Best Practice: Archiving, Storage, Biobanking of Human Tissue for Diagnostic Purposes
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended) made this Official Information request to Taranaki District Health Board
Response to this request is long overdue. By law Taranaki District Health Board should have responded by now (details and exceptions). The requester can complain to the Ombudsman.
From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended)
Dear DHB,
Request 1:
I am writing to request a copy of the your DHB's 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 your DHB's protocol.
Request 2:
Is your DHB protocol for the archiving, storage, or biobanking of human tissue for diagnostic purposes, whether they are formalin fixed, paraffin embedded or pathology slides, based on a universally adopted standard within NZ or has your DHB determined its own policy.
Request 3:
Please explain the potential hazards of leaving formalin fixed, paraffin embedded or pathology slides in an unsecure, non-temperature and non-humidity regulated environment for 2 months over a NZ summer: say a on an employee's desk which is open to the public and in a repurposed house adjacent to the hospital from mid December to late February.
Request 4:
Please provide me with the name of the independent agency or agencies which provides oversight for your medical laboratory.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter. Please note, I have made this same request to every DHB in NZ in order to ascertain if there is a universal standard within NZ and also to determine if every DHB is familiar with the hazards associated with mishandling of pathology specimens.
Yours faithfully,
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt
From: Jenny McLennan [TDHB]
Taranaki District Health Board
Good Morning - This is to acknowledge receipt of your OIA request and to advise that you can expect to receive a response on or before 21 April. Please note that this response timeline provides for Easter which has two 'not working' days.
It should be noted that many key staff involved with the sourcing and preparation of material for your OIA request may also be directly involved with work associated with COVID-19.
This may impact on our ability to respond to certain OIA requests within normal time frames. We will notify you if this is the case.
Regards
Jenny McLennan
Personal Assistant to
Rosemary Clements
Chief Executive
T
06 753 7781
M
027 3444 214
E
[email address]
W
www.tdhb.org.nz
Taranaki District Health Board, David Street, Private Bag 2016, New Plymouth 4342
Taranaki Together, a Healthy Community Taranaki Whanui He Rohe Oranga
show quoted sections
From: Jenny McLennan [TDHB]
Taranaki District Health Board
Good Morning – Further to my previous email of 25 March acknowledging
receipt of your two OIA requests and advising that you could expect to
receive a response on or before 21 April we would now like to formally
decline your requests in accordance with the Official Information Act.
At this time we, along with other DHBs and many other agencies have
diverted significant resources across the organisation to support the
COVID-19 response.
Taranaki DHB is unable to respond to your request under 18(f) of the
Official Information Act, as the information cannot be made available with
the same are people tasked with efforts for the COVID-19 response. Both
your requests are associated with Laboratory Services who are heavily
involved in the COVID-19 response. Taranaki DHB is not in a position to
commit the resources required to respond to your request at this time. It
is also not reasonable to extend the timeframe to respond at this time.
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review any decision made under this request.
The health sector is working hard to ensure that the public is informed
about COVID-19, with information updated daily on the Ministry of Health’s
website at: [1]www.health.govt.nz
Regards
Jenny McLennan
Personal Assistant to
Rosemary Clements
Chief Executive
T 06 753 7781
M 027 3444 214
E [2][email address]
W [3]www.tdhb.org.nz
Taranaki District Health Board, David Street, Private Bag 2016, New
Plymouth 4342
Taranaki Together, a Healthy Community Taranaki Whanui He Rohe Oranga
[4]Te%20Ahu%20Taranaki%20DHB%20Values%20Email%20Signature
Taranaki DHB has a policy on acceptable use of email. If the content of
this
message is inappropriate or breaches your organisation's policy, please
contact the IT Service Desk to register a complaint.
Email: [5][email address]
This email has been scrubbed for your protection by SMX. For more
information visit [6]smxemail.com
References
Visible links
1. http://www.health.govt.nz/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.tdhb.org.nz/ http://www.healthintelligence.org.nz/ http://www.telecom.co.nz/
http://www.tdhb.org.nz/
5. mailto:[email address]
6. http://smxemail.com/
From: Jenny McLennan [TDHB]
Taranaki District Health Board
Good Morning – Further to my previous email of 25 March acknowledging
receipt of your two OIA requests and advising that you could expect to
receive a response on or before 21 April we would now like to formally
decline your requests in accordance with the Official Information Act.
At this time we, along with other DHBs and many other agencies have
diverted significant resources across the organisation to support the
COVID-19 response.
Taranaki DHB is unable to respond to your request under 18(f) of the
Official Information Act, as the information cannot be made available with
the same are people tasked with efforts for the COVID-19 response. Both
your requests are associated with Laboratory Services who are heavily
involved in the COVID-19 response. Taranaki DHB is not in a position to
commit the resources required to respond to your request at this time. It
is also not reasonable to extend the timeframe to respond at this time.
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review any decision made under this request.
The health sector is working hard to ensure that the public is informed
about COVID-19, with information updated daily on the Ministry of Health’s
website at: [1]www.health.govt.nz
Regards
Jenny McLennan
Personal Assistant to
Rosemary Clements
Chief Executive
T 06 753 7781
M 027 3444 214
E [2][email address]
W [3]www.tdhb.org.nz
Taranaki District Health Board, David Street, Private Bag 2016, New
Plymouth 4342
Taranaki Together, a Healthy Community Taranaki Whanui He Rohe Oranga
[4]Te%20Ahu%20Taranaki%20DHB%20Values%20Email%20Signature
Taranaki DHB has a policy on acceptable use of email. If the content of
this
message is inappropriate or breaches your organisation's policy, please
contact the IT Service Desk to register a complaint.
Email: [5][email address]
This email has been scrubbed for your protection by SMX. For more
information visit [6]smxemail.com
References
Visible links
1. http://www.health.govt.nz/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.tdhb.org.nz/ http://www.healthintelligence.org.nz/ http://www.telecom.co.nz/
http://www.tdhb.org.nz/
5. mailto:[email address]
6. http://smxemail.com/
From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended)
Dear Jenny McLennan [TDHB],
This is a gentle reminder that I am still waiting for the information in my OIA request. In the event that your DHB contracts out their pathology services, then I respectfully request that your DHB transfer my OIA request to the appropriate agency, pursuant to section 14 of the OIA.
I appreciate that Covid-19 has caused delay in responses from DHB's, however, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the OIA has conditions which must be met before invoking section 18(f) of the act. As you will find, your DHB has not met the conditions outlined in section 18B of the Act, and therefore, refusal under section 18(f) is not applicable.
Yours sincerely,
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt
From: Jenny McLennan [TDHB]
Taranaki District Health Board
Good Afternoon - You are correct that we have moved through, or continue to move through the COVID-19 pandemic. As below your request was originally declined due to COVID-19. If you would like to make a further formal OIA request please re submit your questions for consideration.
Thank you
Regards
Jenny McLennan
Personal Assistant to
Rosemary Clements
Chief Executive
T
06 753 7781
M
027 3444 214
E
[email address]
W
www.tdhb.org.nz
Taranaki District Health Board, David Street, Private Bag 2016, New Plymouth 4342
Taranaki Together, a Healthy Community Taranaki Whanui He Rohe Oranga
show quoted sections
From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended)
Dear Jenny McLennan [TDHB],
The decline of my first request was inconsistent with your legal obligation under section 18B. I had not raised the issue directly with you immediately, as it was reasonable to provide additional time for response given the COVID-19 pandemic. Given this is no longer a hindrance, my request still stands.
Again, I request that you please answer my initial request within 20 working days of my follow up reminder. Given you have responded to this request, you clearly still have the information and this appears as a way to create unnecessary and work and delay.
Yours sincerely,
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt
From: Jenny McLennan [TDHB]
Taranaki District Health Board
Good Morning Amy - I did respond to you directly confirming that we had previously declined your request due to COVID restrictions at the time and at the same time asked if you wanted to make a further formal request to please resubmit.
Please confirm by return email if you would like to submit an OIA and please confirm the questions you are now asking.
At the moment we have one OIA request from you underway - your email of 30 May with three requests noted. A response to this request is due to you 30 June 2020.
Thank you.
Regards
Jenny McLennan
Personal Assistant to
Rosemary Clements
Chief Executive
T
06 753 7781
M
027 3444 214
E
[email address]
W
www.tdhb.org.nz
Taranaki District Health Board, David Street, Private Bag 2016, New Plymouth 4342
Taranaki Together, a Healthy Community Taranaki Whanui He Rohe Oranga
show quoted sections
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A complaint was lodged with the Ombudsman on 17 June 2020.
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