NHS Covid-19 ward closures and NHS chief executive media bids: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Information requested
1. How many media bids have been made to speak to NHS chief executive Caroline Lamb in 2022 and 2023, including details of who requested the interview, and whether it was rejected or accepted and reasons for this?
2. How many Wards in Scotland have been reported to the Scottish Government that they were shut due to COVID-19 in 2023? Can you include full list of where they are and dates they were shut?
3. How much did it cost to set up NHS Louisa Jordan and full costs of the entire project, with a breakdown for all costs?
4. Could you supply all requests made by the Scottish Government to NHS health boards to pay back unused money to them in 2023 and include how much was requested and why and whether it was paid back?
5. All correspondence between the UK Government and Scottish Government, including internal correspondence, plus notes and minutes from meetings regarding the UK Government helping to reduce NHS waiting lists in Scotland, between August 2023 and the date of this FOI?
6. What is the ten longest waits for cancer treatment in Scotland in 2023? And the median and mean waiting time?
7. Out of the £300m of promised cash from Humza Yousaf’s SNP conference speech, how much has been spent so far and what has it been spent on?
Response
1. I enclose some of the information you have requested. A total of 7 media bids were made to speak to Caroline Lamb in 2022 and 2023 which are detailed in the table below:
|
DATE RECEIVED |
OUTLET |
STATUS |
REASON |
|
28 February 2022 |
BBC Newsnight |
Declined |
Not held |
|
23 November 2022 |
BBC Scotland |
Declined |
Not held |
|
30 November 2022 |
BBC Sunday Show |
Declined |
Not held |
|
4 July 2023 |
BBC Radio Scotland |
Declined |
Not held |
|
11 July 2023 |
BBC |
Declined |
Serving Civil Servant. |
|
3 November 2023 |
BBC Sunday Politics |
Declined |
Not held |
|
15 December 2023 |
Health Care Manager Magazine |
Accepted – undertaken on |
|
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.
The Scottish Government does not have some of the information because we do not normally record the reason why media bids are declined. However, the reason for declining one of the media bids was recorded on one occasion and is included in table.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
2. I enclose some of the information you requested in the table below:
|
NHS Hospital |
Ward Closures numbers due to COVID-19 |
Date |
|
NHS Forth Valley Royal Hospital |
1 |
14/08/2023 |
|
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde – Glasgow Royal Infirmary |
2 |
21/08/2023 |
|
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde – Glasgow Royal Infirmary |
4 |
04/09/2023 |
|
NHS Fife – Victoria Hospital |
2 |
11/09/2023 |
|
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde – Glasgow Royal Infirmary |
4 |
11/09/2023 |
|
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde – Royal Alexandra Hospital |
2 |
11/09/2023 |
|
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde – Glasgow Royal Infirmary |
4 |
09/10/2023 |
|
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde – Royal Alexandra Hospital |
1 |
09/10/2023 |
|
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde – Royal Alexandra Hospital |
2 |
16/10/2023 |
|
NHS Lanarkshire – University Hospital Hairmyres |
1 |
04/12/2023 |
|
NHS Lanarkshire – University Hospital Hairmyres |
1 |
13/12/2023 |
|
NHS Lanarkshire – University Hospital Hairmyres |
1 |
20/12/2023 |
|
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde – Glasgow Royal Infirmary |
1 |
27/12/2023 |
3. The NHS Louisa Jordan Hospital closed in July 2022. Information on set-up costs and operating costs for the NHS Louisa Jordan has been published in a previous Freedom of Information disclosure available here:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202000102866/.
Further details about the total set up, running costs and decommissioning budget can be found here: FAQ's (prgloo.com).
Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you.
4. The Scottish Government does not have the information as there is no information held asking for NHS boards to return funding. The reason for this is that no such requests were made to boards.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
5. I enclose some of the information you requested at Documents 1 and 2.
The Scottish Government does not have all of the information you have requested because the Scottish Government did not hold any meetings with the UK Government to discuss their offer to help to reduce NHS waiting lists in Scotland.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
6. The Scottish Government does not have the information as we are not responsible for the information you have requested.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
However, all of the information you have requested on cancer waiting times is published quarterly by Public Health Scotland. The latest figures are available at https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancer-waiting-times/cancer-waiting-times-1-july-to-30-september-2023/.
Table 1 includes information on maximum and median waits, and Table 2 has further information on the distribution of waits.
7. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. The reasons why we do not have the information in your request are explained below.
The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because the announcement (£100 million to reduce waiting times - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)) related to annual funding of £100 million over three years from 2024-25 subject to the outcome of the Scottish Budget process; accordingly there has been no associated spending so far.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
About FOI
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Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG