21 July 2020
OIA 2020/109 & H20_21-73
Amy S Van Wey Lovatt
Email:
[email address] Dear Amy
Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) – Response – OIA 2020/109 and H20_21-73
Thank you for your official information request, which was received by Hutt Valley and Capital & Coast
District Health Boards (2DHB) on 30 May 2020. Your request outlined the following points:
1. Thus, I respectfully request that your DHB make ALL of your DHB policies, protocols and
best practice documents publicly available.
While on the face of it, my request may seem like a time consuming task; however, this
should not be the case. Currently, DHB policies, protocols and best practice documents
are held electronically and are available on your DHB intranet (employee access only),
and in many cases, there are already hyper-links between policies, protocols and best
practice documents. Thus, in order to change the setting to the policies, protocols and
best practice documents from private (intranet and employee access only) to public
ought to be accomplished by a click of a button (or, at most, a line or two of code).
Upon completion, I respectfully request a response with the website address to the DHB
policies.
2. Is your DHB laboratory and radiology departments, or the agencies your DHB has
contract out pathology and radiology services, IANZ accredited?
3. In the event that your DHB, or the agencies your DHB has contracted out pathology and
radiology services, is IANZ accredited, I respectfully request ALL of the documentation
submitted to IANZ for accreditation by your DHB (or contracted agencies) be made
publicly available upon your DHB website (or as a link to your contracted agencies
website). Again, while this may appear to be a daunting task on the face of it, this
information ought to be in electronic form and have been collated prior to submission
to IANZ. Thus, again, my request ought to be accomplished by a click of a button or at
most, a few lines of code to link the website to the appropriate folder on your internal
systems.
Answer to Question 1 and 3:
We have classified questions 1 and 3 of your request as a request for the DHB to alter its practices. We
decline this request as it does not meet the definition of official information of Part 2, Section 12 of the
Official Information Act 1982.
The DHBs note that proactive release is not required under the OIA, but is consistent with the purpose
of the ACT, aligns with Government priorities, and is strongly encouraged by the Ombudsman.
Hutt Valley DHB | Private Bag 31907, Lower Hutt 5010 |
04 566 6999 l www.huttvalleydhb.org.nz
Capital & Coast DHB | Private Bag 7902, Newtown, Wellington 6342 | 04 385 5999 l
www.ccdhb.org.nz
The DHBs are working towards meeting the requirements of proactive release, subject to systems and
resourcing to support this. For example the DHBs publish: The 3D Health Pathways; OIA responses and
proactive information release (HVDHB); Adverse Event Reports; Maternity Policy and Guidelines
(HVDHB) and some policies and procedures, e.g. Child Abuse and Neglect Policy, Pharmacy Contracting
Policy (HVDHB) on our websites.
Answer to Question 2:
Radiology at CCDHB and HVDHB is not contracted out. They are both internal and IANZ accredited.
Laboratory Services are contracted out to Wellington SCL which is fully IANZ accredited.
I trust this information fulfils your request.
You have the right, under section 28 of the OIA, to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman
of this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or you can free phone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Fionnagh Dougan
Chief Executive
Capital & Coast and Hutt Valley District Health Boards
Hutt Valley DHB | Private Bag 31907, Lower Hutt 5010 | 04 566 6999 l
www.huttvalleydhb.org.nz
Capital & Coast DHB | Private Bag 7902, Newtown, Wellington 6342 | 04 385 5999
l www.ccdhb.org.nz
Hutt Valley DHB | Private Bag 31907, Lower Hutt 5010 | 04 566 6999 l
www.huttvalleydhb.org.nz
Capital & Coast DHB | Private Bag 7902, Newtown, Wellington 6342 | 04 385 5999
l www.ccdhb.org.nz
