Access to Information Team, Phoenix Place

Ageas

Access to Information Team, Phoenix Place

Christopher Martin Road, Basildon, Essex, SS14 3HG

Dear Mr James,

Further to your request made to NHS West Essex CCG for information relating to the above and pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please see the organisation’s response below:

1) Is the continuing healthcare and funded nursing care process managed in-house, or is part or all of the process outsourced to a 3rd party (CSU, Council, Independent provider etc.). If outsourced, please state the name of the company and the services outsourced (all CHC, assessment, brokerage, invoice validation etc.)

The CCG operates a CHC service using an in-house team, except for Restrospective CHC reviews, which are carried out on behalf of the CCG by Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit.

2) Please provide the name and contact details of the individual responsible for continuing healthcare at the CCG.

Name – Under section 40 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, a public authority does not have to provide information where that information is considered personal information under the Data Protection Act 1998. We believe that the information you have requested falls into this category, and therefore will not be supplying this as a result. Guidance states that personal information can be released where it is deemed the staff member in question is either public facing or senior/decision making.

The CCG has taken the decision that this solely refers to board members, so shall not be providing the details requested.

Contact details – Under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, a public authority does not have to provide information where that information is considered personal information under the Data Protection Act 1998. We believe that the direct contact details you have requested falls into this category, and therefore will not be supplying this as a result.

Guidance states that personal information can be released where it is deemed the staff member in question is either public facing or senior/decision making, however, it also states that this should only be done where “the legitimate interest can only be met, or fully met, by the disclosure of information which identifies individuals”. The CCGs feel that the legitimate interests of this request can also be fulfilled by providing the generic contact details of the organisation. These are available here:

http://www.westessexccg.nhs.uk/contact-us

3) How many people are involved with the continuing healthcare process internally?

There are currently 20 people in the Continuing Healthcare Team.

4) Does the CCG or any contracted provider managing CHC have a connection to the Exeter System and regularly check this? If not how does the CCG become aware of patient deaths?

West Essex regularly uses a combination of Open Exeter & NHS Spine to confirm all patient information.

5) Does the CCG use any third party tech solutions to record patient information relating to CHC (Broadcare, Swift, Caretrack, QA Plus etc.)? If not how is this recorded?

West Essex uses QA Plus to record patient information.

6) Does the CCG use any third party tech solutions to record financial information (Broadcare, Caretrack, QA Plus etc.)? If not how are invoices validated against care package details?

West Essex uses QA Plus to record accurate funding streams against specific patients, which enables all invoices to be validates against valid contracts for provision of care packages.

7) Does the CCG contract care packages from a framework with agreed rates? If so what percentage of contracts are secured on and off framework?

The IRN (Independent Residential & Nursing) Framework was instigated in February 2015.

The percentage of Current Placements currently contracted from within this framework is 25%

8) Please provide the average no. of patients receiving CHC and FNC funding in the last financial year, and a breakdown for each category:

a. CHC Patients - 857

b. FNC Patients - 436

9) Please provide the total number of suppliers that the CCGs uses for CHC & FNC, split by:

a. Residential Homes - 4

b. Nursing Homes - 530

c. Homecare Agencies - 427

d. Other (please specify)

10) Please state the average number of care packages in the last financial year, split by:

a. Residential Homes – 0.3 per month

b. Nursing Homes – 44 per month

c. Homecare Agencies – 4 per month

d. Other (please specify)

If you are dissatisfied with the response you have received, you have the right to request a review of our decision or make a complaint about how your request has been handled. Your request should be made within 40 working days of receipt of this letter, and we will reply within 20 working days of receipt. Any such request received after 40 working days will only be considered at the discretion of the organisation.

If our decision is unchanged following a review and you remain dissatisfied with this, you then have the right to make a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner who can be contacted at:

Information Commissioners Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

To comply with The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005, this information is provided to you under the Open Government Licence. Information on the OGL, together with conditions of use and exemptions, can be found here: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/

Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact the FOI team via the methods above.

Yours sincerely,

Iain Gear

Freedom of Information Lead

The Access to Information Team is hosted by NHS Basildon & Brentwood CCG, working on behalf of NHS West Essex CCG