Locum staff currently employed at hospital pharmacy (FOI)

​Request 710387548

​I would like to know how many locum staff are currently employed at the hospital pharmacy. Please give a breakdown of the different roles currently being filled by locum staff and the number of locum staff in each position.

I would also like to know the pay rate per hour of the locum staff for each different role.

Response

There are currently 12 agency staff workers covering roles in Jersey General Hospital Pharmacy:

• Five Clinical Pharmacist roles
• Two Lead Pharmacist roles
• One Pharmacy Manager role
  
• Three Senior Pharmacy Technician roles
• One Lead Pharmacy Technician role

Agency staff are engaged through contract, rather than directly employed into salaried posts within the substantive pay scales. The contract of services is commercially sensitive and as such, Health and Care Jersey considers that disclosure of rates of pay and / or agency fees would likely prejudice the commercial interests of the department and / or others. Therefore, Article 33 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Article applied

Article 33 - Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Public Interest Test

Article 33 is a qualified exemption and as such, Health and Care Jersey (HCJ) has conducted a prejudice test as required by law. 

When responding to requests of this nature, HCJ has to balance the public interest with the impact that disclosing this information would, or would be likely to, have upon the organisation and / or third parties. Whilst it may be in the public interest to understand the costs of contracting services, protecting the commercial interests of HCJ is an essential component in controlling public finances, which in itself is in the public interest.

It has been concluded that disclosing details of the contractual service arrangements is likely to prejudice the commercial interests of HCJ and / or the provider. When considering the application of this exemption, HCJ has determined that whilst it is in the public interest to disclose information, this is outweighed by the necessity to limit any impact on the commercial interests of HCJ and third parties in future contract negotiations, and as such, Article 33 has been applied.​