FOI/2026/27/003

Your request:

 

1. Your current Uniform and Dress Code Policy (including any appendices)

2. Your current infection prevention and Control Policy / guidance specifically covering:

Bare below the elbow requirements ,

permitted jewellery in clinical areas - eg wedding rings

Any accommodations for articles of religious faith (hijab, niqab, kippah, kara, kirpan, crucifix, turban etc.)

3. Any specific dress code guidance for

general clinical areas

high infection risk areas like ICU,ITU, Isolation

any dress policy pertaining to surgical/theatre environments and any scrubbing protocols 

4. Any Equality impact assessment conducted in relation to the above policies

5. The date each policy was last reviewed and scheduled next review date

 

 

Our response:

 

Having completed enquiries within CLCH, In respect of Sec1(1)(a) CLCH does hold information relating to your request however this information will be published in the near future, therefore for the purpose of section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), this part of our response serves as a formal notification of refusal of your request on the basis that the exemption given at Section 22 of the FOIA applies (Information intended for future publication).

 

Section 22 - Information intended for future publication

(1) Information is exempt information if—

(a)the information is held by the public authority with a view to its publication, by the authority or any other person, at some future date (whether determined or not),

(b)the information was already held with a view to such publication at the time when the request for information was made, and

            (c)it is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information should be withheld from disclosure until the date referred to in paragraph (a).

The exemption is a qualified exemption, meaning that a public interest test must be conducted in determining whether to maintain the exemption, or in other words, whether the public interest most favours publishing the information immediately or at a later date.

There is an obvious public interest in the disclosure of the information in terms of transparency and accountability, which are the cornerstones of the FOI legislation. There is no dispute that this information should be made available to public scrutiny and this has been the case in the past. However, there is equally a powerful public interest in ensuring that public resources are used effectively, as observed by Judge Wikley in an Upper Tribunal decision, albeit involving the application of a different exemption.

 

In this context it is important to bear in mind that the right to information under FOIA is a significant but not an overriding right in a modern democratic society. As has already been noted, it is a right that is qualified or circumscribed in various ways. Those restrictions reflect other countervailing public interests, including the importance of an efficient system of public administration.

(Judge Wikely in ICO vs. Devon CC and Dransfield 2012), para. 35.)

 

For the public interest to fall in favour of immediate disclosure, there would have to be some pressing reason why it would be unreasonable for the public to wait until the authority was ready to publish the material.  There is no indication that CLCH is aware of that there is any pressing need that would warrant immediate publication in this instance. Consequently, the balance of the public interest falls in favour of maintaining the exemption and this response therefore acts as a refusal notice to provide the information you have requested at this time.

 

The information you have requested, is partially already available online.  You can view these via the link Provided.  

 

https://clch.nhs.uk/about-us/foi/foi-requests?search=1&keywords=policies&category=#bID-68467

 

We will also be publishing further updated information and will be available in due course.