Sexual Health Remote Self-Sampling

The request was successful.

Dear Hillingdon Borough Council,

1. Have you commissioned (directly, or via subcontracting or via "pilot") remote/postal/self-sampling service(s) for sexual health, and if so which organisation(s) deliver the service(s)?

If yes to question 1, please respond to the following questions:

2. Though which route was the service commissioned (e.g. tender procurement, competitive quotes, etc), and what was the contract value?
3. Please confirm the commencement date(s), and to what date the contract(s) (or pilot) are due to expire (excluding any contract extension time)?
4. What is the name and location of the laboratory(ies) the contracted service directs patient samples to? If more than one laboratory is used by the service, please confirm which samples go where.
5. Upon contract award for the service (or "pilot"), what laboratory ISO accreditation(s), if any, were required and how were these accreditations checked?
6. For each laboratory, please provide either an electronic copy of the up to date UKAS ISO accreditation certificate(s) or the UKAS laboratory number(s).
7. If CPA accreditation was required (legacy since 2013 and obsolete as of October 2018) how has the commissioning authority checked the laboratory(ies) now meets ISO standards?
8. In the event samples have been tested outside of accreditation, please confirm the number of users/samples impacted, any corrective actions (both clinically and contractually), and if/when patient recall will be carried out.

Yours faithfully,

Preventx

FOI ., Hillingdon Borough Council

Dear Sirs
 
I am writing in relation to the above request you have made under the
Freedom of Information Act.

Section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 states that in order for
a request to be valid it must state the name of the applicant. In this
instance your request does not constitute a valid request for information
as it does not include your name. In order for us to process this matter
any further we will require you to provide your full name.

If you have any enquires please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Regards

Nathalie Chuhan
Data Protection &
Freedom of Information Officer
Legal Services (3E 04)
London Borough of Hillingdon
Civic Centre
High Street
Uxbridge
UB8 1UW
T: 01895  556351

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of Information,

While we are happy to provide the authors name, a company is a legal entity and is within the scope of FOI requests. The ICO guide states "Freedom of information requests can also be made by organisations, for example a newspaper, a campaign group, or a company.".

However, we appreciate we stated "Preventx" and not the companies full legal name, "Preventx Limited".

I hope this is acceptable?

Yours sincerely,

Preventx Limited

Residents Services FOI, Hillingdon Borough Council

Dear  Preventx Limited,
I am writing in response to your request for information under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000, received 24/06/2019 and your subsequent email of
the 5th July following our request for an applicants name.
Our Information Governance Lawyer has informed : The ICO guidance states 
"Remember that a request can be made in the name of an organisation, or by
one person on behalf of another, such as a solicitor on behalf of a
client". 
On this basis we are progressing your request under the Organisation Name.

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 we have 20 working days to
respond to your request and the deadline for our response is
Monday 22/07/2019 .

 

Unfortunately there will be a slight delay and we apologise for
this inconvenience. 

If we require further information or clarification from you in order to
assist us in responding to your request, or if we require a fee to be paid
before we can respond we will contact you shortly.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Michelle Barber

Members Liaison Officer /FOI Officer

Resident Services

show quoted sections

FOI ., Hillingdon Borough Council

Dear Preventx Limited,

 

I am writing in response to your request for information below.

 

Please see the council's response below

1.  Have you commissioned (directly, or via subcontracting or via "pilot")
remote/postal/self-sampling service(s) for sexual health, and if so which
organisation(s) deliver the service(s)?  Answer:  YES
If yes to question 1, please respond to the following questions:

2. Though which route was the service commissioned (e.g. tender
procurement, competitive quotes, etc), and what was the contract
value?  Answer: Tender procurement.  Part of a block contract

3. Please confirm the commencement date(s), and to what date the
contract(s) (or pilot) are due to expire (excluding any contract extension
time)?  Answer:  Commencement date:  May 2017.  Expiry date: End March
2021.

 

4. What is the name and location of the laboratory(ies) the contracted
service directs patient samples to? If more than one laboratory is used by
the service, please confirm which samples go where.

Answer:   TDL Manchester
SouthWest Pathology Services Taunton

6. For each laboratory, please provide either an electronic copy of the up
to date UKAS ISO accreditation certificate(s) or the UKAS laboratory
number(s).
Answer:   These are publicly available on the UKAS website :

TDL:   [1]https://www.ukas.com/wp-content/uploads/...
SPS:  [2]https://www.ukas.com/wp-content/uploads/...

7. If CPA accreditation was required (legacy since 2013 and obsolete as of
October 2018) how has the commissioning authority checked the
laboratory(ies) now meets ISO standards?
Answer:   Not applicable.

8. In the event samples have been tested outside of accreditation, please
confirm the number of users/samples impacted, any corrective actions (both
clinically and contractually), and if/when patient recall will be carried
out.
Answer:   Not applicable - no samples have been tested outside of
accreditation, both laboratories are fully accredited (ISO 15189 -
appropriate accreditation for processing of human samples).

 

If you wish to request an internal review of our response you should
write, within 2 months, to:

Office Managing Partner, Legal Services, Civic Centre, High St, Uxbridge,
UB8 1UW (or via email to [3][Hillingdon Borough Council request email] marked for the attention
of the Office Managing Partner).

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The
Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s
Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

 

Regards

Data Protection &
Freedom of Information Officer
Legal Services (3E 04)
London Borough of Hillingdon
Civic Centre
High Street
Uxbridge
UB8 1UW
T: 01895  556351

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

Thank you for providing ISO accreditation certificates for the laboratories.

We note that the certificate for SPS is issue 001 and issued 29 September 2018. Please can you confirm that no patient samples were tested at this laboratry prior to this time, as these would be outside the scope of this accreditaiton.

We also note that the certifiate for TDL is issue 003 and is recent. Please can you review certificates issue 001 and 002 and confirm that these list Chlamydia trachomatis & Neisseria gonorrhoea as being accreddited during the time that samples were tested at this laboratry.

Should this revelal that patient samples were tested outside the scope of accreditaiton (and therefore without any externally audited quality assurance ), we would request you reconsider you responses to our original FOI request, especially the final question:

“In the event samples have been tested outside of accreditation, please confirm the number of users/samples impacted, any corrective actions (both clinically and contractually), and if/when patient recall will be carried out?”

Yours sincerely,

Preventx

Residents Services FOI, Hillingdon Borough Council

Dear Preventx Limited,
I am writing in response to your further request for information under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000, received 09/08/2019   

 

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 we have 20 working days to
respond to your requests.  Therefore the deadline for our response
is 09/09/2019

 

If we require further information or clarification from you in order to
assist us in responding to your request, or if we require a fee to be paid
before we can respond we will contact you shortly.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Michelle Barber

Members Liaison Officer /FOI Officer

Resident Services

show quoted sections

FOI ., Hillingdon Borough Council

Dear Preventx Limited 

I am writing in regards to your request for information below. Please
accept our apologies as unfortunately there will be a slight delay in
providing a response. We will endeavour to provide your requested
information as soon as we are able to.

If you wish to request an internal review of our response you should
write, within 2 months, to:

Office Managing Partner, Legal Services, Civic Centre, High St, Uxbridge,
UB8 1UW (or via email to [1][Hillingdon Borough Council request email] marked for the attention
of the Office Managing Partner).

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The
Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s
Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications

If you have any queries regarding this matter please do not hesitate to
contact me.

Regards

Data Protection &
Freedom of Information Officer
Legal Services (3E 04)
London Borough of Hillingdon
Civic Centre
High Street
Uxbridge
UB8 1UW
T: 01895  556351

show quoted sections

FOI ., Hillingdon Borough Council

Dear Preventx Limited,

 

Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your request

 

Please see the council's response below

 

We note that the certificate for SPS is issue 001 and issued 29 September
2018. Please can you confirm that no patient samples were tested at this
laboratry prior to this time, as these would be outside the scope of this
accreditaiton. 
Confirmed

We also note that the certifiate for TDL is issue 003 and is recent.
Please can you review certificates issue 001 and 002 and confirm that
these list Chlamydia trachomatis & Neisseria gonorrhoea as being
accreddited during the time that samples were tested at this laboratry. 
Aware of omission of CT/GC in schedule 2 but have confirmation from UKAS
that TDL Manchester was appropriately accredited between Oct 2018 and June
2019 for CT/GC
Should this revelal that patient samples were tested outside the scope of
accreditaiton (and therefore without any externally audited quality
assurance ), we would request you reconsider you responses to our original
FOI request, especially the final question: 
Not applicable

“In the event samples have been tested outside of accreditation, please
confirm the number of users/samples impacted, any corrective actions (both
clinically and contractually), and if/when patient recall will be carried
out?” 
Not applicable  

 

If you wish to request an internal review of our response you should
write, within 2 months, to:

Office Managing Partner, Legal Services, Civic Centre, High St, Uxbridge,
UB8 1UW (or via email to [1][Hillingdon Borough Council request email] marked for the attention
of the Office Managing Partner).

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The
Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s
Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

 

Regards

 

Nathalie Chuhan

Data Protection &
Freedom of Information Officer
Legal Services (3E 04)
London Borough of Hillingdon
Civic Centre
High Street
Uxbridge
UB8 1UW
T: 01895  556351

show quoted sections