Auckland DHB has received your OIA request of 13 March:
 
From: Shay McGuinness <[email address]>
Date: 13 March 2020 at 6:41:53 PM NZDT
To: "Ailsa Claire (ADHB)" <[email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Information related to the NASO
assurance team visit of 28th Nov 2019 #2
Dear Auckland District Health Board,
 
Please provide all information you hold related to the visit of the NASO
Northern Region Helicopter Air Ambulance Assurance Team on the 28th Nov
2019 and any subsequent correspondence between Auckland District Health
Board (ADHB) and The National Ambulance Sector Office (NASO) and/or the
Ministry of Health (MoH) that relates to this visit or any reports or
further meetings that are related to this visit.
 
Please also provide all internal communications between any of the ADHB
staff named in 3(a) below related to this matter. For clarification
"communications" means emails (sent, received or cc'd), txt messages,
memos, notes, papers and minutes.
 
This request includes, but is not limited to:
1. Agenda, minutes and any audio/video recording of the 28th Nov meeting.
2. Any reports (interim and final) or Memos issued by NASO/MoH in response
to this meeting
3. Any emails or letters between ADHB senior staff and MoH/NASO staff in
response to this meeting or subsequent reports. For the purpose of this
request:
a. ADHB senior staff means Pat Sneddon, Ailsa Claire and Jo Gibbs.
b. MoH/NASO staff means David Clark, Ashley Bloomfield, Keriana Brooking,
Monique Burrows, Kathy Rex, Carleine Receveur, Peter Whisker, Barry
Woodmass.
c. Emails include any sent, received or cc'd to and/or from any of the
above named people.
4. The inclusive dates for this request are 1st Nov 2019 to 13th March
2020.
 
This request is essentially a repeat of your request of 2 March:
 
From: Shay McGuinness
[[1]mailto:[email address]]
Sent: Monday, 02 March 2020 10:07 a.m.
To: Ailsa Claire (ADHB)
Subject: Official Information request - Information related to the NASO
assurance team visit of 28th Nov 2019
 
Dear Auckland District Health Board,
 
Please provide all information you hold related to the visit of the NASO
Northern Region Helicopter Air Ambulance Assurance Team on the 28th Nov
2019 and any subsequent correspondence between Auckland District Health
Board (ADHB) and The National Ambulance Sector Office (NASO) and/or the
Ministry of Health (MoH) that relates to this visit or any reports or
further meetings that are related to this visit.
 
This request includes, but is not limited to:
1. Agenda, minutes and any audio/video recording of the 28th Nov meeting.
2. Any reports (interim and final) or Memos issued by NASO/MoH in response
to this meeting 3. Any emails or letters between ADHB senior staff and
MoH/NASO staff in response to this meeting or subsequent reports. For the
purpose of this request:
a. ADHB senior staff means Pat Sneddon, Ailsa Claire and Jo Gibbs.
b. MoH/NASO staff means David Clark, Ashley Bloomfield, Keriana Brooking,
Monique Burrows, Kathy Rex, Carleine Receveur, Peter Whisker, Barry
Woodmass.
c. Emails include any sent, received or cc'd to and/or from any of the
above named people.
d. The inclusive dates for this request are 1st Nov 2019 to 1st March
2020.
 
Your second request of 13 March:
 
From: Shay McGuinness <[email address]>
Date: 13 March 2020 at 6:45:43 PM NZDT
To: "Ailsa Claire (ADHB)" <[email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Communication between Auckland
District Health Board and the Ministry of Health about the provision of
helicopter air ambulance services in the Northern Region #2
Dear Auckland District Health Board,
 
Please provide all communications (Including but not limited to: emails,
letters, memos, reports, papers and text messages) between the following
senior individuals in the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Auckland District
Health Board (ADHB) regarding the provision of helicopter air ambulance
services.
 
Please also provide all internal ADHB communications between any of the
ADHB staff named below related to this matter. For clarification
"communications" means emails (sent, received or cc'd), txt messages,
memos, notes, papers and minutes.
 
ADHB
1. Ailsa Claire
2. Pat Sneddon
3. Joanne Gibbs
 
MoH
1. Hon David Clarke
2. Ashley Bloomfield
3. Keriana Brooking
4. Clare Perry
 
Note:
1. Applicable dates are 1/1/2019 to 13/3/2020
2. Emails include those sent, received or cc'd and include any
attachments.
 
Similarly repeats one of 10 March:
 
From: Shay McGuinness
[[2]mailto:[FOI #12423 email]]
Sent: Tuesday, 10 March 2020 11:02 a.m.
 
To: Ailsa Claire (ADHB)
Subject: Official Information request - Communication between Auckland
District Health Board and the Ministry of Health about the provision of
helicopter air ambulance services in the Northern Region
 
Dear Auckland District Health Board,
 
Please provide all communications (Including but not limited to: emails,
letters, memos, reports, papers and text messages) between the following
senior individuals in the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Auckland District
Health Board (ADHB) regarding the provision of helicopter air ambulance
services.
 
ADHB
1. Ailsa Claire
2. Pat Sneddon
3. Joanne Gibbs
 
MoH
1. Hon David Clarke
2. Ashley Bloomfield
3. Keriana Brooking
4. Clare Perry
 
Note:
1. Applicable dates are 1/1/2019 to 10/3/2020 2. Emails include those
sent, received or cc'd and include any attachments.
 
I am advised by the Ministry of Health they have received your two earlier
requests direct; this advice was given in response to Auckland DHB’s
decision to transfer those two requests to the Ministry under s14(b)(ii)
of the OIA - the information requested is more closely connected with the
functions of the Ministry.  The Ministry has also confirmed that both
your requests are currently being worked on by the Ministry. 
 
While the Act does not expressly address how an agency might address a
repeat request when the initial request is still outstanding, in this case
I believe Auckland DHB may properly consider that as the Ministry is
currently addressing your request it is not necessary for ADHB to work
through an OIA decision tree again.
Bruce Northey
General Counsel | Legal Services
Ph:  09 307 4949  Ext:  26876 | [mobile number] | [3][email address]
Auckland District Health Board | Level 2 | Building 16 | Greenlane
Clinical Centre        
Welcome  Haere Mai  |  Respect  Manaaki  |  Together  Tūhono |  Aim High 
Angamua
The information contained in this email and any attachments is legally
privileged and intended for the named recipients only. If you are not the
intended recipient, please delete this email and notify the sender
immediately.   Auckland DHB accepts no responsibility for changes made to
this email or to any attachments after it has been sent.
 
 
 

References

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1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[FOI #12423 email]
3. mailto:[email address]

Your query is a reasonable one. 
 
As noted in the referral letter the visit of the NASO Northern Region
Helicopter Air Ambulance Assurance Team occurred within a wider commission
that Team was undertaking for the Ministry of Health.  That is, ADHB’s
involvement, and thus any internal communications, are coloured by the
terms and nature of the commission as set by the Ministry.  So, while we
might have transferred only the substantive part of your request and used
s15(5) to consult with the Ministry over the residual part of your request
that referred to internal communications, we determined that s14 (b)(ii)
of the Official information Act should be applied to your entire request. 
We await advice from the Ministry on how ADHB might assist with your
request for internal communications.
 
I will take this opportunity to note that ADHB will be treating all your
requests about Air Ambulance matters as a single request, as they are
about the same or similar matters.  As stated in s18A of the Act, this
means that for the purposes of s18(f) of the Act – refusal of a request
that cannot be made without substantial collation or research, and
s18A(1)(a) – fixing a charge for the provision of information, we are
entitled to consider the endeavours taken to date in responding to your
requests when making a decision on both current and future requests.
Bruce Northey
General Counsel | Legal Services
Ph:  09 307 4949  Ext:  26876 | [mobile number] | [1][email address]
Auckland District Health Board | Level 2 | Building 16 | Greenlane
Clinical Centre        
Welcome  Haere Mai  |  Respect  Manaaki  |  Together  Tūhono |  Aim High 
Angamua
The information contained in this email and any attachments is legally
privileged and intended for the named recipients only. If you are not the
intended recipient, please delete this email and notify the sender
immediately.   Auckland DHB accepts no responsibility for changes made to
this email or to any attachments after it has been sent.
 

show quoted sections

I have been in discussions with the Office of the Ombudsman (Ombudsman)
over this Official Information Act (OIA) request and ADHB’s decision to
transfer it in its entirety to the Ministry of Health.
 
The Ombudsman had reviewed ADHB’s transfer of part of your original
request, namely:
 
Please also provide all internal communications between any of the ADHB
staff named in 3(a) below related to this matter. For clarification
"communications" means emails (sent, received or cc'd), txt messages,
memos, notes, papers and minutes.
 
3. a. ADHB senior staff means Pat Sneddon, Ailsa Claire and Jo Gibbs.
4. The inclusive dates for this request are 1st Nov 2019 to 13th March
2020.
 
The advice from the Ombudsman was that a transfer of this part would only
have been appropriate if ADHB had included in that referral all the
information requested that the Ministry did not then hold. As that did not
occur, it is appropriate that I apologise to you for not responding to
that part of the request as you suggested.
 
I have now made inquiries internally seeking the above information, with
the caveat that I would not need communications to or from MoH/NASO staff
as that part of the request was correctly transferred to the Ministry.
From discussions with the relevant Executive Assistants for the three
named ADHB officers, I have established that none of the three named were
participants or invitees to the visit of the NASO Northern Region
Helicopter Air Ambulance Assurance Team on the 28th Nov 2019.  You and
others were.  The named individuals thus never received any preliminary
papers and did not engage in any internal communications amongst
themselves regarding the visit either before or after it occurred. 
 
Pat Sneddon as chair in fact received no communications at all about the
visit; chief executive Ailsa Claire and Director of Provider Services Jo
Gibbs were cc into communications after the meeting by those who attended,
for example Jo Gibbs received the minutes.  All of the materials they
received were however covered in the request transferred to the Ministry.
 
My investigation has thus established that if ADHB had responded to the
above part of the request rather than transferring it, the response would
have been to cite s18(e) – the information requested does not exist. 
 
I again apologise for not providing this response originally.
Bruce Northey
General Counsel | Legal Services
Ph:  09 307 4949  Ext:  26876 | [mobile number] | [1][email address]
Auckland District Health Board | Level 2 | Building 16 | Greenlane
Clinical Centre       
Welcome  Haere Mai  |  Respect  Manaaki  |  Together  Tūhono |  Aim High 
Angamua
The information contained in this email and any attachments is legally
privileged and intended for the named recipients only. If you are not the
intended recipient, please delete this email and notify the sender
immediately.   Auckland DHB accepts no responsibility for changes made to
this email or to any attachments after it has been sent.
 
 

show quoted sections

I apologise for the unacceptable time it has taken me to progress your
request.  The oversight has been entirely mine as the task was delegated
to me and I have failed to progress it.

 

You asked for:

 

All communications (Including but not limited to: emails, letters, memos,
reports, papers and text messages) between the following senior
individuals in the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Auckland District Health
Board (ADHB) regarding the provision of helicopter air ambulance services.

 

Please also provide all internal ADHB communications between any of the
ADHB staff named below related to this matter. For clarification
"communications" means emails (sent, received or cc'd), txt messages,
memos, notes, papers and minutes.

ADHB

1. Ailsa Claire

2. Pat Sneddon

3. Joanne Gibbs

 

MoH

1. Hon David Clarke

2. Ashley Bloomfield

3. Keriana Brooking

4. Clare Perry

 

This request is, belatedly, in hand.  I again apologise.

 

However, as with the other request for communications between senior DHB
executives and their equivalents in the Ministry I would not be expecting
a significant volume. In contrast, we could provide you with >3000 pages
of communications released in response to an OIA request earlier this year
for communications between yourself and Jo Brown with Ministry officials,
or do you already have that information?

Bruce Northey
General Counsel | Legal Services
Ph:  09 307 4949  Ext:  26876 | [mobile number] | [1][email address]
Auckland District Health Board | Level 2 | Building 16 | Greenlane
Clinical Centre       

Welcome  Haere Mai  |  Respect  Manaaki  |  Together  Tūhono |  Aim High 
Angamua

The information contained in this email and any attachments is legally
privileged and intended for the named recipients only. If you are not the
intended recipient, please delete this email and notify the sender
immediately.   Auckland DHB accepts no responsibility for changes made to
this email or to any attachments after it has been sent.

 

 

show quoted sections

I have been advised by my colleagues that the residue of this request, the
balance was correctly transferred to the Ministry, being all internal ADHB
communications between Ailsa Claire, Pat Sneddon and Jo Gibbs between
1/1/2019 to 13/3/2020 regarding Air Ambulance services will require
research within their files for that period and collation of that
research.  As management and administrative resources to undertake this
work is unavailable are you able to refocus your request to limit the
request?

 

Thank you

Bruce Northey
General Counsel | Legal Services
Ph:  09 307 4949  Ext:  26876 | [mobile number] | [1][email address]
Auckland District Health Board | Level 2 | Building 16 | Greenlane
Clinical Centre       

Welcome  Haere Mai  |  Respect  Manaaki  |  Together  Tūhono |  Aim High 
Angamua

The information contained in this email and any attachments is legally
privileged and intended for the named recipients only. If you are not the
intended recipient, please delete this email and notify the sender
immediately.   Auckland DHB accepts no responsibility for changes made to
this email or to any attachments after it has been sent.

 

From: Bruce Northey (ADHB)
Sent: Monday, 17 August 2020 8:47 AM
To: '[FOI #12423 email]'
<[FOI #12423 email]>
Subject: Good morning Shay

 

I apologise for the unacceptable time it has taken me to progress your
request.  The oversight has been entirely mine as the task was delegated
to me and I have failed to progress it.

 

You asked for:

 

All communications (Including but not limited to: emails, letters, memos,
reports, papers and text messages) between the following senior
individuals in the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Auckland District Health
Board (ADHB) regarding the provision of helicopter air ambulance services.

 

Please also provide all internal ADHB communications between any of the
ADHB staff named below related to this matter. For clarification
"communications" means emails (sent, received or cc'd), txt messages,
memos, notes, papers and minutes.

ADHB

1. Ailsa Claire

2. Pat Sneddon

3. Joanne Gibbs

 

MoH

1. Hon David Clarke

2. Ashley Bloomfield

3. Keriana Brooking

4. Clare Perry

 

This request is, belatedly, in hand.  I again apologise.

 

However, as with the other request for communications between senior DHB
executives and their equivalents in the Ministry I would not be expecting
a significant volume. In contrast, we could provide you with >3000 pages
of communications released in response to an OIA request earlier this year
for communications between yourself and Jo Brown with Ministry officials,
or do you already have that information?

Bruce Northey
General Counsel | Legal Services
Ph:  09 307 4949  Ext:  26876 | [mobile number] | [2][email address]
Auckland District Health Board | Level 2 | Building 16 | Greenlane
Clinical Centre       

Welcome  Haere Mai  |  Respect  Manaaki  |  Together  Tūhono |  Aim High 
Angamua

The information contained in this email and any attachments is legally
privileged and intended for the named recipients only. If you are not the
intended recipient, please delete this email and notify the sender
immediately.   Auckland DHB accepts no responsibility for changes made to
this email or to any attachments after it has been sent.

 

 

show quoted sections

Please see attached our notification to you of the transfer of your
request to the Ministry.
 
Following my discussions with the Ombudsman, ADHB accepts that, as with
your other request that we transferred, the issue is that we needed to
have transferred with the request information not held by the Ministry,
namely:
 
Internal ADHB communications between any of the ADHB staff named below
between 1/1/2019 to 13/3/2020 regarding Air Ambulance services. For
clarification  "communications" means emails (sent, received or cc'd), txt
messages,  memos, notes, papers and minutes.
 
1. Ailsa Claire
2. Pat Sneddon
3. Joanne Gibbs
 
ADHB does not file text messages, and there will be no hard files of
memos, notes, papers and minutes.  So I am investigating emails, and have
received from the chair his file of emails from or to Ailsa and Jo Gibbs
on Air Ambulance services for the relevant period.  The number is not
extensive, so I should be able to remove any irrelevant emails, or emails
covered by the transfer to the Ministry, and send the balance to you
tomorrow.
 
This will leave communications between Ailsa and Jo.  The volume of emails
between these two is significant. Filtering for relevance to your request
will be a substantial task.  There is thus no ‘about face’; I do not
expect the final number of emails that fall within your request and are
not excluded because they involve the Ministry to be numerous. 
Bruce Northey
General Counsel | Legal Services
Ph:  09 307 4949  Ext:  26876 | [mobile number] | [1][email address]
Auckland District Health Board | Level 2 | Building 16 | Greenlane
Clinical Centre       
Welcome  Haere Mai  |  Respect  Manaaki  |  Together  Tūhono |  Aim High 
Angamua
The information contained in this email and any attachments is legally
privileged and intended for the named recipients only. If you are not the
intended recipient, please delete this email and notify the sender
immediately.   Auckland DHB accepts no responsibility for changes made to
this email or to any attachments after it has been sent.
 

show quoted sections

On Tuesday, 10 March 2020 11:02 a.m. you made an Official Information Act
(OIA) request via email to Ailsa Claire (ADHB) regarding - Communication
between Auckland District Health Board and the Ministry of Health about
the provision of helicopter air ambulance services in the Northern Region.
Specifically, you requested:
 
all communications (Including but not limited to: emails, letters, memos,
reports, papers and text messages) between the following senior
individuals in the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Auckland District Health
Board (ADHB) regarding the provision of helicopter air ambulance services.
 
ADHB
1. Ailsa Claire
2. Pat Sneddon
3. Joanne Gibbs
 
MoH
1. Hon David Clarke
2. Ashley Bloomfield
3. Keriana Brooking
4. Clare Perry
 
Note:
1. Applicable dates are 1/1/2019 to 10/3/2020 2. Emails include those
sent, received or cc'd and include any attachments.
 
This request was formally transferred to the Ministry under s14 OIA. 
However, following discussions with the Ombudsman, ADHB accepts that part
of your request was not correctly transferred, namely:
 
Internal ADHB communications between any of the ADHB staff named below
between 1/1/2019 to 13/3/2020 regarding Air Ambulance services. For
clarification  "communications" means emails (sent, received or cc'd), txt
messages,  memos, notes, papers and minutes.
 
1. Ailsa Claire
2. Pat Sneddon
3. Joanne Gibbs
 
ADHB does not file text messages, and there will be no hard files of
memos, notes, papers and minutes.   I thus have requested emails from the
above-named, and have received from Pat Sneddon, ADHB’s chair, emails from
or to Ailsa and Jo Gibbs on Air Ambulance services for the relevant
period.  These are attached.  I have removed from these emails
communications to or from the Ministry of Health, as these are covered by
the transfer to the Ministry, while other contents have been redacted for
the reasons stated.
 
In respect to communications between Ailsa Claire and Joanne Gibbs, I note
that the volume of emails between Ailsa, ADHB’s CE, and Joanne, ADHB’s
Director of Provider Services is significant. Filtering for relevance to
your request will thus be a substantial task, and with your declining to
refine your request and ADHB’s limited resource to undertake the related
research and collation that part of your request is declined under s18(f)
OIA.
 
Bruce Northey
General Counsel | Legal Services
Ph:  09 307 4949  Ext:  26876 | [mobile number] | [1][email address]
Auckland District Health Board | Level 2 | Building 16 | Greenlane
Clinical Centre       
Welcome  Haere Mai  |  Respect  Manaaki  |  Together  Tūhono |  Aim High 
Angamua
The information contained in this email and any attachments is legally
privileged and intended for the named recipients only. If you are not the
intended recipient, please delete this email and notify the sender
immediately.   Auckland DHB accepts no responsibility for changes made to
this email or to any attachments after it has been sent.
 
 
 

References

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Dear Shay

 

Please find below ADHB’s response to your OIA request dated 13 March 2020.

 

If you are unable to download the attachment, please do let me know.

 

 
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Kind regards

Priscilla

 

Priscilla Philip

Executive Assistant to Sue Waters, Chief Health Professions Officer

OIA Coordinator

DDI 09 307 4921 (24794) |  +64 21 870 171

Te Toka Tumai (Auckland District Health Board)| Level 12 | Building 01 |
Auckland City Hospital

Welcome  Haere Mai  |  Respect  Manaaki  |  Together  Tûhono |  Aim High 
Angamua

 

The information contained in this email and any attachments is
confidential and intended for the named recipients only. If you are not
the intended recipient, please delete this email and notify the sender
immediately.   Auckland DHB accepts no responsibility for changes made to
this email or to any attachments after it has been sent.

 

 

References

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