Health and Community Services spend on lidocaine plasters (FOI)Health and Community Services spend on lidocaine plasters (FOI)
Produced by the Freedom of Information officeAuthored by Government of Jersey and published on
18 June 2024.Prepared internally, no external costs.
Request
How much has Health and Community Services (HCS) spent on Lidocaine plasters each year for the past five years, and how many units that corresponds to?
Response
Providing both cost data and the quantity of units to which this pertains for any single medication would identify unit costs, which are commercially sensitive. For this reason, it is not possible to provide all data requested and Article 33(b) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.
Annual figures for lidocaine plasters supplied to patients through Health and Community Services’ Pharmacy are detailed in the table below. This includes inpatient medications and take-home prescriptions for patients being discharged, outpatient prescriptions, and those supplied for Emergency Department attendances and Day cases.
| Year | Quantity |
| 2019 | 1,961
|
| 2020 | 1,835
|
| 2021 | 2,293
|
| 2022 | 2,253
|
| 2023 | 2,111
|
Article applied
Article 33 - Commercial interests
Information is qualified exempt information if –
(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or
(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).
Public Interest Test
Article 33 is a qualified exemption and as such, HCS has conducted a prejudice test as required by law.
When responding to requests of this nature, HCS has to balance the public interest with the impact that disclosing this information would, or would be likely to, have upon the organisation and / or third parties. Whilst it may be in the public interest to understand the costs of procuring medications and providing treatment, protecting the commercial interests of HCS is an essential component in controlling public finances, which in itself is in the public interest.
It has been concluded that disclosing details which identify the cost per unit of a specific medicament is likely to prejudice the commercial interests of HCS and / or the supplier.
When considering the application of this exemption, HCS has determined that whilst it is in the public interest to disclose information, this is outweighed by the necessity to limit any impact on the commercial interests of HCS and third parties in future supply contract negotiations, and as such, Article 33(b) has been applied.
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