I’m aware this is becoming a chain, so I’ll try to keep this short. No responses in six weeks, then two within a day!
As a very brief recap, I have asked for information such as the number of COVID tests, number of positives, performed by my local hospital. They will not disclose these numbers.
The first response, Tuesday afternoon, I posted about below. I replied immediately (words to the effect) that I did not believe that they did not keep numbers. Partly, this reply was for legal reasons – the FoI Law here requires that my next step was to complain to the hospital itself about the decision, and to ask them to reconsider.
To my surprise, I received another message first thing Wednesday morning. It seemed they did have the information I was looking for (of course they did), but they hinted they had a problem with the timeline that I specified.
I had requested regular updates, nominally weekly, starting asap, until our government declares an end to the pandemic in the UK. Other agencies now release data weekly, so I didn’t think this was unreasonable.
I rather think that they were expecting firm start and end dates, you know, give me the data between 1st August and 31st August. But how can I specify a firm date? How do I know when this will end? At the very end of their response, they seemed to acknowledge that I was requesting a commitment to publish ongoing information, and I can’t help thinking that this is their problem.
So Wednesday morning I fired off a non-legal message. I just wanted to establish whether they would be prepared to release any information as a one-off. To be clear on whether their problem was actually in the ongoing updates of the numbers. I offered to work with them.
I am awaiting their response. It’s entirely likely I will not get one, but I have to give them the chance to respond.
Next Steps
I’ll approach the information agency. I’ve jumped through all the necessary hoops now, so can approach them directly. They say they can adjudicate, although it wouldn’t surprise me if they had no teeth.
I have to be prepared, though, for the FoI agency to side with the hospital. The act seems to be aimed at publication of one-off information, whereas I’m looking for regular updates.
The other option is that I could be a real pain in the ass, and submit a bunch of fresh requests, one per week. It seems daft to submit a cluster of these things, where just one should do, but these things are only emails, after all.
This is so much harder than it needs to be.
Mister Bump 
Keep going. You’ve got the bit between your teeth, and if one person manages it, it could set a precedent.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You know I sent you that link to a map? That map is actually gold dust. I’ve been looking at it more this morning.
On the map, you can enter your postcode and it takes you right there. Click on the map, and it opens a little popup telling you the name of where you live – just in terms of your local authority. Mine went to the level of my village and the next.
For each authority, it gives the numbers for the last week. Here, there were 0 but I can see that in somewhere like Knightsbridge, there were 5 confirmed cases.
It is probably best that you look up the numbers for yourself, but I will happily do it for you if you send your postcode to me. If you post it in a reply, I’ll delete the reply as soon as I’ve read it, just so it is no longer public. Or, you have my email address.
LikeLike
In Italy you can get the general information from a map (online) created by the Protezione Civile, but unfortunately not always the data is up to date. There’s even a worldwide map, I will check for the link on one of my first posts on Covid and forward it to you if you like.
Have a nice day 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Farida. I think I found something now from the UK Government. I’m not sure of the reliability yet but will keep looking at it daily.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Here in the US I put the blame on Trump. If he had acted in a timely precise manner in the beginning, we could have a comprehensive look at real numbers. But since there was no cohesion between federal, state and local and still not, well never know actual facts. And since it is only compared to previous plagues but is unique, I dont think we ever ekll. Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think we were caught flat-footed, too. At one stage, the number of “real” infections was estimated at 4x the number of “official” infections. But I think now, we are so far through this that they are probably very similar.
Nothing Trump does surpries me – he will argue that black is white. Even at the highest level, he argues that he has handled this well, yet your numbers are shocking. What worries me is that 60M people voted for him!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s incredible
LikeLiked by 2 people