Request
Has NHS East Midlands taken part in the Department of Health initiative to bring forward proposals to improve children's equipment and wheelchair services and to take a lead in transformaing community equipment services to improve the lives of disabled children and their families.
Our Response
I refer to your letter to Kevin Orford requesting information in respect of children’s wheelchair and community equipment services.
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.
I can confirm that NHS East Midlands is in receipt of the funding referred to in your letter and that we have taken part in the initiative to improve the provision of community equipment for children with special needs.
Two project associates, both experienced Occupational Therapists, were recruited to explore a number of delivery options to ensure that children receive appropriate equipment to maximise their well-being and independence. A number of family and stake-holder events have taken place and supportive products and tools have been developed to help identify requirements.
A guideline for the provision of this equipment has now been prepared and will shortly be sent to the Department of Health (DH).
We have also prepared reports on the current provision of children’s disability equipment along with an executive summary which will also shortly be passed to the DH. We recognise that whilst these two specific reports do not fall within the remit of your request, they will be of interest to you. I would therefore point out that it is our intention to publish these documents shortly on our website.
Once we have passed forward copies of the final reports to DH we will distribute them to constituent organisations and upload the documents to our website. For this reason, we are withholding the information we have identified as falling within the remit of your request under Section 22 of the FOIA which relates to information intended for future publication.
Section 22 is a qualified exemption and we are required to assess as objectively as possible whether the balance of public interest favours disclosing or withholding the information. Although, in general, there is a public interest in information about children’s disability equipment in the East Midlands being made as freely available as possible, we also recognise a strong public interest in this type of information appearing in published form and in the most organised and comprehensible manner possible. The DH might find that the guideline for provision document might require further work in terms of clarification or additional information and subsequent amendment. In this case, we have therefore determined that the balance of public interest favours withholding the information pending final publication. This will ensure that we avoid any confusion or misunderstanding in terms of the information contained within the report. As I have previously stated, NHS East Midlands and the DH intend to publish the reports, in their final form, currently scheduled for winter 2011.
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
