Resources used in treating private patients

The request was partially successful.

Dear Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust,

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request information.

Please could you provide responses to the following:
1. Please state the number of private patients who received treatment using equipment, resources or facilities owned by your NHS Trust in the period 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017.
2. Please state of those private patients who received treatment using equipment, resources or facilities owned by your NHS Trust, how many were operated on using general or local anaesthetic?
3. Of those who underwent an operation please state the relevant speciality?
4. Of those patients who underwent an operation, how many received post operative care in (a) an NHS ward or (b) a separate ward specifically for private patients?
5. Please state the numbers of medical and non-medical staff involved in the provision of treatment (eg including the cleaning, catering, hotel facilities and administration etc)?
6. Please state the whole cost to your NHS Trust of providing the treatment above?
7. Please state the amount billed to the private health provider(s) for provision of this treatment?

Please provide the information in the form of a written response.

If it is not possible to provide the information requested because it exceeds the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under your Section 16 obligations, as to how I can refine my request to be included in the scope of the Act.

In any case, if you can identify ways that my request could be refined please provide further advice and assistance to indicate this.

I look forward to your response within 20 working days, as stipulated by the Act.

If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact me and I will be happy to clarify what I am asking for.

Yours faithfully,

Sasha Pearce

FOILeads (RC9) Luton & Dunstable Hospital FT,

Dear Sasha

Thank you for your request for information which will be processed under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We will aim to provide you with the requested information within the legal deadline.

The request is subject to any exemption which the Trust is entitled to apply, some of which are absolute and some of which only apply where the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs that in disclosing the information.

Once the information has been identified the Trust may also ask that a fee be paid for processing and delivering the information to you. Details of any fee to be charged will be notified to you as soon as possible.

Any future correspondence you may have in relation to this matter should be marked private & confidential and sent to the Freedom of Information Lead. Luton and Dunstable NHS Trust, Lewsey Road, Luton, Beds, LU4 0DZ or emailed to the address above.

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Team.

show quoted sections

Dear FOILeads (RC9) Luton & Dunstable Hospital FT,

Thank you for acknowledging my request, but I am disappointed to note that the deadline for providing the information I requested is now 2 days past and so I am requesting an urgent response.

Yours sincerely,

Sasha Pearce

FOILeads (RC9) Luton & Dunstable Hospital FT,

Dear Sasha

Due to unforeseen circumstances there has been a delay in providing you with a response to your FOI Request.

Please accept the Trusts apologies for any inconvenience this may cause you.  We will provide you with our response in due course.

Kind regards
Freedom of Information Team

show quoted sections

FOILeads (RC9) Luton & Dunstable Hospital FT,

1 Attachment

Dear Sasha

Part of the Trust’s Freedom of Information (FOI) process is to obtain senior approval prior to the release of our responses. This part of the process has caused a delay in providing you with a response to your request below.

Our response is now attached and I would like to offer you my apologies on behalf of the Trust for the delay in providing this. I would also like to take this opportunity to assure you that the Trust is currently reviewing its FOI approval process to ensure lessons are learned.

I am writing in respect of your enquiry below for information held by the Trust. Your request has been handled under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting.

Most documents supplied by Luton and Dunstable University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust will have been produced by government officials and will be Crown Copyright. You can find details on the arrangements for re-using Crown Copyright on HMSOnline at: http://www.hmso.gov.uk/copyright/licence...

Information you receive which is not subject to Crown Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their permission before reproducing any third party (non Crown Copyright) information.

If for whatever reason you are unhappy with our response you are entitled to pursue any dissatisfaction by writing to The Information Governance Manager, Luton and Dunstable University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Lewsey Road, Luton, Beds, LU4 0DZ.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by Luton and Dunstable Hospital Foundation Trust. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, and Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Please do not hesitate to contact the FOI team if you have any questions.

Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Team

show quoted sections