Freedom of information

What is the Freedom of Information Act 2000?

The Freedom of Information Act allows certain information held by public authorities to be accessible to the public and also gives the public the right to ask for information.

As a trust we comply with the Freedom of Information Act by following a strict publication scheme. We also respond to requests for information from members of the public.

Publication scheme - see below
Quick links – class definition document - see below

How to make a request

You can submit a request by emailing paht.foi@nhs.net or send a letter to:

FOI officer
Trust headquarters
The Princess Alexandra Hospital
Hamstel Road
Harlow
Essex
CM20 1QX

We are unable to provide any patient information or records via the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Any requests for your own, or another individual's records, should be submitted to our health records team by emailing paht.health.records@nhs.net.

Publication scheme

This publication scheme has been prepared using the model publication scheme issued by the Information Commissioner’s office and is effective from 1 January 2012.

This publication scheme commits the Trust to make information available to the public as part of its normal business activities. The information covered is included in the classes of information mentioned below, where this information is held by the authority.

Who we are and what we do

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust is a district general hospital which oversees services at The Princess Alexandra Hospital, St Margaret’s Hospital, Herts and Essex Hospital and the Rectory Lane Centre. The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust fits into the East Herts and West Essex footprint and serves a rapidly increasing population of 350,000.

We provide general services to patients throughout the East Herts and West Essex area. Our services are categorised under the following divisions:

• Surgery

• Medical

• Cancer, cardiology and clinical support services

• Family and women’s services.

Our (non-clinical) directorates are:

• Corporate services

• Estates and facilities

• Procurement

• Finance

• People

Management

All services are managed by the board of directors. The board of directors is responsible for the day-to-day management of the hospital and oversight of staff. The board of directors is made up of the following:

Executive directors and non-voting directors who work in the hospital on a daily basis and have management of a set area of the Trust business.
Non-executive directors who have specialist experience and bring independent oversight of the board's activities.

The board of directors meets on a monthly basis, on the last Thursday of every month. The trust board holds a public session at every meeting. If you would like to attend this session or submit any questions, you should contact Heather Schultz, head of corporate affairs, at h.schultz@nhs.net. An Annual General Meeting is held on a yearly basis and is open to members of the public.

Board sub-committees

The board delegates authority to six sub-committees. Each sub-committee takes responsibility for a specialist area and provides assurance to the board on the effective function of these areas. They also report back on any issues and provide oversight of steps taken to manage these issues and ensure the highest standards are maintained.

Quality and safety committee - The quality and safety committee provides assurance to board that adequate and appropriate governance structures, processes and controls are in place throughout the Trust to enable it to deliver a quality service according to each of the dimensions of quality set out in High Quality Care for All and enshrined through the Health and Social Care Act 2012. It provides oversight of clinical effectiveness, safety and patient experience. It also oversees the Care Quality Commission (CQC) action plan and receives patient stories on a regular basis.

Performance and finance committee – The performance and finance committee is responsible for reviewing the Trust’s annual business plan and recommending to board. They also undertake bi-annual reviews of performance against the plan, scrutinise operational and financial performance, assure the board of directors that the Trust has rigorous processes in place to prioritise its finance and resources and make decisions about their deployment to ensure that they best meet patients’ needs, deliver best value for money and are efficient, economical, effective and affordable – recommending any re-basing or re-forecasting of financial assumptions or plans to the board, monitor the management of the Trust’s asset base and the implementation of the Trust’s enabling strategies in support of the Trust’s clinical strategy and clinical priorities, review and monitor the management of finance, performance and contracting risks.

Audit committee - The audit committee provides the board of directors with an independent and objective review of financial and corporate governance, assurance processes and risk management across the whole of the Trust’s activities (clinical and non-clinical) both generally and in support of the Annual Governance Statement. In addition, it shall oversee the work programmes for external and internal audit and receive assurance of their independence alongside the day to day monitoring of the Trust’s arrangements for corporate governance.

Charitable funds committee – The Princess Alexandra Hospital was appointed trustee of the charitable funds of the Trust. The charitable funds committee was established to make and monitor the control and governance arrangements of the charitable funds. They further provide oversight of the fund holders' charitable expenditure and fundraising schemes.

Workforce committee – The workforce committee is responsible for reviewing the Trust’s workforce plans including recruitment and retention of staff, organisational development and training, and employee engagement and wellbeing. They also oversee the development of the Trust’s people, development and deployment and organisational development strategies and monitor their implementation. The committee reviews the outcomes of national and local staff surveys and monitors the progress of action plans. Also, they monitor staff engagement initiatives and outcomes.

New hospital committee – The new hospital committee was established to ensure the success delivery of the new hospital programme. The committee has responsibility over the programmes governance arrangements, budget and core aims and objectives.

What we spend and how we spend it

On a yearly basis, the trust is required to publish its audited annual accounts, which are included in the Annual Report.
Financial performance is reported to board on a monthly basis and is available in the board papers.
Staff pay is set out in the NHS Terms and conditions service handbook. Details of senior staff pay is included in the Annual Report.
Further to the Government’s initiative to increase transparency around public spending, we publish monthly details of expenditure over £25,000.

What our priorities are and how we are doing

Performance ratings:

Details of the Trust’s performance ratings compared with other NHS organisations are available from the Care Quality Commission
Annual Report and Accounts
Quality Accounts
Trust Board agendas, papers and minutes

How we make decisions

The trust aims to provide as much information as possible on any proposed changes or difficulties the Trust is facing. This is usually discussed within the Trust board meetings. Before any major changes are made, the Trust will consult with its governing body as well as health group leads and the Patient Panel, who also sit on the quality and safety committee.

Before approval of any key change is made, it will be passed through the relevant committees and recommended to board. These committees will seek clarification, and evidence of the scheme's effectiveness or express concern. Only once a scheme has been finalised at this committee will it be recommended to board for approval.

Our policies and procedures

Our policies and procedures are available on request through the Freedom of Information Office at paht.foi@nhs.net.

List and registers

ICT frequently asked questions

Data as of Decemeber 2021

Table of telephony suppliers
Telephony	Supplier	Renewal date	Number of devices	Cost
Mobile	O2	April 2023 (3yrs)	222	Commercially sensitive
Landline	8x8 Cloud Telephony	29 June 2023 (3+2)	2767 extns	Commercially sensitive
Bleeps / Pagers	Alertive Clinical Communications		SaaS	Commercially sensitive
Bleeps	Multitone	Being phased out	372	Commercially sensitive
Pagers	Page One	Being phased out		Commercially sensitive

Table of print suppliers
Print	Supplier	Renewal date	Number of devices	Mono prints	Colour prints	Cost
Contract	Ricoh	31 July 2024	215	10,543,648	2,655,906	£165,000	Dec 20 to Nov 21

Table of infrastructure suppliers
Infrastructure	Supplier	Number of devices
Servers	Predominantly DELL	310 (80% approx Virtual)
Storage		90.5TB
Wireless access points	Predominantly CISCO	450
PCs	Predominantly DELL	2774

Table of clinical systems suppliers

System name	Supplier	Description	System classification	Contract expiry date	Cost
(e-RS) NHS e-Referral Service	ATOS ORIGIN NHS CFH BT N3	Patients choose and book appointments and referrals	Clinical	31/03/2022	Commercially sensitive
Alex Intranet	ITRM	Website an intranet development and hosting	Communications	14/05/2021	Commercially sensitive
Allocate (HR) - e-job planning	Allocate Software PLC	e-job plan subscriptions	HR	15/07/2022	Commercially sensitive
Allocate (HR) - Hosting	Allocate Software PLC	Cloud subscriptions	HR	15/07/2022	Commercially sensitive
Allocate (HR) - Nursing	Allocate Software PLC	HealthRoster nursing support	HR	15/07/2022	Commercially sensitive
Allocate (HR) - Rota	Allocate Software PLC	e-monitor and e-rota subscriptions	HR	15/07/2022	Commercially sensitive
Attend Anywhere	Attend Anywhere	Virtual consultations	Clinical	31/04/2022	Commercially sensitive
Big Hand	Big Hand	Digital dictation	Clinical	31/12/2021	Commercially sensitive
Parking Eye	CCP	Car parking ticket machines and usage	Estates	29/05/2021	Commercially sensitive
Captive Health	Captive Health (Connected Technology)	Friends and family test	Clinical	01/10/2021	Commercially sensitive
Carecentric	Graphnet My Care Record	Patient portal	Clinical	31/03/2022	Commercially sensitive
Case Note Management	OIT UK Ltd (CCube Solutions)	Track patient records and stores documents	Clinical	30/09/2021	Commercially sensitive
Commercially Sensitive	ATK Software	Mortality case note review tool	Clinical	30/04/2022	Commercially sensitive
Clinichemo	Clan William Health Ltd	Chemotherapy prescriptions	Clinical	31/03/2022	Commercially sensitive
Cosmic	CAMBIO	Patient administration system (EPR)	Clinical	30/01/2023	Commercially sensitive
COSMIC Intelligence	CAMBIO	Data warehouse and reporting	Information	30/01/2023	Commercially sensitive
CRIS	Wellbeing Software	Radiology information system	Clinical	01/07/2022	Commercially sensitive
Dart	IdealGen - (Qplus?)	Document archival and retrieval system (including scanners)	Clinical	31/05/2021	Commercially sensitive
Datix	Datix Ltd	Risk management system	clinical	31/10/2021	Commercially sensitive
Dawn	4S	Pathology system	Clinical	09/07/2021	Commercially sensitive
Digital Screens	Trou Digital	Information distribution and health messaging	Communications	07/12/2021	Commercially sensitive
DrDoctor	DrDoctor (ICNH Ltd)	Patient engagement platform	Clinical	30/09/2021	Commercially sensitive
Dr Foster	Dr Foster Intelligence (Telstra Health)	Data analysis, safety and satisfaction	Clinical	31/03/2022	Commercially sensitive
Dscribe	Dscribe Ltd	Linked to BigHand, off site transcription provider	Clinical	31/03/2023	Commercially sensitive
EPOS Now	Epos Now	Catering service tills	Estates	27/08/2022	Commercially sensitive
EROS	Advanced Business Solutions (COA)	Purchasing system	Procurement	31/03/2022	Commercially sensitive
ESR	McKesson	Electronic staff record system (absence inbound)	HR	31/03/2022	Commercially sensitive
EWS (Observations)	Nervercentre	E-observation, nurse handover, assessments and hospital at night	Clinical	31/03/2023	Commercially sensitive
F2	Info Health	Database for asset management, training, servicing - EBME	Estates	01/04/2022	Commercially sensitive
ICE	CliniSys	OCRR	Clinical	01/10/2021	Commercially sensitive
Healthcare Communications (Envoy)	Healthcare Communications	Two way text reminder service, replacing MJOG	Clinical	28/09/2022	Commercially sensitive
Imprivata Single Sign-on	Imprivata	Single sign-on solution	IT	30/09/2021	Commercially sensitive
Infoflex	Chameleon Information Management Services Ltd (CIMS)	Records date for all cancer patients	Clinical	31/03/2025	Commercially sensitive
Integra	Capita	Finance system	Finance	01/04/2023	Commercially sensitive
ISSUU	Issue Inc	Online flip book and publisher	Communications	31/03/2022	Commercially sensitive
JAC - Stock, EPMA and CMS	JAC QE Procurement and WellSky	Pharmacy ordering, requests and configuration	Pharmacy	30/11/2022	Commercially sensitive
Kantech	Kantech	Door controls, security and alarms	Estates	01/11/2021	Commercially sensitive
LMX-RDB-Pathweb	Technidata	Interface engine for laboratory management wystem including browser based OrderComms	Clinical	Part of TD contract	Commercially sensitive
Medicode	3M Health Information Systems	Medical coding	Clinical	Part of Cosmic contract	Commercially sensitive
Medicus Acute	Mela Solutions	Pain services	Clinical	01/07/2021	Commercially sensitive
Medicus ICT	Mela Solutions	ICU recording	Clinical	01/07/2021	Commercially sensitive
Medicus Outreach	Mela Solutions	Document management - data collection	Clinical	01/07/2021	Commercially sensitive
Medisoft (MediSIGHT)	Medisoft	Ophthalmology EMR	Clinical	N/A	Commercially sensitive
MI Databank Database	CoAcS Ltd	Database of medicines information enquiries from health care professionals and patients	Clinical	01/12/2021	Commercially sensitive
Health Medics Optimal previously MRM Live	Allocate Software PLC	Design, monitoring junior doctors rotas and hours	HR	15/07/2022	Commercially sensitive
Multiquote	ADB (UK) Limited	E-sourcing	Procurement	01/02/2022	Commercially sensitive
NHS Jobs	NHS	Recruitment systems	HR	N/A	Commercially sensitive
NHS Supply Chain	NHS Supply Chain	Stock ordering system	Procurement	N/A	Commercially sensitive
Oasis	Oasis	Medical records offsite storage	Medical Records	N/A	Commercially sensitive
OPAS - Warick International	Warick International/Civica	Occupational health	Clinical	05/09/2021	Commercially sensitive
ORMIS	DXC	Patient contact centre booking office book elective patients	Clinical	30/05/2021	Commercially sensitive
PACS Enterprise Imaging	AGFA	Image archive and viewing	Clinical	24/10/2021	Commercially sensitive
PAH Website	VerseOne	Trust external website	Communications	01/02/2021	Commercially sensitive
Pentacam	Oculus - Camera	Ophthalmology camera system	Clinical	N/A	Commercially sensitive
Pharmacy Robot	Becton Dickinson	Automated stock management and dispensing unit	Clinical	31/08/2021	Commercially sensitive
PharmaOutcomes	Pinnacle health	Hospital to community pharmacy information sharing	Clinical	31/12/2021	Commercially sensitive
Practice Navigator (PAS Nav) - was Siemens PN	Recently purchased via - Auditdata	Audiology patient management system	Clinical	21/10/2021	Commercially sensitive
Prescription Tracker	Pro Magetica/Promatica	Pharmacy ordering	Clinical	31/03/2022	Commercially sensitive
Python	Python	Development software	Information	N/A	Commercially sensitive
QlikView/QlikSence	Qlik	Reporting and BI presentation solution	Information	27/08/2023	Commercially sensitive
R Studio	Linked to Python - R Studio	Statistical software	Information	N/A	Commercially sensitive
Registration Authority	CfH NHS Spine portal	Staff user registration and card management	IT	NHS Managed	Commercially sensitive
Rhapsody Trust Interface Engine	Interoperability Health UK Limited - Lyniate	Trust integration engine - managed via restart for professional services	IT	31.05.2021	Commercially sensitive
Scantrack	CSC	Instrument tracking system in CSSD	Clinical	30/05/2021	Commercially sensitive
Sentori	Sentori	Newsletter and communication platform	Communications	N/A	Commercially sensitive
Shire System ( Piranha)	Elcosoft	Estates helpdesk and database	Estates	30/11/2021 - Not on register, raised via estates	Commercially sensitive
Simserve	MMM Medical	Records machine data for autoclave, audit trail.	Clinical	01/01/2021	Commercially sensitive
Sky Guard	Sky Guard	Lone worker devices	Estates	15/07/2023	Commercially sensitive
SLAM	Civica	Service and patient level costing	Finance	31/03/2022	Commercially sensitive
Solus (was Prism)	HD Clinical	Cardiology - opacings	Clinical	31/03 Annually Renewed	Commercially sensitive
SONAR	NHS	ABR online system, audiology benchmarking system	Clinical	30/03/2022	Commercially sensitive
Sostenuto	Sunrise	IT service desk system - 25 concurrent licences	IT	22/03/2021 - replacement due	Commercially sensitive
SourceDogg	Source Dogg	Contract management and e-sourcing	Procurement	31/03/2022	Commercially sensitive
Synertec	Synertec Ltd	Pay as you mail service	Estates	03/12/2021	Commercially sensitive
Taxi Database X drive	In house development - Access DB will be replaced	Taxi database in estates	Estates	N/A	Commercially sensitive
TD Synergy and TDHC	Technidata	Database for laboratory information management system	Clinical	30/11/2024	Commercially sensitive
TDOC	Getinge	Monitoring of the washers	CSSD	01/01/2023	Commercially sensitive
Telephony software	IS Plus and 8x8	Cal management system	IT	31/03/2021	Commercially sensitive
Trac Systems Limited	Trac	Recruitment systems	HR	Quarterly	Commercially sensitive
Twinkle	Hicom Technology	Paeds diabetes patient management	Clinical	04/04/2023	Commercially sensitive
Unisoft	Unisoft Computers Ltd	Endoscopy	Clinical	28/02/2022	Commercially sensitive
Unisoft	Unisoft Computers Ltd	Bronchoscopy reporting tool	Clinical	28/02/2022	Commercially sensitive
Viewpoint	Healthnet Connections Ltd - linked to GE	Reporting and archiving ultrasound information	Clinical	04/07/2021 Annual support	Commercially sensitive
WebBNF	Pharmaceutical Press	Intranet interface of the publication 'British National formulary' allows trust formulary status of all medicines listed in publication	Clinical	01/04/2022	Commercially sensitive
Winscribe	Winscribe	Digital dictation	Clinical	22/09/2021	Commercially sensitive

The services we offer

We have a dedicated Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) which is the first contact point for questions, concerns and suggestions about our services and provides support to patients, their families and visitors including interpreting and advocacy services. Details of the services offered by the PALS team are available here.

Latest news on the hospital is available on the news and media section.

Quick links - class definition document

The publication scheme comprises seven classes of information (known as definition documents) which can be accessed by clicking on the designated links below.

Who we are and what we do

What we spend and how we spend it

What our priorities are and how we are doing

How we make decisions

Trust board papers

Our policies and procedures

Trust policies are available on request

Lists and registers

List of contractors and suppliers - available on request
Register of interests declared by trust board members

The services we offer

Our services
Our wards
Patient experience team
Information pamphlets - clinical information pamphlets are available on request
News and events

Freedom of information

Search the Princess Alexandra Hospital website

What is the Freedom of Information Act 2000?

What is the Freedom of Information Act 2000?

How to make a request

Publication scheme

Who we are and what we do

Management

Board sub-committees

What we spend and how we spend it

What our priorities are and how we are doing

How we make decisions

Our policies and procedures

List and registers

ICT frequently asked questions

The services we offer

Quick links - class definition document

About us submenu

Inpatient comment:

Everyone offered words of such reassurance and kindness. I felt so cared for and the communication with me at all times was fantastic.