Critical Incident Reports Received from Waikato DHB

Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended) made this Official Information request to Ministry of Health

Response to this request is long overdue. By law Ministry of Health should have responded by now (details and exceptions). The requester can complain to the Ombudsman.

From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended)

Dear Ministry of Health,

According to section 31(5) of the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001:

A person certified to provide health care services of any kind must promptly give the Director-General written notice of—
(a) any incident or situation (for example, a fire, flood, or failure of equipment or facilities) that has put at risk, may have put at risk, puts at risk, or may be putting at risk the health or safety of people for whom the person was or is providing the services; and
(b) any investigation commenced by a constable into any aspect of the services, their provision, or any premises in which they were provided; and
(c) any death of a person to whom the person was providing the services, or occurring in any premises in which they were provided, that is required to be reported to a coroner under the Coroners Act 2006.

The Act defines the Director-General as the CE of the Ministry. The Ministry being the Ministry of Health.

According to the MoH website, critical incidents are to be reported "to the Ministry of Health as soon as practical within 24 hours", using the Critical Incident Reporting Form. https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/disa...

I am requesting copies of ALL critical incidents reported to the MoH by Waikato DHB, between 1 January 2018 to 26 July 2021.

I also request copies of ALL critical incidents reported to the MoH in which the critical incident occurred at Waikato DHB, yet was submitted by another agency or person, between 1 January 2018 to 26 July 2021.

I ask that you please redact personal information about patients, to protect their identity. I request that the documents be in electronic form, submitted through FYI.org.nz.

I ask that my request not be transferred to Waikato DHB, as I am only interested in the documents submitted to the Ministry of Health in accordance with the Act. If Waikato DHB has not submitted any critical incident forms to the Ministry of Health during that time period, as mandated under section 31 of the Act, then please say so. If no person or other agency has submitted any incident reports during that time period, which involved Waikato DHB, then please say so.

I note that if the MoH has received such incident reports, they are mandated to keep them for a minimum of 25 years under the Public Records Act. In the event that incident reports, which involved Waikato DHB, were submitted to the MoH and yet are no longer held by the MoH, then I request the name of the agency who holds those documents.

Thanks.

Amy S Van Wey Lovatt, PhD

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From: OIA Requests


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Kia ora Amy

 

Thank you for your request for official information received on 26 July
2021 for:

 

" According to section 31(5) of the Health and Disability Services
(Safety) Act 2001:

A person certified to provide health care services of any kind must
promptly give the Director-General written notice of—
(a) any incident or situation (for example, a fire, flood, or failure of
equipment or facilities) that has put at risk, may have put at risk, puts
at risk, or may be putting at risk the health or safety of people for whom
the person was or is providing the services; and
(b) any investigation commenced by a constable into any aspect of the
services, their provision, or any premises in which they were provided;
and
(c) any death of a person to whom the person was providing the services,
or occurring in any premises in which they were provided, that is required
to be reported to a coroner under the Coroners Act 2006.

The Act defines the Director-General as the CE of the Ministry. The
Ministry being the Ministry of Health.

According to the MoH website, critical incidents are to be reported "to
the Ministry of Health as soon as practical within 24 hours", using the
Critical Incident Reporting Form.
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/disa...

I am requesting copies of ALL critical incidents reported to the MoH by
Waikato DHB, between 1 January 2018 to 26 July 2021.

I also request copies of ALL critical incidents reported to the MoH in
which the critical incident occurred at Waikato DHB, yet was submitted by
another agency or person, between 1 January 2018 to 26 July 2021.

I ask that you please redact personal information about patients, to
protect their identity. I request that the documents be in electronic
form, submitted through
http://scanmail.trustwave.com/?c=15517&a...

I ask that my request not be transferred to Waikato DHB, as I am only
interested in the documents submitted to the Ministry of Health in
accordance with the Act. If Waikato DHB has not submitted any critical
incident forms to the Ministry of Health during that time period, as
mandated under section 31 of the Act, then please say so. If no person or
other agency has submitted any incident reports during that time period,
which involved Waikato DHB, then please say so.

I note that if the MoH has received such incident reports, they are
mandated to keep them for a minimum of 25 years under the Public Records
Act. In the event that incident reports, which involved Waikato DHB, were
submitted to the MoH and yet are no longer held by the MoH, then I request
the name of the agency who holds those documents. "

 

The Ministry's reference number for your request is: H202109412.

 

As required under the Official Information Act 1982, the Ministry will
endeavour to respond to your request no later than 23 August 2021, being
20 working days after the day your request was received.

 

If we are unable to respond to your request within this time frame, we
will notify you of an extension of that time frame.

 

If you have any queries related to this request, please do not hesitate to
get in touch.

 

Ngâ mihi

 

OIA Services

Government Services

Office of the Director-General

Ministry of Health

E: [email address]

 

 

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From: OIA Requests


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Attachment H202109412 Response letter.pdf
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Kia ora Amy,

 

Please find attached a letter regarding your request for information.

 

Nga mihi,

 

OIA Services

Government Services

Office of the Director-General

Ministry of Health

E: [email address]

 

 

****************************************************************************
Statement of confidentiality: This e-mail message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege.
If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use, disseminate,
distribute or copy this message or attachments.
If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender
immediately and delete this message.
****************************************************************************

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From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended)

Dear OIA Requests,

Thank you for your response; however I am quite confused by it. It is not my intent to be vexatious. I am only trying to obtain information, as is my right under the OIA and section 14 of the NZ Bill of Rights.

On 26 July 2021, I requested the following:
(1) copies of ALL critical incidents reported to the MoH by Waikato DHB, between 1 January 2018 to 26 July 2021.
(2) copies of ALL critical incidents reported to the MoH in which the critical incident occurred at Waikato DHB, yet was submitted by another agency or person, between 1 January 2018 to 26 July 2021.

I asked that you please redact personal information about patients, to protect their identity. I requested that the documents be in electronic form, submitted through FYI.org.nz.

Perhaps there has been some confusion in the understanding of my request, and I ask under section 13 of the OIA for your assistance to find the requested information.

I am seeking copies of all reported incidents or situations “that has put at risk, may have put at risk, puts at risk, or may be putting at risk the health or safety of people for whom the person was or is providing the services” or “any investigation commenced by a constable into any aspect of the services, their provision, or any premises in which they were provided” which were reported to the MoH by any persons or agencies, which involved Waikato DHB, between 1 January 2018 to 26 July 2021.

The information I request is information which must be reported to the MoH pursuant to section 31(5) of the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001. The information I request is information which must be reported by any persons who provide “provide health care services of any kind”, which would include DHBs and employees of DHBs, according to section 31(5) of the Act.

As I have requested that all personal information be redacted, section 9(2)(a) is not a legitimate reason for refusing my request.

Again, I request your assistance in obtaining the requested information. If there is any ambiguity or misunderstanding, I request that you please contact me so that I do not appear vexatious. Like I said, I only want the information that has been reported to the MoH pursuant to section 31(5) of the Act, which involves incidents with Waikato DHB. To protect individuals privacy, I have asked for the MoH to redact any personal identification information.

Yours sincerely,

Amy S Van Wey Lovatt

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From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended)

Dear OIA Requests,

I also forgot to mention in my response that Rebecca Chivers, of the Office of the Ombudsman, advised me to submit a new OIA request to the MoH for the documented incidents at Waikato DHB - the incidents reported to the Director General pursuant to the aforementioned Act. Thus, I do not think the Ombudsman would be impressed if the MoH treated their recommendations as vexatious.

Further, on 27 July 2021, I was advised by Antony, at the Ministry of Health, to repeat my request in writing. I recorded this phone conversation and will be pleased to send this recorded conversation to you. I have not made it public since it includes private information about me.

Again, I do not think the Ombudsman would be impressed if the MoH considered my request for information to be vexatious, when the MoH advised me to make the request for this information in writing on 27 July 2021.

Regards,

Amy S Van Wey Lovatt

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From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended)

Dear OIA Requests,

Correction: The recorded conversation with the MoH was on 26 July 2021, the date I had submitted the request via FYI.org.nz.

Yours sincerely,

Amy S Van Wey Lovatt

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Things to do with this request

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