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FOI Request

Disclosure ID
FOI/02417
Request Date
May 8, 2018
Subject
Charging Of Overseas Visitors
Description
  1. The disclosure of a Home Office document has revealed that at least 16 NHS trusts have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Home Office in order to prevent ‘upfront access to healthcare to which illegal migrants are not entitled’.
    1. Has your NHS trust entered into such an MoU?
    2. Please provide a copy of the MoU if so.
  2. The same document reveals that at least 20 NHS trusts have been visited by Home Office Local Partnership managers to establish ‘robust immigration status checking systems’.
    1. Has your NHS trust had such a visit?
    2. Please provide details of any such visit or visits including, but not limited to:
      1. Agendas of any meetings with Home Office Local Partnership managers;
      2. Minutes of any such meetings, if available;
      3. Documents/information packs/brochures/training materials/guidance relating to the visit or visits or created as a result of engagement with Home Office Local Partnership managers.
    3. Please provide documents/guidance/procedures as to the immigration status checking system that you have in place.
  3. Please also provide documents or information as to efforts that have been made to discharge
    the Trust’s public sector equality duty in implementing the regulations. These would usually include,
    but are not limited to:

    1. Equality impact assessments;
    2. Delivery of training to staff on implementation and avoiding discrimination;
    3. Written policies and guidance on implementation of the charging regime;
    4. Systems to monitor the impact of the charging regime on your service users, particularly those belonging to BME groups, foreign nationals, or those with other protected characteristics and any findings from such monitoring.
Response
  1. :-
    1. No
    2. N/A
  2. :-
    1. :-
    2. :-
      This request is prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs (Section 36 of the FOI Act). This exemption relates to information that if disclosed would adversely affect the delivery of effective central Government and other public services. It is the effect that disclosure of information would have, rather than the type of information itself that is key in considering the application of section 36.
      Section 36 is designed to protect information whose disclosure:
      1. a) would, or would be likely to, prejudice –
      2. the maintenance of the convention of the collective responsibility of Ministers of the Crown,
      3. b) would, or would be likely to, inhibit –
      4. the free and frank provision of advice, or
      5. the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation
      (c) would otherwise prejudice, or would be likely otherwise to prejudice, the effective conduct of
      public affairs.
    3. OSV policy attached. Our electronic booking in system asks patient to confirm their
      residency in the UK. Where a patient books in for an appointment with a member of staff they ask
      every patient to confirm their current residency status.
  3. :-
    1. See attached policy
    2. Training is provided internally by the OSV team when requested by the department
    3. See attached policy
    4. We do not have any system in place to monitor the impact on our service users.
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