Public relations: bad for our health
Sep 10, 2009 Freedom of Information, Health
I’ve been making a number of FOI requests as part of the research for my book. One of the responses from the Department of Health was picked up by Tony Collins at Computer Weekly who writes an excellent blog and has probably saved the taxpayer many tens of millions of pounds by his inquisitive digging [...]
Tackling Legionnaires’ disease using FOI
May 24, 2007 FOI in Parliament, Freedom of Information, Health
A debate in Parliament yesterday on Legionnaires’ disease provides another example of the many and varied benefits of freedom of information.
A company used the law to challenge a government policy on the best method for combatting the disease. The National Health Service recently updated its guidance to read: “the temperature control regime is the preferred [...]
Contact info for new NHS ambulance trusts
Oct 4, 2006 Health, Useful sites
The Ambulance Trusts in England were reconfigured on 1st July 2006. There are now 12 Ambulance Trusts and a separate management arrangement for the Isle of Wight.
These documents which I uncovered contain useful contact details for the new Ambulance Trusts.
Contact Information for New Ambulance Trusts (PDF, 44K)
Information on Reconfiguration of NHS Ambulance Trusts – implications [...]
Hospital publishes death rates
Aug 25, 2005 Health
A top UK hospital has claimed it is the first in the nation to publish all of its death rates. Hoorah and full points for issuing a press release about setting such a precedent for openness.
St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south-west London, is already one of only a few hospitals in Britain to [...]
Patients get new private dentistry rights
Aug 1, 2005 Book Updates, Health
New powers for the General Dental Council (GDC) to protect patients were announced last week by Health Minister Rosie Winterton.
The new powers are designed to solve problems highlighted in a report on the private dentistry market in the UK by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Patients complained that they were not given [...]
Hospital Activity Statistics
Jun 2, 2005 Health
Some recent hospital activity statistics were released 27 May 2005 by the Department of Health. You can search for your own trust and see how it compared to others in the area.
Outpatient Attendances, England: Quarter ending 31 March 2005
Cancelled Operations, England: Quarter ending 31 March 2005
British Medical Association issues FOI guidelines for doctors
May 6, 2005 Book Updates, Health
The British Medical Association has issued new guidance to General Practitioners (GPs) on the Freedom of Information Act advising them to be open about operation success rate data. My speculation is that the guidelines were issued in response to sustained pressure to end the lack of transparency about this type of information, which I highlighted [...]
Hospitals denying patients vital information
Mar 16, 2005 FOI in the news, Health
The Guardian newspaper today published the results of its investigation into heart surgeons. The newspaper used 36 simultaneous applications under the Freedom of Information Act to extract for the first time national data about the individual mortality rates of all cardiac surgeons practising in the NHS.
The exercise found:
One London teaching hospital where trust [...]
The drugs I need…
Mar 10, 2005 Health
The Consumers Union in the USA has just released this amusing animation for its ‘Prescription for Change’ campaign. The CU supports the American FACT Act, which is going through Congress at the moment. The bill would require drug companies to make public all the results of their clinical trials and create an independent office [...]
UK Spending on Health: Cabinet Office FOI Release
Mar 9, 2005 Central Government, Health
The Cabinet Office has published its response to a FOI request for details of discussions between 10 Downing Street and HM Treasury about plans to increase the UK’s spending on health to meet the European average.
You can download a copy of the response issued by the Prime Minister’s Office from the Cabinet Office disclosure log [...]
