Dear Ms Pearce,

Freedom of Information Act Request Acknowledgment

Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information Office at Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. We confirm that we have received your correspondence.

Your request below is being considered and you will receive a response within the statutory timescale of 20 working days following the date on which the request was received, as defined by the Act, subject to the information not being covered by an exemption or containing reference to a third party.

For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may prevent release of some or all of the information you have requested. There will be an assessment and if any of the exemption categories apply then the information will not be released. You will be informed if this is the case, including 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 on whether or not to release some or all of the information to you. You will be informed if this is the case.

There may be a fee payable for this information. This will be considered and you will be informed if as fee is payable. In this event the fee must be paid before the information is processed and released. The 20 working day time limit for responses is suspended until receipt of payment. You will be informed if this is the case.
If you have made a request for information held by the Trust - we will contact you as soon as possible if we need any further information to enable us to answer your request. If we don't need any further information we will respond to you within the statutory timescale of 20 working days following the date on which the request was received.

If you have any further queries or concerns then please do not hesitate to contact us.

With best regards,

Alan Larn.

Alan Larn | communications officer (Freedom of Information) | communications department
Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Nethermayne | Essex | SS16 5NL
01268 524900 ext 2992
[Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust request email]

safe  caring  excellent  …together

show quoted sections

Dear Ms Pearce,

Thank you for contacting us. I apologise for the time that it has taken us to compile our response to your request.

I have received some of the information that you have requested. Would you like me to send you that, or would you prefer to wait until we are in a position to provide answers to all of your questions?

With best regards and our apologies once more,

Alan Larn.

Alan Larn | communications officer (Freedom of Information) | communications department
Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Nethermayne | Essex | SS16 5NL
01268 524900 ext 2992
[Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust request email]

show quoted sections

Dear Ms Pearce,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request dated 02 March 2018, which has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

Your request and our responses are as follows:

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.

Response: 188 (9 inpatient and day case; 178 outpatients).

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?

Response: Below five, in both cases.

Please note that under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, any data that is below five would be deemed identifiable under section 40(2) of the Act. Releasing the requested information would risk making it possible to identify the individuals concerned.
The requested information is therefore exempt from disclosure under section 40 (Personal Information) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), as the information constitutes data as of a third party.

Section 40(2) provides that personal data about third parties is exempt information if one of the conditions set out in section 40(3) is satisfied. Under the FOIA, disclosure of this information would breach the fair processing principles contained in the Data Protection Act (DPA) where it would be unfair to that person.

3. Of those who underwent an operation please state the relevant speciality?

Response: Gastroenterology: Below five; Medicine: Below five.

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?

Response: (a): 9 - nine; (b): 0 - none. This includes patients who received care after procedures for which they received sedation but not anaesthetic.

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)?

Response: This information is not recorded.

6. Please state the whole cost to your NHS Trust of providing the treatment above?

Response: This information is not recorded separately for private treatment.

7. Please state the amount billed to the private health provider(s) for provision of this treatment?

Response: In the period 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017 £23,017.30 was billed to private health providers for provision of this treatment.

I hope that the response that the Trust has provided is satisfactory.  However, if you are dissatisfied with the way in which your Freedom of Information request has been dealt with you can request an internal review. Please email [email address] within 40 working days with clarification of what you would like to be reviewed. We will aim to provide a review response within 20 working days.

If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right under section 50 of the Act to apply to the Information Commissioner to seek resolution to the matter. Further details can be found on their website: http://www.informationcommissioners.gov.....

Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 – General statement of compliance

The Trust for its part is happy for you to reuse any of the information supplied to you in compliance with the Open Government Licence (OGL) terms:  Please click here for further details http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents... .  We do not permit the forwarding or sale of staff/departmental contact details and a specific Re-use of Information Regulations request is required for such purposes.

If relevant, you will need the permission of other information owners.  This can occur when you receive a document which is co-authored or where the ownership lies with another organisation.  Provision under both the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information Regulations 2004 does not entitle you to re-use the information without appropriate permissions.  Use must be in compliance with an Open Government Licence or other agreed terms.

We ask that you take a couple of minutes and complete a short survey in relation to your FOI request. The questions relate to your request and how it was handled and the response received. Click here.

Kind regards,

Alan Larn | communications officer (Freedom of Information) | communications department Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Nethermayne | Essex | SS16 5NL
01268 524900 ext 2992
[Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust request email]

safe  caring  excellent  …together

show quoted sections