Health / NHS looking at ways to make response to large number of FOI requests more efficient
NHS Shetland has invested in an IT system which it hopes will speed up the administration required for the high level of freedom of information (FOI) requests it receives.
Finance director Colin Marsland told a meeting of the health board on Tuesday that the system costs less than £5,000 a year.
“It will hopefully speed up the administration and refer people to FOIs that were previously answered,” he said.
Under FOI legislation people have the right to request information from public organisations in Scotland, such as councils and health boards.
All requests should be reviewed and responded to in no more than 20 working days.
There has been continued concern over the high number of requests NHS Shetland receives and the burden it can place on staff.
Latest figures show there were 115 requests received in October, which was the highest monthly number on record.
There were 234 in total in the third quarter of 2024/25, which was the second highest ever for the period.
During this time around 65 per cent of requests were responded to within the 20 working day target.
Previously a large chunk of the workload has been attributed to requests from political parties.
NHS Shetland chief executive Brian Chittick said there has been a “significant increase” in FOIs, as well as subject access requests – where people can ask to see their own personal information.
“We have just recently had a new corporate records manager join the health board and already in our conversations we’ve been looking at how we review the FOI requests and how we can do that process better and more efficiently,” he said.
Regarding the spend on a new software package, Marsland said the system is already used by other organisations.
He added that a number of FOI requests tend to relate to information which is already publicly available elsewhere.
Board chairman Gary Robinson meanwhile said he personally felt going through the FOI process would be an “instrument of last resort, not first resort”.
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