Publication of all DHB Policies, Protocols and Best Practice Documents
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended) made this Official Information request to Counties Manukau District Health Board
The request was refused by Counties Manukau District Health Board.
From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended)
Dear DHB,
I have repeatedly been assured from DHB's that they are committed to transparency.
Request 1:
Thus, I respectfully request that your DHB make ALL of your DHB policies, protocols and best practice documents publicly available.
While on the face of it, my request may seem like a time consuming task; however, this should not be the case. Currently, DHB policies, protocols and best practice documents are held electronically and are available on your DHB intranet (employee access only), and in many cases, there are already hyper-links between policies, protocols and best practice documents. Thus, in order to change the setting to the policies, protocols and best practice documents from private (intranet and employee access only) to public ought to be accomplished by a click of a button (or, at most, a line or two of code). Upon completion, I respectfully request a response with the website address to the DHB policies.
Request 2:
Is your DHB laboratory and radiology departments, or the agencies your DHB has contract out pathology and radiology services, IANZ accredited?
Request 3:
In the event that your DHB, or the agencies your DHB has contracted out pathology and radiology services, is IANZ accredited, I respectfully request ALL of the documentation submitted to IANZ for accreditation by your DHB (or contracted agencies) be made publicly available upon your DHB website (or as a link to your contracted agencies website). Again, while this may appear to be a daunting task on the face of it, this information ought to be in electronic form and have been collated prior to submission to IANZ. Thus, again, my request ought to be accomplished by a click of a button or at most, a few lines of code to link the website to the appropriate folder on your internal systems.
I make these request in order to save time, energy and financial resources. By making the requested information publicly available, the DHB will not need to spend valuable time and resources in answering repeated requests for policies, protocols and best practice documentation, and will help your DHB become compliant with Ministry of Health Standards (such as HISO 10064 and 10029) and legislative requirements, such as those described in the Health Information Privacy Code 1994, Health Act 1956, and Health and Disability Commissioner (Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights) Regulations 1996.
Please note I have made this request to every NZ DHB.
Yours faithfully,
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt
From: Communications (CMDHB)
Counties Manukau District Health Board

Thanks for your email.
The Counties Manukau Health Communications Team clear this mailbox during
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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.
Visit [1]www.kiwihealthjobs.com, New Zealand’s largest employment site for
jobs in the public health sector. 100% owned and supported nationally by
the District Health Boards (DHBs) and the New Zealand Blood Service
(NZBS).
If you are looking for medical jobs in New Zealand, your career in health
starts with us.
References
Visible links
1. http://www.kiwihealthjobs.com/
From: Dinah Nicholas (CMDHB)
Counties Manukau District Health Board
Dear Amy
Thank you for your Official Information Act request, received today.
We are working on a response for you, which will be sent as soon as practical and within the 20 working day timeframe as per the Ombudsman's Guidance, by 30 June 2020. We will contact you if we have any queries with the request or need to extend the timeframe for your response. In those cases, we will advise why the extension is necessary, and indicate when the response will be ready.
Please note that, like all DHBs across New Zealand, Counties Manukau DHB has begun a process of proactive disclosure, which means OIA responses will be publicly available via our website around 10 days after they have been released. Our response will advise if we intend to publish the response, (with personal information removed) and related documents on the CMDHB website. If you advise us of special reasons why proactive disclosure should not apply to your response, we will consider this.
Kind regards
Dinah
Dinah Nicholas
Executive Assistant to Margie Apa - Chief Executive
Board Secretary
___________________________________________
T: +64 9 277 3401 I Ext: 53401 I M: 021 682 923
[email address]
Room 13, Poutasi Corridor, Middlemore Hospital, Otahuhu
Middlemore Hospital, Private Bag 93311, Otahuhu, Auckland 1640
www: [email address]
-----Original Message-----
From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt [mailto:[FOI #12936 email]]
Sent: Saturday, 30 May 2020 4:33 a.m.
To: Communications (CMDHB)
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Publication of all DHB Policies, Protocols and Best Practice Documents
Dear DHB,
I have repeatedly been assured from DHB's that they are committed to transparency.
Request 1:
Thus, I respectfully request that your DHB make ALL of your DHB policies, protocols and best practice documents publicly available.
While on the face of it, my request may seem like a time consuming task; however, this should not be the case. Currently, DHB policies, protocols and best practice documents are held electronically and are available on your DHB intranet (employee access only), and in many cases, there are already hyper-links between policies, protocols and best practice documents. Thus, in order to change the setting to the policies, protocols and best practice documents from private (intranet and employee access only) to public ought to be accomplished by a click of a button (or, at most, a line or two of code). Upon completion, I respectfully request a response with the website address to the DHB policies.
Request 2:
Is your DHB laboratory and radiology departments, or the agencies your DHB has contract out pathology and radiology services, IANZ accredited?
Request 3:
In the event that your DHB, or the agencies your DHB has contracted out pathology and radiology services, is IANZ accredited, I respectfully request ALL of the documentation submitted to IANZ for accreditation by your DHB (or contracted agencies) be made publicly available upon your DHB website (or as a link to your contracted agencies website). Again, while this may appear to be a daunting task on the face of it, this information ought to be in electronic form and have been collated prior to submission to IANZ. Thus, again, my request ought to be accomplished by a click of a button or at most, a few lines of code to link the website to the appropriate folder on your internal systems.
I make these request in order to save time, energy and financial resources. By making the requested information publicly available, the DHB will not need to spend valuable time and resources in answering repeated requests for policies, protocols and best practice documentation, and will help your DHB become compliant with Ministry of Health Standards (such as HISO 10064 and 10029) and legislative requirements, such as those described in the Health Information Privacy Code 1994, Health Act 1956, and Health and Disability Commissioner (Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights) Regulations 1996.
Please note I have made this request to every NZ DHB.
Yours faithfully,
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #12936 email]
Is [Counties Manukau District Health Board request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests to Counties Manukau District Health Board? If so, please contact us using this form:
https://smex12-5-en-ctp.trendmicro.com:4...
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://smex12-5-en-ctp.trendmicro.com:4...
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This e-mail message and any accompanying attachments may contain information that is confidential 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.
Visit www.kiwihealthjobs.com, New Zealand’s largest employment site for jobs in the public health sector. 100% owned and supported nationally by the District Health Boards (DHBs) and the New Zealand Blood Service (NZBS).
If you are looking for medical jobs in New Zealand, your career in health starts with us.
hide quoted sections
From: Dinah Nicholas (CMDHB)
Counties Manukau District Health Board
Dear Amy
Please find attached our final response to your request for Information.
Kind regards,
Dinah
Dinah Nicholas
Executive Assistant to Margie Apa - Chief Executive
Board Secretary
___________________________________________
T: +64 9 277 3401 I Ext: 53401 I M: 021 682 923
[1][email address]
Room 13, Poutasi Corridor, Middlemore Hospital, Otahuhu
Middlemore Hospital, Private Bag 93311, Otahuhu, Auckland 1640
www: [2][email address]
-----Original Message-----
From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt
[[3]mailto:[FOI #12936 email]]
Sent: Saturday, 30 May 2020 4:33 a.m.
To: Communications (CMDHB)
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Publication of all DHB Policies,
Protocols and Best Practice Documents
Dear DHB,
I have repeatedly been assured from DHB's that they are committed to
transparency.
Request 1:
Thus, I respectfully request that your DHB make ALL of your DHB policies,
protocols and best practice documents publicly available.
While on the face of it, my request may seem like a time consuming task;
however, this should not be the case. Currently, DHB policies, protocols
and best practice documents are held electronically and are available on
your DHB intranet (employee access only), and in many cases, there are
already hyper-links between policies, protocols and best practice
documents. Thus, in order to change the setting to the policies, protocols
and best practice documents from private (intranet and employee access
only) to public ought to be accomplished by a click of a button (or, at
most, a line or two of code). Upon completion, I respectfully request a
response with the website address to the DHB policies.
Request 2:
Is your DHB laboratory and radiology departments, or the agencies your DHB
has contract out pathology and radiology services, IANZ accredited?
Request 3:
In the event that your DHB, or the agencies your DHB has contracted out
pathology and radiology services, is IANZ accredited, I respectfully
request ALL of the documentation submitted to IANZ for accreditation by
your DHB (or contracted agencies) be made publicly available upon your DHB
website (or as a link to your contracted agencies website).
Again, while this may appear to be a daunting task on the face of it, this
information ought to be in electronic form and have been collated prior to
submission to IANZ. Thus, again, my request ought to be accomplished by a
click of a button or at most, a few lines of code to link the website to
the appropriate folder on your internal systems.
I make these request in order to save time, energy and financial
resources. By making the requested information publicly available, the DHB
will not need to spend valuable time and resources in answering repeated
requests for policies, protocols and best practice documentation, and will
help your DHB become compliant with Ministry of Health Standards (such as
HISO 10064 and 10029) and legislative requirements, such as those
described in the Health Information Privacy Code 1994, Health Act 1956,
and Health and Disability Commissioner (Code of Health and Disability
Services Consumers' Rights) Regulations 1996.
Please note I have made this request to every NZ DHB.
Yours faithfully,
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[4][FOI #12936 email]
Is [5][Counties Manukau District Health Board request email] the wrong address for Freedom of
Information requests to Counties Manukau District Health Board? If so,
please contact us using this form:
[6]https://smex12-5-en-ctp.trendmicro.com:4...
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[7]https://smex12-5-en-ctp.trendmicro.com:4...
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This e-mail message and any accompanying attachments may contain
information that is confidential 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.
Visit [8]www.kiwihealthjobs.com, New Zealand s largest employment site for
jobs in the public health sector. 100% owned and supported nationally by
the District Health Boards (DHBs) and the New Zealand Blood Service
(NZBS).
If you are looking for medical jobs in New Zealand, your career in health
starts with us.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[FOI #12936 email]
4. mailto:[FOI #12936 email]
5. mailto:[Counties Manukau District Health Board request email]
6. https://smex12-5-en-ctp.trendmicro.com:4...
7. https://smex12-5-en-ctp.trendmicro.com:4...
8. http://www.kiwihealthjobs.com/
hide quoted sections
From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt (Account suspended)
Dear Dinah Nicholas (CMDHB),
I would like to thank you and your colleagues at CMDHB for responding to my OIA request; however,
I note that the CMDHB response dated 17 June 2020 did not provided any lawful justification for the refusal of my OIA request as required under the OIA. Given that the CMDHB response was prior to the 20 working days allowed, I would be pleased to provide CMDHB with an opportunity to comply with my request by the legislative time-frame or to provide a lawful reason for the refusal, pursuant to section 23 of the OIA, prior to my lodging a formal complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman.
Clarification:
CMDHB have stated in the response dated 17 June 2020: "We do not believe this constitutes an OIA request (section , but is rather a request for action to be taken by Counties Manukau Health, that we should publicly release organisational policies, procedures and guidelines (controlled documents), on an on-going basis. We do not consider there is a public interest in ongoing publication/ public access to all these documents at this time."
The statement is inaccurate, as I did not make a request that the policies, procedures and guidelines (controlled documents) be published on an on-going basis, however, I would agree this would make for best practice. I have requested ALL current policies, protocols and best practice documents, not future policies, protocols and best practice documents. This request is consistent with section 22 of the OIA and other relevant legislation (see below). Further, I note that the personal opinion of a DHB employee is not a justifiable reason to refuse an OIA request.
CMDHB has again appears to misunderstand my request. The changing from private to public only requires a click of a button. This process could be automated and accomplished in a short amount of time through a short script, written by someone in your IS department. Indeed it would be more labor intensive if a person were to manually change the settings, one document at a time; however, this is still quite achievable in a short time frame.
CMDHB is a government agency, thus no policies, protocols and best practice documents, which are already available to the "7,500 FTE staff" would "require us [CMDHB] to partially or fully withhold materials included."
CMDHB has stated: "You may wish to reconsider the scope or focus of your request in this context, including specifying particular information on a topic of interest, that may include current Policy documents, and we will consider this new request under the Act." However, without having been provided a complete list of the documents held by CMDHB, I cannot make a specific request for the relevant documents. I have also found that most DHB's have inane and redundant policies, which are incomplete and only refer to other policies. Again, I have made my request for both completeness and save time for your DHB in the long run.
Please see the Bay of Plenty website as an excellent example of transparency and public availability of policies: https://www.bopdhb.govt.nz/your-dhb/cont...(policiesprotocols)/
Bay of Plenty Navigator which provides information about referral services, etc. https://baynav.bopdhb.govt.nz/
I am certain that BoPDHB would be happy to assist CMDHB with the conversion process.
I am a member of the public and these documents interests me. It is of the public interest that all government agencies are transparent and transparency was one of the basis for the enactment by Parliament of the OIA. Transparency is accomplished by making policies, protocols, and best practice documents publicly available. For instance, it is in the public interest that all patients know CMDHB policies on the safety of and access to private health information. Furthermore, CMDHB has a legal obligation to provide these policies in accordance with the Health Information Privacy Code 1993, which makes it a legal obligation (Rule 3) to ensure that all consumers are informed of these policies prior to obtaining any private health information. Thus, in denying my request, you have not met your lawful obligation under Rule 3 of this code. This leads me to think that CMDHB are not meeting their legal obligation for any of their patients, in particular failing to ensure that all patients have been fully informed prior to giving consent for CMDHB to obtaining or use their health information.
With regards to accreditation, the public may only be assured that the agency has met the accreditation standard if the documents and assessments are public available for inspection and audit. If CMDHB does not want to take the time to publish this information, which is readily accessible and was collated for the accreditation process, then by all means CMDHB may request IANZ to publish all of the requested accreditation documents on the IANZ website.
I hope this clarifies my request and the purpose of the request. I ask that CMDHB begin with the immediate publication of all polices which deal with health information, data security, digital security, employee conduct, safety, etc.
Yours sincerely,
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt, PhD
From: OIA Request (CMDHB)
Counties Manukau District Health Board
Good afternoon Amy
Thank you for your email below, we are currently seeking advice and will be back in contact with a further response.
You are entitled to seek a review of any OIA response by the Ombudsman, under section 28(3) of the Official Information Act.
They can be contacted on https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
Thank you
Ula Kuresa
Team Coordinator I Communications | Strategy & Infrastructure
____________________________________________________________________
[mobile number]
[email address]
Middlemore Hospital I 100 Hospital Road, Otahuhu I Private Bag 93311 Otahuhu, Auckland 1640
countiesmanukau.health.nz I COUNTIES MANUKAU DISTRICT HEALTH BOARD
-----Original Message-----
From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt [mailto:[FOI #12936 email]]
Sent: Monday, 29 June 2020 12:34 p.m.
To: Dinah Nicholas (CMDHB)
Subject: Re: FW: OIA 02062020 VAN WEY LOVATT - Publication of all DHB Policies, Protocols and Best Practice Documents
Dear Dinah Nicholas (CMDHB),
I would like to thank you and your colleagues at CMDHB for responding to my OIA request; however, I note that the CMDHB response dated 17 June 2020 did not provided any lawful justification for the refusal of my OIA request as required under the OIA. Given that the CMDHB response was prior to the 20 working days allowed, I would be pleased to provide CMDHB with an opportunity to comply with my request by the legislative time-frame or to provide a lawful reason for the refusal, pursuant to section 23 of the OIA, prior to my lodging a formal complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman.
Clarification:
CMDHB have stated in the response dated 17 June 2020: "We do not believe this constitutes an OIA request (section , but is rather a request for action to be taken by Counties Manukau Health, that we should publicly release organisational policies, procedures and guidelines (controlled documents), on an on-going basis. We do not consider there is a public interest in ongoing publication/ public access to all these documents at this time."
The statement is inaccurate, as I did not make a request that the policies, procedures and guidelines (controlled documents) be published on an on-going basis, however, I would agree this would make for best practice. I have requested ALL current policies, protocols and best practice documents, not future policies, protocols and best practice documents. This request is consistent with section 22 of the OIA and other relevant legislation (see below). Further, I note that the personal opinion of a DHB employee is not a justifiable reason to refuse an OIA request.
CMDHB has again appears to misunderstand my request. The changing from private to public only requires a click of a button. This process could be automated and accomplished in a short amount of time through a short script, written by someone in your IS department. Indeed it would be more labor intensive if a person were to manually change the settings, one document at a time; however, this is still quite achievable in a short time frame.
CMDHB is a government agency, thus no policies, protocols and best practice documents, which are already available to the "7,500 FTE staff" would "require us [CMDHB] to partially or fully withhold materials included."
CMDHB has stated: "You may wish to reconsider the scope or focus of your request in this context, including specifying particular information on a topic of interest, that may include current Policy documents, and we will consider this new request under the Act." However, without having been provided a complete list of the documents held by CMDHB, I cannot make a specific request for the relevant documents. I have also found that most DHB's have inane and redundant policies, which are incomplete and only refer to other policies. Again, I have made my request for both completeness and save time for your DHB in the long run.
Please see the Bay of Plenty website as an excellent example of transparency and public availability of policies: https://ddec1-0-en-ctp.trendmicro.com:44...
Bay of Plenty Navigator which provides information about referral services, etc. https://ddec1-0-en-ctp.trendmicro.com:44...
I am certain that BoPDHB would be happy to assist CMDHB with the conversion process.
I am a member of the public and these documents interests me. It is of the public interest that all government agencies are transparent and transparency was one of the basis for the enactment by Parliament of the OIA. Transparency is accomplished by making policies, protocols, and best practice documents publicly available. For instance, it is in the public interest that all patients know CMDHB policies on the safety of and access to private health information. Furthermore, CMDHB has a legal obligation to provide these policies in accordance with the Health Information Privacy Code 1993, which makes it a legal obligation (Rule 3) to ensure that all consumers are informed of these policies prior to obtaining any private health information. Thus, in denying my request, you have not met your lawful obligation under Rule 3 of this code. This leads me to think that CMDHB are not meeting their legal obligation for any of their patients, in particular failing to ensure that all patients have been fully informed prior to giving consent for CMDHB to obtaining or use their health information.
With regards to accreditation, the public may only be assured that the agency has met the accreditation standard if the documents and assessments are public available for inspection and audit. If CMDHB does not want to take the time to publish this information, which is readily accessible and was collated for the accreditation process, then by all means CMDHB may request IANZ to publish all of the requested accreditation documents on the IANZ website.
I hope this clarifies my request and the purpose of the request. I ask that CMDHB begin with the immediate publication of all polices which deal with health information, data security, digital security, employee conduct, safety, etc.
Yours sincerely,
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt, PhD
-----Original Message-----
Dear Amy
Please find attached our final response to your request for Information.
Kind regards,
Dinah
Dinah Nicholas
Executive Assistant to Margie Apa - Chief Executive
Board Secretary
___________________________________________
T: +64 9 277 3401 I Ext: 53401 I M: 021 682 923
[1][email address]
Room 13, Poutasi Corridor, Middlemore Hospital, Otahuhu
Middlemore Hospital, Private Bag 93311, Otahuhu, Auckland 1640
www: [2][email address]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #12936 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://ddec1-0-en-ctp.trendmicro.com:44...
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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This e-mail message and any accompanying attachments may contain information that is confidential 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.
Visit www.kiwihealthjobs.com, New Zealands largest employment site for jobs in the public health sector. 100% owned and supported nationally by the District Health Boards (DHBs) and the New Zealand Blood Service (NZBS).
If you are looking for medical jobs in New Zealand, your career in health starts with us.
hide quoted sections
From: Ula Kuresa (CMDHB)
Counties Manukau District Health Board
Good morning
We have received a response to your email below in regards to part of your OIA request.
Your 'Request 1' as below does not request the disclosure of information the DHB holds, but asks for publication.
Request 1
I respectfully request that your DHB make ALL of your DHB policies, protocols and best practice documents publicly available.
OIA Response
"We do not believe this constitutes an OIA request (section, but is rather a request for action to be taken by Counties Manukau Health, that we should publicly release organisational policies, procedures and guidelines (controlled documents), on an on-going basis. We do not consider there is a public interest in ongoing publication/ public access to all these documents at this time."
As advised previously, you are entitled to seek a review of any OIA response by the Ombudsman, under section 28(3) of the Official Information Act. https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
Ula Kuresa
Team Coordinator I Communications | Strategy & Infrastructure
____________________________________________________________________
[mobile number]
[email address]
Middlemore Hospital I 100 Hospital Road, Otahuhu I Private Bag 93311 Otahuhu, Auckland 1640
countiesmanukau.health.nz I COUNTIES MANUKAU DISTRICT HEALTH BOARD
Please consider the environment before printing this email.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ula Kuresa (CMDHB) On Behalf Of OIA Request (CMDHB)
Sent: Tuesday, 30 June 2020 1:10 p.m.
To: '[FOI #12936 email]'
Subject: OIA 02062020 VAN WEY LOVATT - Publication of all DHB Policies, Protocols and Best Practice Documents
Good afternoon Amy
Thank you for your email below, we are currently seeking advice and will be back in contact with a further response.
You are entitled to seek a review of any OIA response by the Ombudsman, under section 28(3) of the Official Information Act.
They can be contacted on https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
Thank you
Ula Kuresa
Team Coordinator I Communications | Strategy & Infrastructure ____________________________________________________________________
[mobile number]
[email address]
Middlemore Hospital I 100 Hospital Road, Otahuhu I Private Bag 93311 Otahuhu, Auckland 1640 countiesmanukau.health.nz I COUNTIES MANUKAU DISTRICT HEALTH BOARD
-----Original Message-----
From: Amy S Van Wey Lovatt [mailto:[FOI #12936 email]]
Sent: Monday, 29 June 2020 12:34 p.m.
To: Dinah Nicholas (CMDHB)
Subject: Re: FW: OIA 02062020 VAN WEY LOVATT - Publication of all DHB Policies, Protocols and Best Practice Documents
Dear Dinah Nicholas (CMDHB),
I would like to thank you and your colleagues at CMDHB for responding to my OIA request; however, I note that the CMDHB response dated 17 June 2020 did not provided any lawful justification for the refusal of my OIA request as required under the OIA. Given that the CMDHB response was prior to the 20 working days allowed, I would be pleased to provide CMDHB with an opportunity to comply with my request by the legislative time-frame or to provide a lawful reason for the refusal, pursuant to section 23 of the OIA, prior to my lodging a formal complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman.
Clarification:
CMDHB have stated in the response dated 17 June 2020: "We do not believe this constitutes an OIA request (section , but is rather a request for action to be taken by Counties Manukau Health, that we should publicly release organisational policies, procedures and guidelines (controlled documents), on an on-going basis. We do not consider there is a public interest in ongoing publication/ public access to all these documents at this time."
The statement is inaccurate, as I did not make a request that the policies, procedures and guidelines (controlled documents) be published on an on-going basis, however, I would agree this would make for best practice. I have requested ALL current policies, protocols and best practice documents, not future policies, protocols and best practice documents. This request is consistent with section 22 of the OIA and other relevant legislation (see below). Further, I note that the personal opinion of a DHB employee is not a justifiable reason to refuse an OIA request.
CMDHB has again appears to misunderstand my request. The changing from private to public only requires a click of a button. This process could be automated and accomplished in a short amount of time through a short script, written by someone in your IS department. Indeed it would be more labor intensive if a person were to manually change the settings, one document at a time; however, this is still quite achievable in a short time frame.
CMDHB is a government agency, thus no policies, protocols and best practice documents, which are already available to the "7,500 FTE staff" would "require us [CMDHB] to partially or fully withhold materials included."
CMDHB has stated: "You may wish to reconsider the scope or focus of your request in this context, including specifying particular information on a topic of interest, that may include current Policy documents, and we will consider this new request under the Act." However, without having been provided a complete list of the documents held by CMDHB, I cannot make a specific request for the relevant documents. I have also found that most DHB's have inane and redundant policies, which are incomplete and only refer to other policies. Again, I have made my request for both completeness and save time for your DHB in the long run.
Please see the Bay of Plenty website as an excellent example of transparency and public availability of policies: https://ddec1-0-en-ctp.trendmicro.com:44...
Bay of Plenty Navigator which provides information about referral services, etc. https://ddec1-0-en-ctp.trendmicro.com:44...
I am certain that BoPDHB would be happy to assist CMDHB with the conversion process.
I am a member of the public and these documents interests me. It is of the public interest that all government agencies are transparent and transparency was one of the basis for the enactment by Parliament of the OIA. Transparency is accomplished by making policies, protocols, and best practice documents publicly available. For instance, it is in the public interest that all patients know CMDHB policies on the safety of and access to private health information. Furthermore, CMDHB has a legal obligation to provide these policies in accordance with the Health Information Privacy Code 1993, which makes it a legal obligation (Rule 3) to ensure that all consumers are informed of these policies prior to obtaining any private health information. Thus, in denying my request, you have not met your lawful obligation under Rule 3 of this code. This leads me to think that CMDHB are not meeting their legal obligation for any of their patients, in particular failing to ensure that all patients have been fully informed prior to giving consent for CMDHB to obtaining or use their health information.
With regards to accreditation, the public may only be assured that the agency has met the accreditation standard if the documents and assessments are public available for inspection and audit. If CMDHB does not want to take the time to publish this information, which is readily accessible and was collated for the accreditation process, then by all means CMDHB may request IANZ to publish all of the requested accreditation documents on the IANZ website.
I hope this clarifies my request and the purpose of the request. I ask that CMDHB begin with the immediate publication of all polices which deal with health information, data security, digital security, employee conduct, safety, etc.
Yours sincerely,
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt, PhD
-----Original Message-----
Dear Amy
Please find attached our final response to your request for Information.
Kind regards,
Dinah
Dinah Nicholas
Executive Assistant to Margie Apa - Chief Executive
Board Secretary
___________________________________________
T: +64 9 277 3401 I Ext: 53401 I M: 021 682 923
[1][email address]
Room 13, Poutasi Corridor, Middlemore Hospital, Otahuhu
Middlemore Hospital, Private Bag 93311, Otahuhu, Auckland 1640
www: [2][email address]
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