Best Practice: Archiving, Storage, Biobanking of Human Tissue for Diagnostic Purposes

Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended) made this Official Information request to Capital and Coast District Health Board

The request was successful.

From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended)

Dear Capital and Coast District Health Board,

Request 1:
I am writing to request a copy of the CCDHB best practice protocol for the archiving, storage, or biobanking of human tissue for diagnostic purposes, whether they are formalin fixed, paraffin embedded or pathology slides, and the standards, legislation or scientific evidence which provides the basis for the CCDHB protocol.

Request 2:
Is the CCDHB best practice protocol for the archiving, storage, or biobanking of human tissue for diagnostic purposes, whether they are formalin fixed, paraffin embedded or pathology slides, is a standard which is universally adopted by all NZ DHB's and medical laboratories, or does each DHB or medical laboratory determine their own best practice?

Request 3:
Please explain the potential hazards of leaving formalin fixed, paraffin embedded or pathology slides in an unsecure, non-temperature regulated environment (say a on an employee's desk outside of the laboratory) for 2 months.

Request 4:
Please provide me with the name of the independent agency or agencies which provides oversight for medical laboratories in NZ.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter. Please note, this request is for my information and is not a reflection upon the practices at CCDHB but to ascertain if there is a universal standard within NZ. I will be making this same request to every DHB in NZ.

Kindest regards,
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt
(A NZ Citizen)

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From: Catherine Stewart [CCDHB]
Capital and Coast District Health Board

Dear Amy

 

Thank you for your request for official information, received by Capital &
Coast District Health Board on 11 March 2020.

 

Your request has been received and logged. As required under the Official
Information Act 1982, we will respond to your request within 20 working
days. You should receive a response on or before 8 April 2020.

 

If a large amount of information has been requested or if the district
health board needs to consult in order to make a decision, we may need to
extend this date (this is provided for in section 15A of the Act). We will
advise you if such an extension is necessary.

 

Capital & Coast District Health Board provides the first five hours of
staff time to prepare a response free-of-charge. If your OIA is expected
to take longer, we will inform you of the charges, and give you the
opportunity to change or refine the request to reduce or remove the need
to charge.

 

Our reference number for your request is: 2020/051.

 

Thank you

 

Catherine Stewart

Correspondence Officer to the Office of the Chief Executive | Capital &
Coast District Health Board | Ūpoko ki te uru hauora | [1]www.ccdhb.org.nz
| [2]www.facebook.com/CCDHB

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.ccdhb.org.nz/
2. http://www.facebook.com/CCDHB

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From: Catherine Stewart [CCDHB]
Capital and Coast District Health Board

Dear Amy

 

I refer to your request for official information, originally received by
Capital & Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) on 1 March 2020. Our
response is due today, 8 April 2020.

 

This email is to notify you that there is a delay in responding to your
request. Our response to your request will be sent to you as soon as is
reasonably practicable. However, please note that right now, dealing with
COVID-19 for our health system and communities must take priority.

 

This is necessary because many key CCDHB staff involved with the sourcing
and preparation of material for your request are also directly involved
with work associated with COVID-19. This has impacted our ability to
respond to your OIA request within normal time frames.

 

CCDHB recognises the importance of a flow of information, therefore we
apologise for any inconvenience caused, and hope you will understand the
delay given the circumstances.

 

Given the ever-evolving nature of the current climate, we are unable to
provide an exact date by which we can respond to your request. However, we
will provide you with an update on the status of your request for
information on 30 April 2020 – this being five working days after the
forecast final day of the nationwide lockdown.

 

In the meantime, as a requester, we would invite you to consider
withdrawing your request and resubmitting it at a later date.

 

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of
this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
[1]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or free phone 0800 802 602.

 

If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request with us, including this
decision, please feel free to reply to this email, or contact me at
[2][email address].

 

Thank you

 

Catherine Stewart

Correspondence Officer to the Office of the Chief Executive | Capital &
Coast District Health Board | Ûpoko ki te uru hauora | [3]www.ccdhb.org.nz
| [4]www.facebook.com/CCDHB

References

Visible links
1. http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.ccdhb.org.nz/
4. http://www.facebook.com/CCDHB

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From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended)

Dear Catherine Stewart [CCDHB],

This is gentle reminder that I am still awaiting the information I requested in March. I understand that due to Covid-19 a number of responses have been delayed, however I trust that there will be no further need for delay.

Yours sincerely,

Amy S Van Wey Lovatt

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From: Catherine Stewart [CCDHB]
Capital and Coast District Health Board


Attachment H20 21 46 Response.pdf
564K Download View as HTML

Attachment FW OIA request H20 21 45 and H20 21 46.html
5K Download

Attachment H20 21 45 Response Appendix 1 Provision of second opinions with particular reference to morphological examination.pdf
165K Download View as HTML

Attachment H20 21 45 Response.pdf
495K Download View as HTML


Good afternoon Amy

Thank you for your email below.

A response to your request OIA 2020/051 was sent to you as a joint Hutt Valley and Capital & Coast District Health Board (DHB) response from Hutt Valley District Health Board on 4 May 2020.

The Hutt Valley DHB reference number was H20_21-46, and the Capital & Coast reference number was 2020/051.

The two DHBs often work closely together behind the scenes in a number of areas. Because much of our information is shared, we often provide a joint response to requesters. We sincerely apologise for any confusion caused.

I have attached the joint response that was sent to you on 4 May 2020, as well as the actual email that was sent to you.

Thank you

Catherine Stewart
Correspondence Officer to the Office of the Chief Executive | Capital & Coast District Health Board | Ūpoko ki te uru hauora | www.ccdhb.org.nz | www.facebook.com/CCDHB

-----Original Message-----
From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt <[FOI #12430 email]>
Sent: Friday, 29 May 2020 3:41 PM
To: Catherine Stewart [CCDHB] <[email address]>
Subject: Re: 2020/051 Delay

Dear Catherine Stewart [CCDHB],

This is gentle reminder that I am still awaiting the information I requested in March. I understand that due to Covid-19 a number of responses have been delayed, however I trust that there will be no further need for delay.

Yours sincerely,

Amy S Van Wey Lovatt

-----Original Message-----

Dear Amy

 

I refer to your request for official information, originally received by Capital & Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) on 1 March 2020. Our response is due today, 8 April 2020.

 

This email is to notify you that there is a delay in responding to your request. Our response to your request will be sent to you as soon as is reasonably practicable. However, please note that right now, dealing with
COVID-19 for our health system and communities must take priority.

 

This is necessary because many key CCDHB staff involved with the sourcing and preparation of material for your request are also directly involved with work associated with COVID-19. This has impacted our ability to respond to your OIA request within normal time frames.

 

CCDHB recognises the importance of a flow of information, therefore we apologise for any inconvenience caused, and hope you will understand the delay given the circumstances.

 

Given the ever-evolving nature of the current climate, we are unable to provide an exact date by which we can respond to your request. However, we will provide you with an update on the status of your request for information on 30 April 2020 – this being five working days after the forecast final day of the nationwide lockdown.

 

In the meantime, as a requester, we would invite you to consider withdrawing your request and resubmitting it at a later date.

 

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at [1]https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.o... or free phone 0800 802 602.

 

If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request with us, including this decision, please feel free to reply to this email, or contact me at [2][email address].

 

Thank you

 

Catherine Stewart

Correspondence Officer to the Office of the Chief Executive | Capital & Coast District Health Board | Ûpoko ki te uru hauora | [3]http://www.ccdhb.org.nz | [4]https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.f...

References

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2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.ccdhb.org.nz/
4. https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.f...

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From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended)

Dear Catherine Stewart [CCDHB],

Thank you very much for your quick response and uploading the information directly to this request. I appologize for not having recalled it was a double response. It is a bit challenging to keep track of responses from all 20 DHB's, so I do really appreciate you taking the time to attach the joint response to both DHB requests.

Thank you again for providing me with the requested information.

Yours sincerely,

Amy S Van Wey Lovatt

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Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Capital and Coast District Health Board only: