Temporary healthcare staff at the hospital (FOI)

​Request 667647803

I am working on a story relating to the retention of health staff in Jersey.

And I am keen to be provided with the following data:

• The number of temporary healthcare staff employed at Jersey Hospital between January and November 2024
• The number of temporary healthcare staff employed at Jersey Hospital between January and November 2023
• The number of temporary healthcare staff employed at Jersey Hospital between January and November 2022
• The number of temporary healthcare staff employed at Jersey Hospital between January and November 2021
• The number of temporary healthcare staff employed at Jersey Hospital between January and November 2020
  
  
• The number of permanent healthcare staff employed at Jersey Hospital between January and November 2024
• The number of permanent healthcare staff employed at Jersey Hospital between January and November 2023
  
• The number of permanent healthcare staff employed at Jersey Hospital between January and November 2022
• The number of permanent healthcare staff employed at Jersey Hospital between January and November 2021
• The number of permanent healthcare staff employed at Jersey Hospital between January and November 2020
  ​
  
• The cost of employing temporary healthcare staff at Jersey Hospital between January and November 2024
• The cost of employing temporary healthcare staff at Jersey Hospital between January and November 2023
• The cost of employing temporary healthcare staff at Jersey Hospital between January and November 2022
• The cost of employing temporary healthcare staff at Jersey Hospital between January and November 2021
• The cost of employing temporary healthcare staff at Jersey Hospital between January and November 2020

Response

As noted in previous Freedom of Information responses, the central records held do not group staff by working location, and it is not possible to report the requested information for Jersey General Hospital only. Therefore, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

Workforce and finance data for the whole Department, including requested datasets, are published in the Health and Care Jersey Advisory Board papers on www.gov.je and are available from June 2023:

Health and Care Jersey Services Board

Where information is available elsewhere for the period from June 2023 to November 2024, Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

No central record is held to enable reporting of agency staff numbers for the timeframes requested. Identifying the number of agency staff contracted for each month concerned would require significant manual interrogation of multiple datasets, and the creation of new datasets. A Scheduled Public Authority is not obliged to create or manipulate data for the purposes of responding to Freedom of Information requests. Furthermore, the resource required to perform such manual analysis and record creation exceeds that prescribed in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014. Therefore, Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Snapshot monthly position data have been reported in the Health and Care Jersey Advisory Board papers, as referenced and linked above, since June 2023. 

Substantive employee numbers for January to November of each year, from 2020 to 2024, are detailed in attached Table 1. These include staff employed across all locations.

Table 1 Monthly substantive staff headcount 2020 to 2024.pdf

Total agency staff expenditure for January to November of each year, from 2020 to 2024, is detailed in attached Table 2. Finance records do not group staff by working location, and it is not possible to report the requested information for Jersey General Hospital only. Therefore, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

Table 2 Total agency staff expenditure January to November 2020 to 2024.pdf​

​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 16      A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1)     A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.

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 the information.