Health complaints - doctors and consultants (FOI)

Request 

Which medical consultants working for the health services have had complaints submitted about them since January 2018 to present day? 

Please include the number of complaints made against each doctor as well as the month & year each complaint was filed.

Please also include in the reply complaints against any medical consultant including those working as locums or on a temporary basis.

Response

Health and Community Services (HCS) have recorded 42 complaints made against permanent or locum Consultants for the period January 2018 to August 2022 (inclusive).

The complaints database was searched using keywords, including 'Consultant', 'Doctor' and 'Surgeon' to identify all complaints that may fall in scope of this Freedom of Information request within the specified timeframe. Each of these records was then scrutinised to confirm whether the complaint referred to a Consultant.

Due to the number of staff employed as Consultants or Locum Consultants across the timeframe, searching the complaints database against each individual would exceed the timescales prescribed in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014. Therefore, Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Further details of individuals named in complaints and the month or year in which the complaints were received will not be provided and Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law has been applied to protect the privacy of individuals.

Article Applied

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.

(2) Despite paragraph (1), a scheduled public authority may still supply the information requested on payment to it of a fee determined by the authority in the manner prescribed by Regulations for the purposes of this Article.

 Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.