Count of t2-t3 bladder cancers treated with TURBT alone.
Jack Whitehead made this Official Information request to MidCentral District Health Board
The request was successful.
From: Jack Whitehead
Dear MidCentral District Health Board,
For bladder cancer patients in 2016, how many of those staged prior to treatment as likely T2-T3 were initially treated by transurethral resection of the tumor ?
I use "staged" to cover the assessment that determined the choice of treatment, however tentative and however informal the assessment may have been.
My own case establishes an N of at least one. This is documented in the letter of 2 Feb 2017 from Mr John Chrisp to my GP. Another urologist, Mr Chemasle, told me that he would have done exactly the same. The purpose of this request is to determine whether my case is an instance of a policy.
Yours faithfully,
Jack Whitehead (ERE6201)
From: OIA
MidCentral District Health Board
Thank you for your OIA request. We will endeavour to respond to it as soon as possible and in any event within the next 20 working days. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe. If any additional factors come to light which are relevant to your request, please do not hesitate to contact us so that these can be taken into account.
We operate a proactive release policy where the DHB publishes information on this website. As part of the policy we publish selected OIA responses that may be of public interest. We may publish the OIA response we send to you with your personal details redacted.
Regards, Zelda Rogers
Quality & Innovation Coordinator
################################################################################
Attention:
This e-mail message and any attachments contain information that is confidential and may be subject to Legal and Medical privilege.
If you are not the intended recipient, you must not peruse, use, pass on or copy this message or any attachments.
If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify us by return e-mail and erase all copies of this message including any attachments.
MidCentral District Health Board does not accept any liability in respect of any virus which is not detected.
This e-mail message has been scanned and cleared by MailMarshal
################################################################################
hide quoted sections
From: OIA
MidCentral District Health Board
Reply Whitehead OIA Y21 365 count of T2 T3 bladder cancers treated with TURBT alone.pdf
234K
Download
View as HTML
Dear Jack Whitehead
Attached is a reply to your OIA request received 29 March 2021
Regards
Zelda Rogers | Quality & Innovation Coordinator
l Zelda Rogers l Quality & Innovation Coordinator
l Quality Improvement & Assurance l Northside Building l
l MidCentral District Health Board l Private Bag 11036 l Palmerston
North 4442 l
l P: +64 (6) 350 8915 l F: +64 (6) 350 8544 l
[1]www.midcentraldhb.govt.nz l
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attention:
This e-mail message and any attachments contain information that is
confidential and may be subject to Legal and Medical privilege. If you
are not the intended recipient, you must not peruse, use, pass on or copy
this message or any attachments. If you have received this e-mail in
error, please notify us by return e-mail and erase all copies of this
message including any attachments. MidCentral District Health Board does
not accept any liability in respect of any virus which is not detected.
This e-mail message has been scanned and cleared by MailMarshal
[2]www.Trustwave.com
[3]Twitter [4]Facebook [5]You Tube [6]Google+
References
Visible links
1. http://www.midcentraldhb.govt.nz/
2. http://www.trustwave.com/
3. https://twitter.com/MidCentralDHB
4. http://www.facebook.com/MidCentralDHB
5. http://www.youtube.com/user/MidCentralDHB
6. https://plus.google.com/u/0/109469860195...
hide quoted sections
From: Jack Whitehead
Dear Ms Horgan
Thank you for your response.
You can readily get the information by asking each of the four consultant urologists on staff at the time for their individual count. With the exception of Mr Chrisp, the answer will almost certainly be zero; for Mr Chrisp we are trying to determine whether the count is N=1 or N>1 and if the latter to establish an approximate count.
While I am happy to discuss best practice for bladder cancer patients, it cannot substitute for the fulfillment of this OIA request. I have of course done the necessary reading.
Yours sincerely,
Jack Whitehead
From: Jack Whitehead
Dear Ms Hogan,
Given that the information I requested is readily available, it should have been supplied by 29 April.
Would you please give me an immediate update on what action you have taken since my email of 28 April. If the consultants have been asked for the information and not yet provided it, then the CEO needs to intervene to remind them of their legal duty.
Yours sincerely,
Jack Whitehead
From: OIA
MidCentral District Health Board
Official Information Act request.txt
0K
Download
View as HTML
Reply Whitehead OIA Y21 365 count of T2 T3 bladder cancers treated with TURBT alone.pdf
234K
Download
View as HTML
Good Morning Jack
As per the attached the reply to your OIA request was emailed 28/4/2021 8.46am
Regards
Zelda Rogers | Quality & Innovation Coordinator
-----Original Message-----
From: Jack Whitehead <[FOI #15016 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 5 May 2021 8:59 a.m.
To: OIA <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Official Information Act request
Dear Ms Hogan,
Given that the information I requested is readily available, it should have been supplied by 29 April.
Would you please give me an immediate update on what action you have taken since my email of 28 April. If the consultants have been asked for the information and not yet provided it, then the CEO needs to intervene to remind them of their legal duty.
Yours sincerely,
Jack Whitehead
-----Original Message-----
Dear Jack Whitehead
Attached is a reply to your OIA request received 29 March 2021
Regards
Zelda Rogers | Quality & Innovation Coordinator
l Zelda Rogers l Quality & Innovation Coordinator
l Quality Improvement & Assurance l Northside Building l l MidCentral District Health Board l Private Bag 11036 l Palmerston North 4442 l l P: +64 (6) 350 8915 l F: +64 (6) 350 8544 l [1]www.midcentraldhb.govt.nz l
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #15016 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
################################################################################
Attention:
This e-mail message and any attachments contain information that is confidential and may be subject to Legal and Medical privilege.
If you are not the intended recipient, you must not peruse, use, pass on or copy this message or any attachments.
If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify us by return e-mail and erase all copies of this message including any attachments.
MidCentral District Health Board does not accept any liability in respect of any virus which is not detected.
This e-mail message has been scanned and cleared by MailMarshal
################################################################################
hide quoted sections
From: Jack Whitehead
Dear Ms Rogers,
Yes, but you did not provide the information requested, despite it being readily available. Please answer my last email.
Yours sincerely,
Jack Whitehead
From: OIA
MidCentral District Health Board
further Reply Whitehead OIA Y21 365 count of T2 T3 bladder cancers treated with TURBT alone.pdf
194K
Download
View as HTML
Dear Jack
Attached is a reply to your email of 28 April 2021
Regards
Zelda Rogers | Quality & Innovation Coordinator
-----Original Message-----
From: Jack Whitehead <[FOI #15016 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 5 May 2021 10:10 a.m.
To: OIA <[email address]>
Subject: RE: Official Information Act request
Dear Ms Rogers,
Yes, but you did not provide the information requested, despite it being
readily available. Please answer my last email.
Yours sincerely,
Jack Whitehead
-----Original Message-----
Good Morning Jack
As per the attached the reply to your OIA request was emailed 28/4/2021
8.46am
Regards
Zelda Rogers | Quality & Innovation Coordinator
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #15016 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attention:
This e-mail message and any attachments contain information that is
confidential and may be subject to Legal and Medical privilege. If you
are not the intended recipient, you must not peruse, use, pass on or copy
this message or any attachments. If you have received this e-mail in
error, please notify us by return e-mail and erase all copies of this
message including any attachments. MidCentral District Health Board does
not accept any liability in respect of any virus which is not detected.
This e-mail message has been scanned and cleared by MailMarshal
[1]www.Trustwave.com
[2]Twitter [3]Facebook [4]You Tube [5]Google+
References
Visible links
1. http://www.trustwave.com/
2. https://twitter.com/MidCentralDHB
3. http://www.facebook.com/MidCentralDHB
4. http://www.youtube.com/user/MidCentralDHB
5. https://plus.google.com/u/0/109469860195...
hide quoted sections
From: Jack Whitehead
Dear Ms Horgen,
In your letter of 5 May, the consultants do not address my actual question but instead something wholly different. They form the question : "For what percentage of the cases of bladder cancer staged prior to treatment as likely T2-T3 did the staging involve a biopsy?".
To turn my question into one about biopsies, the consultants subsume staging under 'treatment'. In my question I explicitly exclude staging from 'treatment', and so exclude biopsies from surgical intervention as remedy. This is established by the fact that in the first sentence I precede "initially treated" with "staged prior to treatment", for to presume inconsistency within the same sentence would be absurd.
It cannot be claimed that my use of 'treatment' is misleading because non-standard; I lean on the Heritage Dictionary but I also note that in your letter of 23 April you too separate staging from 'treatment': "The TURBT procedure is performed for both staging and also treatment for bladder cancer."
While the distortion of 'treatment' is key, the morphing also involved replacing my "how many" with 'what percentage'. Without this distortion the above question about biopsies would yield meaningless data not information. Again, my question was clear and not misleading - as evidenced by your own correct use of "count" in the first paragraph of your letter of 5 May.
While strictly redundant to do so, it may perhaps clarify matters if I reexpress my question as:
What is the count of surgical interventions for bladder cancer in 2016 for which the following are both true ?
a. The staging that determined the intervention indicated a stage of T2-T3.
b. The intervention was a transurethral resection of the tumor.
Of course this reexpression is not intended to, and cannot, modify the original question in any way.
A less important but significant issue is that the question (in both original and revised expression) does not contain the word "alone" or similar. In other words, the literal wording does not exclude from the count any resections with concomitant non-surgical treatments, in particular chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
I hope this letter does the trick; please let me know if there are any problems.
Yours sincerely,
Jack Whitehead
From: OIA
MidCentral District Health Board
Dear Jack
Thank you for your OIA request. We will endeavour to respond to it as soon as possible and in any event within 20 working days. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe. If any additional factors come to light which are relevant to your request, please do not hesitate to contact us so that these can be taken into account.
We now have a dedicated email address for OIA requests - [MidCentral District Health Board request email] Feel free to use this for future inquiries.
l REBECCA OPIE l Quality & Innovation Team Coordinator
l Quality Improvement & Assurance l Northside Building l
l MidCentral District Health Board l Private Bag 11036 l Palmerston North 4442 l
-----Original Message-----
From: Jack Whitehead <[FOI #15016 email]>
Sent: Monday, 10 May 2021 8:00 a.m.
To: OIA <[email address]>
Subject: RE: Official Information Act request
Dear Ms Horgen,
In your letter of 5 May, the consultants do not address my actual question but instead something wholly different. They form the question : "For what percentage of the cases of bladder cancer staged prior to treatment as likely T2-T3 did the staging involve a biopsy?".
To turn my question into one about biopsies, the consultants subsume staging under 'treatment'. In my question I explicitly exclude staging from 'treatment', and so exclude biopsies from surgical intervention as remedy. This is established by the fact that in the first sentence I precede "initially treated" with "staged prior to treatment", for to presume inconsistency within the same sentence would be absurd.
It cannot be claimed that my use of 'treatment' is misleading because non-standard; I lean on the Heritage Dictionary but I also note that in your letter of 23 April you too separate staging from 'treatment': "The TURBT procedure is performed for both staging and also treatment for bladder cancer."
While the distortion of 'treatment' is key, the morphing also involved replacing my "how many" with 'what percentage'. Without this distortion the above question about biopsies would yield meaningless data not information. Again, my question was clear and not misleading - as evidenced by your own correct use of "count" in the first paragraph of your letter of 5 May.
While strictly redundant to do so, it may perhaps clarify matters if I reexpress my question as:
What is the count of surgical interventions for bladder cancer in 2016 for which the following are both true ?
a. The staging that determined the intervention indicated a stage of T2-T3.
b. The intervention was a transurethral resection of the tumor.
Of course this reexpression is not intended to, and cannot, modify the original question in any way.
A less important but significant issue is that the question (in both original and revised expression) does not contain the word "alone" or similar. In other words, the literal wording does not exclude from the count any resections with concomitant non-surgical treatments, in particular chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
I hope this letter does the trick; please let me know if there are any problems.
Yours sincerely,
Jack Whitehead
-----Original Message-----
Dear Jack
Attached is a reply to your email of 28 April 2021
Regards
Zelda Rogers | Quality & Innovation Coordinator
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #15016 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
################################################################################
Attention:
This e-mail message and any attachments contain information that is confidential and may be subject to Legal and Medical privilege.
If you are not the intended recipient, you must not peruse, use, pass on or copy this message or any attachments.
If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify us by return e-mail and erase all copies of this message including any attachments.
MidCentral District Health Board does not accept any liability in respect of any virus which is not detected.
This e-mail message has been scanned and cleared by MailMarshal
################################################################################
hide quoted sections
From: Jack Whitehead
Dear Ms Opie,
I have not made a fresh request. Neither have I made any modifications. I have merely tried to rectify a gross misreading of my request. Accordingly the due by date for a response remains 29 April.
Yours sincerely,
Jack Whitehead
From: OIA
MidCentral District Health Board
OIA Jack Whitehead count of T2 T3 bladder cancers treated with TURBT 120521.doc.pdf
236K
Download
View as HTML
Dear Jack
Attached is a reply to your email request of 10 May 2021 and our telephone
conversation of yesterday
Regards
Zelda Rogers | Quality & Innovation Coordinator
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attention:
This e-mail message and any attachments contain information that is
confidential and may be subject to Legal and Medical privilege. If you
are not the intended recipient, you must not peruse, use, pass on or copy
this message or any attachments. If you have received this e-mail in
error, please notify us by return e-mail and erase all copies of this
message including any attachments. MidCentral District Health Board does
not accept any liability in respect of any virus which is not detected.
This e-mail message has been scanned and cleared by MailMarshal
[1]www.Trustwave.com
[2]Twitter [3]Facebook [4]You Tube [5]Google+
References
Visible links
1. http://www.trustwave.com/
2. https://twitter.com/MidCentralDHB
3. http://www.facebook.com/MidCentralDHB
4. http://www.youtube.com/user/MidCentralDHB
5. https://plus.google.com/u/0/109469860195...
hide quoted sections
From: Jack Whitehead
Dear Ms Horgan,
Your determination to answer a different question must be taken as a refusal of my request.
Yours sincerely,
Jack Whitehead
From: OIA
MidCentral District Health Board
Reply Whitehead OIA Y21 569 Count of T2 T3 bladder cancers treated with TURBT follow up response.doc.pdf
211K
Download
View as HTML
Good Afternoon Mr Whitehead
Please find a further response to your OIA request.
Kind Regards
Rebecca Opie
Quality & Innovation Team Coordinator
-----Original Message-----
From: Jack Whitehead <[FOI #15016 email]>
Sent: Thursday, 13 May 2021 5:36 p.m.
To: OIA <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Official Information Act request
Dear Ms Horgan,
Your determination to answer a different question must be taken as a refusal of my request.
Yours sincerely,
Jack Whitehead
-----Original Message-----
Dear Jack
Attached is a reply to your email request of 10 May 2021 and our telephone conversation of yesterday
Regards
Zelda Rogers | Quality & Innovation Coordinator
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #15016 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
################################################################################
Attention:
This e-mail message and any attachments contain information that is confidential and may be subject to Legal and Medical privilege.
If you are not the intended recipient, you must not peruse, use, pass on or copy this message or any attachments.
If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify us by return e-mail and erase all copies of this message including any attachments.
MidCentral District Health Board does not accept any liability in respect of any virus which is not detected.
This e-mail message has been scanned and cleared by MailMarshal
################################################################################
hide quoted sections
From: Jack Whitehead
Dear Ms Opie,
From your last response I now realize that you have answered my request. I interpret your letter to mean that T2-T3 bladder cancer patients generally undergo a TURBT in which there is a "full resection" of tumor mass and where the removal of that mass is not solely a means to biopsy collection and staging but has direct value as treatment. If I misunderstand, please correct me.
My request was aimed at determining the number of T2-T3 cases in which the whole tumor was removed transurethrally and the standard treatment of cystectomy did not occur. Clearly I was pursuing the wrong question.
Thank you for your help in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Jack Whitehead
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence
Offensive? Unsuitable?
Requests for personal information and vexatious requests are not considered valid requests for Official Information (read more).
If you believe this request is not suitable, you can report it for attention by the site administrators
Report this requestAct on what you've learnt
Similar requests
Thyroid guidelines/policies, citation lists & monitoring (Capital & Coast DHB)
To Capital and Coast District Health Board by Belinda Hodson
