Freedom of Information

For the following FOIs, please contact University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Trust or Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust:

• Neurosurgery Procedures
• Dynamic Support Registers
• UTI tests undertaken
• Weight Management Service
• Endoscopy Procedures
• Clinical services insourcing to help recovery Waiting Lists
• Surgeon and Nursing staff
• Children with Heart Defects

For the following FOIs, please contact University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Trust, Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust or North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust:

• Support services for Children and Young People with Learning Disabilities and Autism
• Sleep Deprivation / Insomnia

For the following FOIs, please contact North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust:

• Mental Health helpline
• Suicide Prevention funding

For the following FOIs, please contact University Hospitals of Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust:

• CAMHS Tier 4 beds

For the following FOIs, please contact Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, Staffordshire County Council or Stoke-on-Trent City Council:

• Vaccinations

For the following FOIs, please contact NHS England:

• Finance Software System

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 requires us to:

• Provide information to you about NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board (ICB) through a publication scheme
• Provide a guide to this information
• Respond appropriately to requests for information

Primary Care Practices / Primary Care Networks

General Practice

Fertility Policy

Excluded and Restricted Procedures Policy

Continuous Glucose Monitoring Policy

EPRR Policy

Structures

Executive / Portfolio lead contacts

Expenditure over £25k

Anyone, anywhere in the world, can make a FOI request to NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB.

You can seek any recorded information that you think NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB may hold.

If the information is environmental, we will respond according to the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004. You do not have to know whether the information you want is covered by the EIR or the FOI Act. When you make a request, we will decide which law applies.

If the information is your own personal data, then you should make a subject access request under the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998, and not under the FOI Act. See below for how to make DPA requests.

Your request must be in writing and can be either posted or emailed to NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB.

For postal requests, please send to the following address:

New Beacon Building, Stafford Education and Enterprise Park, Weston Road, Stafford, ST18 OBF

Email requests should be sent to staffsstokefoi@staffsstoke.icb.nhs.uk

Please write “Freedom of Information” in the subject line.

If you would have difficulty making a written request, please contact our customer care team on 0300 123 1461.

The FOI Act requires certain information to be supplied before NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB can respond to your request:

• your real name – we do not have to respond to requests submitted under a pseudonym;
• your address (email addresses are acceptable);
• a description of the information you wish to obtain; and
• any preferences for the format in which you wish to receive the information e.g. electronic or hard copy. We will endeavour to meet your preferences but cannot guarantee that we will be able to.

• Explicitly mention the FOI Act, although it may help to do so;
• Know whether the information is covered by the FOI Act or the EIR as we will decide this;
• Say why you want the information; or
• Specify particular documents. You have a right to information, however it is recorded.

Comprehensive guidance on submitting effective requests for information is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office. However, to frame an effective request for the information you need:

Do:

• do clearly identify the information you want. Be clear about date ranges or timescales. If it is not clear what you are requesting, we may need to seek further clarification;
• do be as specific as possible. If your request is too general, it may be refused on the grounds that replying would exceed the cost limit laid down in the Fees Regulations, which is equivalent to one person working for three and a half days. If this happens, we will ask you to re-submit a narrower, more specific request which could be met within the cost limits and give you advice and assistance to do so;
• do ask questions such as “what” or “how much” as this is much more likely to result in a useful response;
• do use straightforward, polite language.

Don’t:

• don’t use open-ended questions such as “why”.  We do not have to answer your question if this would mean creating new information or giving an opinion or judgment that is not already recorded;
• don’t base your request on assumptions or opinions;
• don’t mix your request with complaints or comments.

NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB has a legal obligation to reply to your FOI request and must do so within 20 working days of receipt. We will do one of the following:

• supply you with the information you requested;
• inform you that we don’t hold the information and, if we are able, advise you who does;
• inform you that your request will exceed the cost limit specified in the Fees Regulations and invite you to submit a narrower request;
• inform you that we hold the information requested but refuse to provide all or part of it and explain why, citing one or more of the exemptions from the FOI Act;
• inform you that we are refusing your request on the basis it is repeated or vexatious; or
• inform you that we need more time to consider the public interest test in relation to your request and let you know when to expect a further response. This should not be later than 40 working days after receipt of your request.

You can ask NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB for an internal review of your FOI request. When you write to us requesting an internal review, we will acknowledge your letter and tell you how long we think the review will take. We aim to complete internal reviews within 20 working days, although more cases that are complex may take longer. Where internal reviews go over 20 working days, we will keep you informed of progress.

If, after an internal review, you are still not satisfied you can then complain to the Information Commissioner (ICO).  Details of how to do this are available at the ICO website.

Full details of how to ask NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB for an internal review will be included in our initial reply to your FOI request. Details of how to complain further to the Information Commissioner will be included in our response to your internal review request.

Whilst we do process limited patient data for the purpose of complaints, subject access requests and freedom of information requests, we do not hold medical records.

We may collect and store a small amount of identifiable information that has been received directly from you or organisations such as local authorities and GP Practices if you are a patient with the:

• Continuing healthcare
• Individual Funding Requests (IFR)
• Medicines management teams

Your main health records can be requested by contacting your registered GP practice or the NHS organisation where you received medical advice and/or treatment.

If you are requesting medical records, please contact the relevant trust where treatment was provided.

Please note the following contacts:

• University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (which covers; County Hospital, Stafford; Royal Stoke Hospital, Stoke-on-Trent; and North Staffordshire Hospital) contact email for records: ministries.office@nhs.net
• Royal Wolverhampton Hospital Trust (which covers Cannock Chase Hospital) contact email for records: rwh-tr.healthrecordsaccess@nhs.net
• Midlands Partnership NHS Trust: https://www.mpft.nhs.uk/service-users-carers/your-rights-and-safeguarding
• North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust: https://www.rightly.co.uk/company/north-staffordshire-combined-healthcare-nhs-trust/
• The University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (Queen’s Hospital in Burton, Samuel Johnson Community Hospital in Lichfield and Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital in Tamworth): https://www.uhdb.nhs.uk/medical-records/
• CHC/PHB/FNC Funding, email: MLCSU.chcbmadmin@nhs.net
• IFR Funding request documents, email: ifrteam@nhs.net
• Access to Deceased Records: https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/nhs-services-and-treatments/can-i-access-the-medical-records-health-records-of-someone-who-has-died

Under GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, you have the right to see or be given a copy of any personal data held about you by the ICB.

To gain access to a copy of your information, you will need to make a Subject Access Request (SAR) to subjectaccess@staffsstoke.icb.nhs.uk