Dear DHB,

I am a New Zealand citizen, which is demonstrated by the fact that the MoH has already confirmed my citizenship prior to responding to my OIA requests (or a google search of my name).

The Royal College of Pathologists Australasia has a policy titled "Provision of second opinions with particular reference to morphological examination", which addresses the best practice with regards to referral for second and subsequent opinion of pathology specimens.

Request 1:
I respectfully request your DHB's policy on second opinions requested by a third party who is a medical practitioner currently involved in the medical care of the patient from whom the pathological material was originally obtained.

Request 2:
In the event that your DHB deviates from the aforementioned RCPA policy, I request an explanation for why your DHB deviates from best practice.

Please note, my request does not reflect the standard of care provided at your DHB, but is to ascertain whether there is consistent adherence to RCPA best practice amongst all NZ DHBs.

Yours faithfully,

Amy S Van Wey Lovatt

Dear Dawne Tuite,

I was very confused by your response. Even if your DHB contracts out pathology services, third party health practitioners would make requests directly to your DHB for pathology specimens as the DHB ultimately responsible for the tissue. Thus, to clarify:

Request 1: Does this mean your DHB has adopted the RCPA policy, which is the professional standard, for such requests given there is no written policy?

Request 2: If not, I respectfully request a description of your DHB's standard practice regarding such requests and in the event that your DHB's standard practice is NOT consistent with the RCPA policy, then an explanation for the deviation from the professional standards.

Request 3: If your standard practice is to forward requests to the contracting agency, then I respectfully request that your DHB forward my OIA request to the appropriate agency, pursuant to section 14 of the OIA. To avoid any misunderstanding, when I refer to policy, I would also include any standard practice, written or unwritten.

Yours sincerely,

Amy S Van Wey Lovatt

Dear Dawne Tuite,

Thank you very much for your response and i appreciate you transferring the request; however, I have been reviewing the interpretation section of the OIA, which states:
(5) Any information held by an independent contractor engaged by any department or Minister of the Crown or organisation in his capacity as such contractor shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be held by the department or Minister of the Crown or organisation.

Thus, this means that even if SCDHB contracts out their laboratory services, SCDHB is still responsible for providing the information. I will be happy to provide another 5 working days to SCDHB to provide a response to my OIA request to avoid any complaints to the Ombudsman.

Yours sincerely,

Amy S Van Wey Lovatt

Dear Dawne Tuite,

The response I received on 18 June 2020 was exactly what I was requesting.

Thank you very much.

Yours sincerely,

Amy S Van Wey Lovatt