Surgical infection rates (FOI)

Request

Could you list the number of cases of 'surgical infection' in patients who underwent surgery and the number of emergency readmissions of patients following stays in Jersey Hospital over the past three years?

Could you please list the treatment given and outcome for each case?

Response

Data in regard to the number of cases of ‘surgical infection’ in patients who underwent surgery in Jersey General Hospital is not routinely recorded, and therefore, the Health and Social Services Department would be required to access each individual’s medical record to gather this data. As such, Article 16 (cost excessive) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

However, the data for those patients that underwent hip and knee replacement surgery is available and is shown below:

Due to the small number of individuals who presented with a post-operative surgical infection in 2017, the actual number is shown as fewer than five (<5). Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has therefore been applied in order to protect the privacy of individuals.

The table below shows the number of emergency surgical re-admissions, within 30 days, following an admission in:

• Beauport Ward (orthopaedic)

• Portelet Ward (general surgery, ENT, urology)

• Rayner Ward (general surgery, gynaecology and orthopaedic)

• Day Surgery Unit

Definition of Emergency Readmission:

Emergency admissions occurring within 30 days of the last, previous discharge from hospital after admission to a surgical ward. Admissions for cancer and obstetrics are excluded.

Exemption applied

Article 16 A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.

Regulation 2 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 allows an authority to refuse a request for information where the estimated cost of dealing with the request would exceed the specified amount of the cost limit of £500. This is the estimated cost of one person spending 12.5 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

Article 25 Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.