SMS/Text Messages Appointment Reminders
Dear Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust,
I understand that you have conducted a pilot project on the use of SMS/text messages to remind patients about their appointments. Martin Vokes was the person who oversaw the project. I would like to request all documents related to the pilot project, which should include the project brief, project initiation document, project plan and final report, electronically.
Thanks & look forward to receiving your response in the next 20 days.
Yours faithfully,
Anna Walker
Dear Anna Walker
Many thanks for your e-mail below requesting information.
Your request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and will be answered within twenty working days.
Kind regards
Kathryn
Kathryn Mullen
Team Administrator
Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Unit 8, The Point, Lions Way, Sleaford, NG34 8GG
Tel: 01529 222271
Fax: 01529 222224 (NB this is a safe haven fax)
Email: [email address]
Confidentiality Statement Disclaimer: This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. Therefore if the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. Any views or opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust unless otherwise explicitly stated. The information contained in this e-mail may be subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Unless the information is legally exempt from disclosure, the confidentiality of this e-mail and your reply cannot be guaranteed.
Dear Ms Walker
We have considered your request asking us to provide to you with all documentation relating to an SMS Text Messaging pilot project conducted by our Trust. Section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act provides an exemption for public authorities where disclosure of information would likely to prejudice the commercial interest of any person. It protects not only the commercial interests of third parties but also the commercial interests of the public authority that holds the information. A large proportion of the information contained within this project is third party information. We consider that by disclosing the information of the proposed project as this stage, would likely to prejudice the commercial interests of both the third party organisation and that of the Trust and therefore will are unable to provide you with the information you requested.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and should be addressed to: FOI Department, Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Units 8 & 9, The Point, Lions Way, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, NG34 8GG. 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 can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
[name removed]
Paralegal
Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Unit 8, The Point, Lions Way, Sleaford, NG34 8GG
Tel: 01529 222268
Fax: 01529 222224 (NB this is a safe haven fax)
Email: [email address]
Confidentiality Statement Disclaimer: This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. Therefore if the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. Any views or opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust unless otherwise explicitly stated. The information contained in this e-mail may be subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Unless the information is legally exempt from disclosure, the confidentiality of this e-mail and your reply cannot be guaranteed.
Dear H Norris Paralegal,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust's handling of my FOI request 'SMS/Text Messages Appointment Reminders'.
1) You mentioned that the release of information would prejudice the interest of both the organisation and third party, and yet you failed to mention how could this be possible at all.
2) Furthermore the information that I requested was related to the project management of the project rather than commercial agreement of the parties.
3) Have you actually consulted the third party, or did you make this decision unilaterally?
4) Surely the commercial details of the projects, such as the pricing, costs etc can be obliterated, which means that you ought to release the remaining information without refusing the whole request?
I think that the refusal is unreasonable and disproportionate, and the release of information is in the public interest and outweighs other factors.
Please be warned that I am more than prepared to lodge a complaint if the internal review does not overturn the outcome of this request.
In the meantime please let me know the name and the job title the person who is going to conduct the internal review so that I can notify the ICO, and whether this person is an independent person who has not dealt with this FOI request yet. I look forward to hearing from you in the next 20 days.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/sm...
Yours faithfully,
Anna Walker
Dear H Norris Paralegal,
I sent the email below on 9th August and you have no decency whatsoever to even acknowledge that the internal review is currently being conducted.
Please be warned that the internal review is due on 6th September and I will not hesitate to complain to the ICO. You mentioned that you're a paralegal, what kind of legal background do you have? It seems that you dont even know how to manage an FOI request and review properly.
The details of my correspondence are available below.
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Lincolnshire
Partnership NHS Foundation Trust's handling of my FOI request
'SMS/Text Messages Appointment Reminders'.
1) You mentioned that the release of information would prejudice
the interest of both the organisation and third party, and yet you
failed to mention how could this be possible at all.
2) Furthermore the information that I requested was related to the
project management of the project rather than commercial agreement
of the parties.
3) Have you actually consulted the third party, or did you make
this decision unilaterally?
4) Surely the commercial details of the projects, such as the
pricing, costs etc can be obliterated, which means that you ought
to release the remaining information without refusing the whole
request?
I think that the refusal is unreasonable and disproportionate, and
the release of information is in the public interest and outweighs
other factors.
Please be warned that I am more than prepared to lodge a complaint
if the internal review does not overturn the outcome of this
request.
In the meantime please let me know the name and the job title the
person who is going to conduct the internal review so that I can
notify the ICO, and whether this person is an independent person
who has not dealt with this FOI request yet. I look forward to
hearing from you in the next 20 days.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/sm...
Yours faithfully,
Anna Walker
Dear Ms Walker
Thank you for your email of 30th August 2012. I apologise that you have not received an acknowledgement to your request for an internal review. I can confirm that an internal review of your request is being processed and we note from our records that you should receive a response to your internal review on or before 10th September 2012. Please be assured that the Trust are making every effort to review your request thoroughly and appropriately.
Yours sincerely
[name removed]
Paralegal
Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Unit 8, The Point, Lions Way, Sleaford, NG34 8GG
Tel: 01529 222268
Fax: 01529 222224 (NB this is a safe haven fax)
Email: [email address]
Confidentiality Statement Disclaimer: This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. Therefore if the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. Any views or opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust unless otherwise explicitly stated. The information contained in this e-mail may be subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Unless the information is legally exempt from disclosure, the confidentiality of this e-mail and your reply cannot be guaranteed.
Dear Ms Walker
Thank you for your e-mail request for review of your request. I have
conducted a review of the response you received from the Trust in relation
to your Freedom of Information request – SMS/Text Messaging Appointment
Reminders.
In conducting this review I have read your original request and the
response you received, and considered the points in your subsequent review
request. I have also reviewed the content of the documents that were
considered in declining your original request. It is clear from these
documents that they contain a significant amount of commercial information
and intellectual property rights of a third party which led to the
original decision to exempt your request under Section 43(2) of the
Freedom of Information Act.
In reviewing your request I have also contacted the commercial provider of
the service. They will not agree to the original business case, which
they wrote, being released as it contains intellectual properties.
However, they have agreed to the release of the following statement:
"The MARACIS SMS texting service gives the Trust the ability to send an
SMS text message to an appointment attendee (usually a service
user) within a designated period prior to the appointment. The recipient
of the text message must have given the Trust their mobile number and
their consent for the Trust so to do. This consent is actively recorded in
the MARACIS system and can at any time be revoked".
In giving consideration to your specific point in regard to releasing
information with commercial details obliterated. I do consider that some
elements of the Trust’s documentation can be released on this basis.
There are two documents attached:
· The first dated 28 September 2010 is heavily redacted, as the
information contained is the intellectual property of a third party and is
commercial confidential in relation to pricing.
· The second dated 27 September 2011 contains some commercial
information that has been obliterated, and some personally identifiable
information that has been similarly obliterated, however the paper is self
explanatory even with the redaction of the identifiable and commercial
data.
The second of the two documents is the final report and also includes the
project brief.
Following requests to the team managing this project no further documents
in relation to this project have been identified.
I hope this information is helpful. Please note the hyperlinks were
operative when included in this email but if you do have any difficulty
opening them after receipt, please do let me know. I will be happy to
assist.
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by copyright.
You are free to use it for your own purposes, including for private study
and non-commercial research, and for any other purpose authorised by an
exception in current copyright law. Documents (except photographs) can be
also used in the UK without requiring permission for the purposes of news
reporting. Any other reuse, for example commercial publication, would
require the permission of the copyright holder. For information about
re-using Crown Copyright see the Office of Public Sector Information
website at [1]www.opsi.gov.uk. The copyright in some documents may rest
with a third party. For information about obtaining permission from a
third party see the Intellectual Property Office’s website at
[2]www.ipo.gov.uk.
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 can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF
Yours sincerely,
Peter Howie,
Trust Secretary, Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust,
Units 8 & 9, The Point, Lions Way, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, NG34 8GG
Tel: 01529 222240
CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT
DISCLAIMER: This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential
and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
are addessed. Therefore if the reader of this message is not the intended
recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or
copying of this E-Mail is strictly prohibited. Any views or opinions
expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the
views of Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust unless otherwise
explicitly stated. The information contained in this E-Mail may be
subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Unless the information is legally exempt from disclosure, the
confidentiality of this E-Mail and your reply cannot be guaranteed.
References
Visible links
1. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/
2. http://www.ipo.gov.uk/
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Anna Walker left an annotation ()
This paralegal called H Norris has no decency whatsoever to acknowledge my internal review request. If I don't hear by 6th September I will contact the Chief Executive and report to the ICO.