Sexually transmitted infections from 2019 to date (FOI)

​Request

A

How many cases of gonorrhoea have been recorded per year in Jersey over the past five years? Please include this year to date.

B

Of these, how many per year were drug-resistant?

C

How many infections per year were recorded as having been picked up abroad?

Response

A and B

Data on cases of confirmed gonorrhoea (Neisseria gonorrhoeae) through to the end of 2021, as identified through Genito-Urinary Medicine (GUM) Clinic records, have been reported in a previous Freedom of Information response, published to www.gov.je in 2022:

Number of Sexually Transmitted Infections in 2018 to 2022 (FOI)

As this information is available elsewhere, Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Figures for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test positive cases of Neisseria gonorrhoeae from 2022 onwards, as detailed in the table below, include all cases identified in Jersey through records available to Health and Community Services. As such, figures will be higher than for prior years reported in the response linked above, where data was limited to the records available through the GUM Clinic only.

Drug resistance has not been identified in any of these cases.

C

Whilst there may be documentation within individual case notes which detail whether an infection was contracted (or thought to be contracted) abroad, no central record is held that can identify the data requested. A Scheduled Public Authority is not required to create or manipulate data for the purposes of responding to Freedom of Information requests. Therefore, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

Articles 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.

​Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain​