PR team has failed to bring to the media's attention, stories about hundreds of staff leaving, spending £30,000 per day on private ambulance crews and much worse response times than under the previous regime despite being given millions more in extra funding.
Hopefully they will disseminate the "critical report" you have so far failed to produce despite stating you would make it available in July.
Sometimes in seems as if a very expensive propaganda team has been assembled. Maybe it's time it was disbanded and the money spent on paramedics?
Yours sincerely,
J Lowe
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