'Spiking' tests at hospital (FOI)

​​Request

How many individuals have been refused tests for spiking at the Hospital in the past five years?

Response

Whilst details of hospital attendances where spiking has been reported or is suspected would be documented in individual medical records, this information is not available to report from a central record. As such, it is not possible to identify cases in scope to verify which tests were conducted in such circumstances. Therefore, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

Health and Community Services observes the July 2022 joint Royal College of Emergency Medicine / College of Policing Position Statement on spiking, which outlines the respective services’ roles and responsibilities; the Emergency Department addresses the medical needs of the individual, and any forensic sample collection is dealt with by the Police.

RCEM_Spiking_Position_Statement_July_2022.pdf (rcem.ac.uk)​

Article applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.