Policy on requests from third party providers of pathology specimens for second opinion
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended) made this Official Information request to Wairarapa District Health Board
The request was successful.
From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended)
Dear DHB,
I am a New Zealand citizen, which is demonstrated by the fact that the MoH has already confirmed my citizenship prior to responding to my OIA requests (or a google search of my name).
The Royal College of Pathologists Australasia has a policy titled "Provision of second opinions with particular reference to morphological examination", which addresses the best practice with regards to referral for second and subsequent opinion of pathology specimens.
Request 1:
I respectfully request your DHB's policy on second opinions requested by a third party who is a medical practitioner currently involved in the medical care of the patient from whom the pathological material was originally obtained.
Request 2:
In the event that your DHB deviates from the aforementioned RCPA policy, I request an explanation for why your DHB deviates from best practice.
Please note, my request does not reflect the standard of care provided at your DHB, but is to ascertain whether there is consistent adherence to RCPA best practice amongst all NZ DHBs.
Yours faithfully,
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt
From: OIA Request [WrDHB]
Wairarapa District Health Board
Dear Amy
Official information request.
I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your official information request
dated 22 March regarding the Policy on requests from third party providers
of pathology specimens for second opinion.
It should be noted that many key staff involved with the sourcing and
preparation of material for your OIA request are also directly involved
with work associated with COVID-19.
This may impact on our ability to respond to certain OIA requests within
normal timeframes. If this is the case we will notify you as soon
practical.
We received your request on 23 March. We will endeavour to respond to your
request as soon as possible and in any event no later than 22 April, being
20 working days after the day your request was received. If we are unable
to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of
that timeframe.
If the information requested cannot be made available without substantial
collation, under section 18(f) and section 18A(1)(a) of the Official
Information Act 1982 we may refuse the request or fix a charge under
section 15. If your request falls into this category we will inform you as
soon as possible.
If any additional factors come to light that are relevant to your request,
please do not hesitate to contact us so that these can be taken into
account.
Please note that, like all DHBs across New Zealand, Wairarapa DHB has
adopted a model of proactive disclosure which sees OIA responses publicly
available on our website no less than one week after they have been
released.
If you believe there are any special reasons why proactive disclosure
should not apply to your response, we will be happy to consider this.
Yours sincerely
Caroline van Deventer
Communications Administrator
From: OIA Request [WrDHB]
Wairarapa District Health Board
Hi
Please find attached the signed response to your OIA request.
Many thanks
Caroline van Deventer
OIA administrator
From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended)
Dear OIA Request [WrDHB],
I would like to thank you for your response to my OIA request. Given that WrDHB contracts out their pathology services, I respectfully request WrDHB transfer my request to the appropriate agency, pursuant to section 14 of the OIA.
Yours sincerely,
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt
From: OIA Request [WrDHB]
Wairarapa District Health Board
In response to your request, I can confirm that the answers that CCDHB and HVDHB provided in their response H20_21-45 / OIA 2020/061 also applies to Wairarapa DHB.
Please note that all of the testing is provided by Wellington SCL. No anatomical pathology is performed onsite in the Wairarapa Hospital Laboratory.
Many thanks
Caroline van Deventer | Communications Administrator
Wairarapa DHB
............................
Phone +64 (06) 9469 800 x 5840
[email address]
www.wairarapa.dhb.org.nz
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show quoted sections
From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended)
Dear OIA Request [WrDHB],
Thank you very much for your clarification and accept this as as a sufficient response.
Yours sincerely,
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt
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