The Review of General Surgery Northern Ireland (June 2022)
helen hamill made this Freedom of Information request to Department of Health (Northern Ireland) This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear Department of Health (Northern Ireland),
1. Can I please have a list of all the consultees - medically qualified and their specialism and Trust.
2. Can I also ask for the numbers of non-medically qualified Service Users throughout the consultation and the context of same - for instance patients/carers/groups/trust non-executive directors for the entire working production of The General Review of Surgery NI (June2022).
a. Can I ask for breakdown of consultees Trust by Trust.
b. in the case of WHSCT by Northern Sector and separately Southern Sector.
3. Can I have all of the Medical Evidence gathered and used in the recommendations.
4. Can I ask where I can find details on the group "Members of the Review of General Surgery Network Board" and their constitution as a group.
a. Can I see their terms of reference.
b. Can I have details of their collective involvement
c. Can I have minutes of all their meetings held.
Yours faithfully,
helen hamill
Helen,
Please see attached acknowledgement of receipt of your two FOI requests.
Regards,
Joyce
Joyce McGrattan
Information Management Branch
Department of Health (NI)
Dear Ms Hamill,
Please see attached in relation to your request for the information you
requested on 13^th January 2023.
Please note a further e-mail will follow with a response to your second
request of the same date.
Kind regards,
Rosemary
Rosemary Dawson
Local Information Officer
Elective Care and Cancer Policy Directorate
Department of Health
Stormont Estate
Belfast
BT4 3SQ
Dear Ms Hamill,
Please see attached in relation to your second request for information
from 13^th January 2023.
Kind regards,
Rosemary
Rosemary Dawson
Local Information Officer
Elective Care and Cancer Policy Directorate
Department of Health
Stormont Estate
Belfast
BT4 3SQ
Dear DoH Elective Care & Cancer Policy Directorate,
Thanks for the info sent.
For all of my questions, please see the original format however, for clarification purposes, I have added some thoughts:
Question 1:
I was hoping, however, that my questions could be answered specifically. The minutes I requested would have been minutes during the production of the document whilst I value what happened four and five months later.
I would like the questions to be re-read, as I cannot imagine the terms of reference or not in the public domain, nor indeed that scientific evidence used in such a powerful document or not in the public domain.
Question three:
I would imagine includes modelling of the effect risk versus benefit analysis of the implications involved in this overarching document.
In questions two and four :
I also did ask for a breakdown of those involved
trust by trust
by specialism or rank
And by northern or southern sector in the case of the Western trust.
Question 4:
The quoted group produced a letter and nominated us “members of the review of general surgery network Board”
The letter was published widely in the media, and to that extent, I would assume given their significant stance that they:
Are constituted
do have the terms of reference, and
as the above collective, they do have minuted meetings other than simply a press release
I look forward to this information
Yours sincerely,
helen hamill
Dear DoH Elective Care & Cancer Policy Directorate,
2234012
Thank you for the response. I found it interesting, but a little disconcerting. Surely my questions can be answered? 10 steps, not 10 years is accredited to Royal College of surgeons England in Northern Ireland in brackets which I assume is under the umbrella care of Dr Taylor I would simply like to see the evidence as requested for both the connection with the Northern Ireland review of surgery. (Step7))
And also, the other specialists, who cowrote the item.
Do you have hyperlinked to a qualified response, however, since this article was written in 2021 I do not see how it is linked two minutes from the end of 2022. Thank you I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
helen hamill
Dear Ms Hamill
As explained in the FOI response the document in question was published by The Royal College of Surgeons and is therefore not directly connected to the Review of General Surgery published by Department of Health.
However, the Review of General Surgery considered a range documents, papers and evidence from the likes of Royal Colleges, Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ASGBI), CEPOD, Nuffield Trust and NHS organisations including Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT), regulatory bodies and benchmarking programmes.
I understand that Tomas Adell has suggested that a meeting may be helpful to discuss some of your wider queries on the review. You can let me or Tomas know if that would be helpful.
Kind regards
Joanne
Dear Ms Hamill
I understand that, in line with your FOI request you have been provided with the Terms of Reference for the Network along with the Minutes of Meetings. You have also been provided with a compiled list of those involved in the review of general surgery along with their organisation and titles. Further details of the review of general surgery in terms of the workstream papers etc are scheduled to be published shortly on the Department's website.
Can you please clarify what further information you require or alternatively I understand that Tomas Adell has suggested that a meeting may be helpful to discuss some of your wider queries on the review. You can let me or Tomas know if that would be helpful.
Kind regards
Joanne
Dear DoH Elective Care & Cancer Policy Directorate,
Joanne,
Thank-you for the contact.
I am unsure why my completely unrelated personal contact would in any way be suggested as an alternative to a public Freedom of Information.
I look forward to the Full FOI as requested
Thankyou
Helen
Yours sincerely,
helen hamill
Dear Ms Hamill
I refer to my e-mail below.
I understand that, in line with your FOI request you have been provided with the Terms of Reference for the Network along with the Minutes of Meetings. You have also been provided with a compiled list of those involved in the review of general surgery along with their organisation and titles. Further details of the review of general surgery in terms of the workstream papers etc are scheduled to be published shortly on the Department's website.
Unfortunately I cannot provide any further response under FOI unless you clarify the information that you are looking for.
Kind regards
Joanne
Dear DoH Elective Care & Cancer Policy Directorate,
Joañne, thank you for your response.
I do, however, there are still questions unaddressed. I have been sent terms of reference of an undefined group, no date when they began work when they met and when they completed.
I have also been sent minutes of meetings four months and five months after the document was in Print -I really requested the WorkStream and the extent of input from each trust as it was happening.
I also referred to a group who published a letter in November 22nd and named themselves authentically as follows:
” Anand Gidwani Consultant Surgeon
Andrew Kennedy Consultant Surgeon
Ian McAllister Consultant Surgeon
Barry McAree Consultant Surgeon
Michael Mullan Consultant Surgeon
Gary Spence Consultant Surgeon
Mark A Taylor Consultant Surgeon
Colin Weir Consultant Surgeon
Susan Yoong Consultant Surgeon
Members of the Review of General Surgery Network Board”
May I please see the constitution of this group, specifically the dates when it was formed , met and approved to profuce such an overarching item.
Thankyou.
Yours sincerely,
helen hamill
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