Covid-19 cases in hospital and their vaccination status (FOI)

Request

I would like to receive the following information:

A

The number, rationale and state of people who are in the hospital as Covid-19 related, either due to Covid or with Covid,

B

How many current cases are double jabbed, also for the last three months, figures how many of symptomatic and asymptomatic are double jabbed.

Response

A

It is not possible to provide the information requested as the reason for an individual’s admission to hospital is only coded following discharge. Therefore the information is not held and Article 10 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

B

Information relating to active cases is not held in a format for the purpose of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011. Records are held for the purpose of contact tracing and relate to the date of the swab and not the published date of positive cases. As this data is constantly being updated on a daily basis, it is not possible to pinpoint the exact number of cases without manipulating the data.

Aside from taking more than the prescribed 12.5 hours to do that work, the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 does not require a Scheduled Public Authority to manipulate data in order to provide a response. Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has therefore been applied.

Work is currently ongoing to provide a monthly report which will be published on www.gov.je following reconciliation of the data at month end. Article 36 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has therefore been applied.

Articles applied

Article 10 - Obligation of scheduled public authority to confirm or deny holding information

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), if –

(a) a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority; and

(b) the authority does not hold the information,

it must inform the applicant accordingly.

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.

Regulation 2 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 allows an authority to refuse a request for information where the estimated cost of dealing with the request would exceed the specified amount of the cost limit of £500. This is the estimated cost of one person spending 12.5 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

Article 36 - Information intended for future publication

(1) Information is qualified exempt information if, at the time when the request for the information is made, the information is being held by a public authority with a view to its being published within 12 weeks of the date of the request.

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

(a) of the date when the information will be published;

(b) of the manner in which it will be published; and

(c) by whom it will be published. (3) In this Article, “published” means published –

(a) by a public authority; or

(b) by any other person.