Hepatology Appointment Backlog Communications
Case reference FOI2026/04492
Received 26 August 2026
Published 14 September 2026
Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide copies of emails, correspondence, meeting minutes, meeting papers and internal communications held by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust concerning the backlog or delays in hepatology consultant appointments or hepatology outpatient services.
Please cover the period 1 January 2025 to the date of this request.
I am particularly interested in communications discussing:
1. The size and extent of the hepatology appointment backlog.
2. The reasons for the backlog or delays.
3. Concerns or risks arising from patients waiting for appointments.
4. Complaints or concerns raised internally about the backlog.
5. Discussions between hepatology consultants, clinical leads, managers and Trust executives.
6. Communications with NHS England, the relevant ICB or other NHS organisations concerning the backlog.
7. Actions proposed or taken to reduce the backlog, including additional clinics, consultant capacity, recruitment, outsourcing or other measures.
8. Any recovery plans, targets or timescales for reducing the backlog.
Response
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide copies of emails, correspondence, meeting minutes, meeting papers and internal communications held by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust concerning the backlog or delays in hepatology consultant appointments or hepatology outpatient services.
Please cover the period 1 January 2025 to the date of this request.
I am particularly interested in communications discussing:
1. The size and extent of the hepatology appointment backlog.
2. The reasons for the backlog or delays.
3. Concerns or risks arising from patients waiting for appointments.
4. Complaints or concerns raised internally about the backlog.
5. Discussions between hepatology consultants, clinical leads, managers and Trust executives.
6. Communications with NHS England, the relevant ICB or other NHS organisations concerning the backlog.
7. Actions proposed or taken to reduce the backlog, including additional clinics, consultant capacity, recruitment, outsourcing or other measures.
8. Any recovery plans, targets or timescales for reducing the backlog.
The information requested is exempt under Section 12 of the FOIA, as complying with the request would exceed the appropriate cost limit of 18 hours.
We would assign one individual to complete this task as there would be a lot of organisations and co-ordinating involved.
E mails this would be at least 25 hours of work: Scoping out the project eg which staff need to be contacted, some may have left the Trust, liaising with ICT to access inboxes, reviewing emails redacting any other information that may be in the email which may not be relevant to the FOI request.
Meetings - there are several meetings that where this subject may have been discussed. The request needs to be scoped by one individual and for that individual to co-ordinate the response.
Divisional meetings including governance meetings 25 hours - to review all meetings, minutes, actions, logs, papers approx. 25 hours.
Directorate meetings including governance meetings 25 hours to review all meetings, minutes, actions, logs, papers – approx. 25 hours
User group meetings -we can support this request by retrieving minutes and action logs - it is likely to take around 18 hours
The request is therefore refused under Section 12.
Documents
This is Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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