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Responses > 114/2022

Freedom of Information request 114/2022

Response published: 6 March 2023

FOI Request

Could you please tell me for the calendar year 2021: 1. How many official complaints and PALS concerns your Trust received from patients alleging they had been discriminated against or badly treated by a member of staff because of their being overweight or obese Please do this by searching for complaints containing any of the words weight, fat, obese, overweight and bariatric and filtering these to find those that refer to allegedly fat-shaming comments or actions made by a member of staff. 2. Can you select the first five such complaints from 2021 and provide me with the following details: a. What type of staff member was the complaint levelled against? E.g. healthcare assistant, junior doctor, consultant, cleaner, kitchen staff b. Please quote the words allegedly used by the hospital staff or summarise the offending action c. Please tell me what, if any, action was taken by your trust in response to these five sample complaints from the beginning of 2021

FOI Response

Trust HQ
Edward Jenner Court
1010 Pioneer Avenue
Brockworth
Gloucester
GL3 4AW
Tel: 0300 421 8100
E-mail: freedomofinformation@ghc.nhs.uk Website: www.ghc.nhs.uk
14th June 2022
Freedom of Information Request – Ref: FOI 115-2022
Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request. Please find our response below.
1. How many official complaints and PALS concerns your Trust received from patients alleging they had been discriminated against or badly treated by a member of staff because of their being overweight or obese
We have had no complaints or concerns reporting being discriminated against or badly treated by a member of staff because of their being overweight or obese out of interest we’ve had 4 concerns where parents have objected to the national programme in which Year 6 pupils’ weight is recorded and then suggests the children are overweight / obese.
2. Can you select the first five such complaints from 2021 and provide me with the following details:
a. What type of staff member was the complaint levelled against? E.g. healthcare assistant, junior doctor, consultant, cleaner, kitchen staff

b. Please quote the words allegedly used by the hospital staff or summarise the offending action

c. Please tell me what, if any, action was taken by your trust in response to these five sample complaints from the beginning of 2021

Should you have any queries in relation to our response in this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. If you are unhappy with the response you have received in relation to your request and wish to ask us to review our response, you should write to: –
– Head of Legal Services / Associate Director of Corporate Governance Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
Edward Jenner Court
1010 Pioneer Avenue
Gloucester Business Park
Brockworth
GLOUCESTER GL3 4AW
——-
E-mail: —
If you are not content with the outcome of any review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office ICO. for further advice/guidance. Generally, the ICO will not consider your case unless you have exhausted your enquiries with the Trust which should include considering the use of the Trust’s formal complaints procedure. The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information Officer
On behalf of Gloucestershire Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust