Request
Enquiry Subject: Lincoln County Hospital - hygiene and cleanliness inspections
I make this request under the Freedom of Information Act (2000). Please forward to me, by email, all reports, documents, memos, and information you have relating to cleanliness and hygiene at Lincoln County Hospital for the period between 01/01/2000 and 31/01/2010.
Our Response
I refer to your email requesting information in respect of hygiene and cleanliness inspections at Lincoln County Hospital.
I can confirm in accordance with S.1 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) that we do hold some of the information that you have requested but only since the creation of the Strategic Health Authority in 2006.
The information held by us relates to a report to the private section of the board concerning a summary review of the of the Care Quality Commission Hygiene Code Visit. However, we are of the opinion that the exemption available to us under Section 22 of the FOIA is engaged in this instance. Section 22 relates to information that is intended for publication at a later date and we are currently reviewing our private board minutes with a view to publication later this year.
Section 22 is a qualified exemption and is subject to consideration of the public interest test. We recognise that there is a public interest in providing this information to you in order to be helpful, and to promote accountability and transparency of government.
However, we need to ensure that all of this data is ready for publication and this involves a substantial and time consuming administrative exercise with many of the documents requiring transfer into a publishable format and subject to checks for accuracy.
We also feel that there are strong arguments to support the use of the future publication exemption on the basis that the best use of public resources would be directed to pulling this information together, ensuring the information is accurate and published in a consistent and comprehensive format.
Other than the report referred to above, NHS East Midlands holds no information relevant to your request that is not already publicly available. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) Hygiene code inspection reports are available on the CQC website:
http://www.cqc.org.uk/
For your ease of reference I have attached the reports for you.
The other publicly available information is the PEAT inspection reports which can be found at the link below:
http://www.nrls.npsa.nhs.uk/patient-safety-data/peat/
I hope that this information is of use. If you are dissatisfied with the way in which we have dealt with your request you can ask us to review our decision by writing to:-
Mr Moosa Patel
Director of Corporate Affairs
NHS East Midlands
Octavia House
Interchange Business Park
Bostock's Lane
Sandiacre
Nottingham
NG10 5QG
If at the conclusion of any review you remain dissatisfied you may complain to the Information Commissioner who can be contacted at:-
The Office of the Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
