Freedom of information

What is the Freedom of Information Act?

From 1 January 2005 the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act allows anyone to ask for information held by Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and request access to it. The Trust handles FOI requests in accordance with guidance from the Information Commissioner's Office.

How do I request information that isn't on the website?

If the information you require is not held on our website, you can:

• Email our FOI Lead on chelwest.foi@nhs.net
• Write to:
  
  Freedom of Information Lead
  Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
  Unit 111
  Harbour Yard
  Chelsea Harbour
  London
  SW10 0XD

Requests for information must come in writing and include an address to which correspondence can be sent. Requests should include a clear and specific description of the information you are seeking.

When will my request be answered?

Once we have received your request we aim to respond within 20 working days or sooner. When responding we will firstly state whether or not we hold the information you are seeking. If we hold the information we will, in most cases, send this to you.

Can my request be refused?

Some information is subject to exemption under the FOI Act—for example, if the information has commercial interest or relates to personal information. Where an exemption is considered appropriate, we will outline why this is so and what steps you are entitled to take next.

• List of FOI exemptions (PDF)

Will there be a charge for my request?

We are entitled to charge for copying the materials that you are seeking. In the majority of cases we will absorb this cost. If we are considering applying a charge we will contact you to establish whether you still wish to proceed with the request.

Where the time involved in us investigating whether we hold the information and then obtaining the information requested exceeds a cost of £450 we are entitled to refuse the request.

In this case we will contact you to establish whether you wish to:

• Proceed and pay for the request to be undertaken
• Amend the request so that the cost is reduced to below £450
• No longer proceed with the request

What is your charging structure?

The costs taken into account by the Trust when determining any fee are:

• Prescribed costs—meaning any costs reasonably incurred by the Trust in determining whether it holds information of the description specified in the request, in locating and retrieving any such information, and in giving effect to any preference expressed by the applicant as to the means of communication of such information. This includes the cost of associated staff time, but does not include the cost of staff time incurred in determining whether the Trust is obliged to comply with the request for information
• Disbursements—meaning any costs directly and reasonably incurred by the Trust in informing the applicant whether it holds information of the description specified in the request and in communicating any such information.

The Trust does not have to comply with a request for information if it estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit, which is £450 (based on the DCA's regulations of a notional cost of 18 hours work at £25 per hour).

What if I am dissatisfied with the Trust's response?

In the first instance you can raise your concerns through the Trust's internal complaints procedure by writing to:

Information Governance Manager/Freedom of Information Lead
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
Unit 111
Harbour Yard
Chelsea Harbour 
London
SW10 0XD

If you remain dissatisfied following the appeals process, you have the right under §50 of the Act to apply to the Information Commissioner to seek resolution to the matter.

Publication scheme

What is a publication scheme?

The purpose of the Freedom of Information Act is to promote greater openness by public authorities, which includes Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (The Trust).

Under Section 19 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Trust has a legal duty to adopt and maintain a publication scheme for the publication of Trust information. This publication scheme has been developed in accordance with the Information Commissioner’s model scheme and has been effective from 1 January 2009.

It is a guide to the information routinely published by the Trust as part of its normal business activities. It is a description of the information about our Trust, which we make publicly available. It is important to us that this scheme meets your needs and it has been designed to be a route map so that you can easily find information about us. The scheme will be subject to an annual review.

Class 1: Who we are and what we do

• How we fit into the NHS structure
• Organisational structure
• Gender pay gap reporting
• Workforce diversity 
• Senior staff
• Location of public-facing departments
• Contact details of public-facing departments

Class 2: What we spend and how we spend it

Class 3: What our priorities are and how we are doing

Class 4: How we make decisions

Class 5: Policies and procedures

Class 6: Lists and registers

Class 7: Services we offer

I have a question, comment or complaint about the scheme

Please contact us:

• Email our FOI Lead on chelwest.foi@nhs.net
• Write to:

Freedom of Information Lead
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
Unit 111
Harbour Yard
Chelsea Harbour 
London
SW10 0XD