North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust

The complainant has made a number of requests to North Middlesex University Hospital Trust (‘the Trust’). The requests topics include information about the number of complaints received about the CEO and the complaints procedure, discharge criteria and processes, details of how a complaint had been handled and copies of particular test results. The Trust refused the requests under section 14(1) FOIA (vexatious requests) and advised that it would no longer respond to requests about the same or similar topics under section 17(6) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Trust was entitled to rely on section 14(1) of FOIA to refuse the requests covered in this notice. He also finds that the Trust breached sections 10(1) and 17(5) of FOIA by failing to provide its responses and relevant refusal notice within 20 working days. The Commissioner does not require further steps.