This is to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail message.
 
(The above is generated by an auto-reply programme)
 
 
 
Hospital Authority ([1]www.ha.org.hk)
 
 
=====================================
 
謝謝閣下的電子郵件。
 
（以上為電腦自動發出的訊息）
 
 
 
醫院管理局 ([2]www.ha.org.hk)
 
 
=====================================
 
谢谢阁下的电子邮件。
 
（以上为电脑自动发出的讯息）
 
 
 
医院管理局 ([3]www.ha.org.hk)
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************************************************************
Disclaimer

This Email may contain privileged and confidential information and is
solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended
recipient, you must not print, copy, distribute or take any action in
reliance on it. If you have received this Email by mistake, please notify
the sender and then delete this Email from your computer. The Hospital
Authority does not accept liability arising from Email transmitted by
mistake.

Although this Email and any attachments are believed to be free of virus
or other defects that might affect any computer system into which it is
received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure
that it is virus free, and no responsibility is accepted by the Hospital
Authority for any loss or damage in any way arising from its use.

All views or opinions expressed in this Email and its attachments are
those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions
of the Hospital Authority.
***************************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/www.ha.org.hk
2. file:///tmp/www.ha.org.hk
3. file:///tmp/www.ha.org.hk

收起引用部分

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

Thank you for your Application for Access to Information dated 11 May
2016.

 

As the processing of your request involves the search of records, we are
unable to provide you with the information sought at this stage.  You will
be advised further in relation to your request on or before 31 May 2016.

 

Should you have any questions in the meantime, please contact me at 2300
6568 or 2300 6555.

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Sandy Chu(Miss)

Access to Information Officer

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Edmunds [[1]mailto:[FOI #83 email]]
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 11:33 PM
To: [2][Hospital Authority request email]
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on data
charges and revenue

 

Dear Hospital Authority,

 

I would like to get statistics on how many requests you get from
researchers/external users per year for your data, and what do you charge
them for accessing this? Do you have a standard charges, or is this
decided on an ad hoc basis? Most importantly, what is your yearly revenue
from selling this data? The most recent year you have this information for
(e.g. 2014 or 2015) will suffice.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Scott Edmunds

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated via
the accessinfo.hk website.

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[3][FOI #83 email]

 

Is [4][Hospital Authority request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Hospital Authority? If so, please contact us using this form:

[5]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[6]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

 

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************************************************************
Disclaimer

This Email may contain privileged and confidential information and is
solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended
recipient, you must not print, copy, distribute or take any action in
reliance on it. If you have received this Email by mistake, please notify
the sender and then delete this Email from your computer. The Hospital
Authority does not accept liability arising from Email transmitted by
mistake.

Although this Email and any attachments are believed to be free of virus
or other defects that might affect any computer system into which it is
received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure
that it is virus free, and no responsibility is accepted by the Hospital
Authority for any loss or damage in any way arising from its use.

All views or opinions expressed in this Email and its attachments are
those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions
of the Hospital Authority.
***************************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #83 email]
2. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
3. mailto:[FOI #83 email]
4. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
5. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
6. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

收起引用部分

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

Further to our reply dated 20 May 2016, please find below the Hospital
Authority’s response:

 

The principal core function of the Hospital Authority (HA) is to provide
public healthcare services to eligible residents of Hong Kong. Patients
using the HA’s services will have their personal data as well as clinical
care process data collected. The main purpose of data collection is to
facilitate the treatment and care process, as well as for overall services
planning and development. HA produces an annual Statistical Report and
also provides information, including statistical information, to the
Legislative Council (in response to over 280 questions in the financial
year 2014/15) on a regular basis, both of which are accessible by the
general public via the internet.

 

For other external requests for data and statistical information, the HA
usually provides readily available statistics wherever appropriate.
However, a proportion of these requests must require our considerable
efforts to extract and consolidate data from multiple clinical information
systems within the HA with the use of different software programming
techniques. And they come from academia for academic research purpose.

 

The HA has a mechanism in place to vet all these external data requests
for academic research in accordance with the HA Standard Procedures. The
requests will be approved if all the requirements of our standard
procedures, particularly on patient data privacy, relevance of data to
study protocol, reasonable data quality and ethics approval, are
satisfactorily fulfilled.

 

When the data request is accepted by the HA, a charge will be made for the
provision of data because it is outside our core duties and requires
considerable amount of staff time with expertise in various computer
programming techniques to extract and consolidate data across multiple
clinical information systems. The requestor is informed of this charge for
performing the data extraction, and after obtaining his/her agreement, the
HA will proceed to process the request. The charge is calculated according
to the manpower resources required at the working level for processing the
request, which is based on the estimated man hours required for our
supporting statistical staff to prepare and produce the dataset according
to the agreed data requirements. The charge is to cover the labour costs
of the supporting staff only, and from time to time we need to employ
temporary staff to cope with extra workload as a result that some
permanent staff resources have been deployed to process these external
data requests.

 

In the past two years, we received around 14 data requests for academic
research per year and a total charge of around $250,000 per year in order
to recover the additional cost and manpower required.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about this
reply.

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Sandy Chu(Miss)

Access to Information Officer

Hospital Authority Head Office

(Tel.: 2300 6568/2300 6555)

 

From: [1][Hospital Authority request email]
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2016 2:12 PM
To: '[FOI #83 email]'
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on data
charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott
Edmunds)

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

Thank you for your Application for Access to Information dated 11 May
2016.

 

As the processing of your request involves the search of records, we are
unable to provide you with the information sought at this stage.  You will
be advised further in relation to your request on or before 31 May 2016.

 

Should you have any questions in the meantime, please contact me at 2300
6568 or 2300 6555.

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Sandy Chu(Miss)

Access to Information Officer

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Edmunds [[2]mailto:[FOI #83 email]]
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 11:33 PM
To: [3][Hospital Authority request email]
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on data
charges and revenue

 

Dear Hospital Authority,

 

I would like to get statistics on how many requests you get from
researchers/external users per year for your data, and what do you charge
them for accessing this? Do you have a standard charges, or is this
decided on an ad hoc basis? Most importantly, what is your yearly revenue
from selling this data? The most recent year you have this information for
(e.g. 2014 or 2015) will suffice.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Scott Edmunds

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated via
the accessinfo.hk website.

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[4][FOI #83 email]

 

Is [5][Hospital Authority request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Hospital Authority? If so, please contact us using this form:

[6]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[7]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

 

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************************************************************
Disclaimer

This Email may contain privileged and confidential information and is
solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended
recipient, you must not print, copy, distribute or take any action in
reliance on it. If you have received this Email by mistake, please notify
the sender and then delete this Email from your computer. The Hospital
Authority does not accept liability arising from Email transmitted by
mistake.

Although this Email and any attachments are believed to be free of virus
or other defects that might affect any computer system into which it is
received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure
that it is virus free, and no responsibility is accepted by the Hospital
Authority for any loss or damage in any way arising from its use.

All views or opinions expressed in this Email and its attachments are
those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions
of the Hospital Authority.
***************************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
2. mailto:[FOI #83 email]
3. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
4. mailto:[FOI #83 email]
5. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
6. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
7. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

收起引用部分

This is to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail message.
 
(The above is generated by an auto-reply programme)
 
 
 
Hospital Authority ([1]www.ha.org.hk)
 
 
=====================================
 
謝謝閣下的電子郵件。
 
（以上為電腦自動發出的訊息）
 
 
 
醫院管理局 ([2]www.ha.org.hk)
 
 
=====================================
 
谢谢阁下的电子邮件。
 
（以上为电脑自动发出的讯息）
 
 
 
医院管理局 ([3]www.ha.org.hk)
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************************************************************
Disclaimer

This Email may contain privileged and confidential information and is
solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended
recipient, you must not print, copy, distribute or take any action in
reliance on it. If you have received this Email by mistake, please notify
the sender and then delete this Email from your computer. The Hospital
Authority does not accept liability arising from Email transmitted by
mistake.

Although this Email and any attachments are believed to be free of virus
or other defects that might affect any computer system into which it is
received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure
that it is virus free, and no responsibility is accepted by the Hospital
Authority for any loss or damage in any way arising from its use.

All views or opinions expressed in this Email and its attachments are
those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions
of the Hospital Authority.
***************************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/www.ha.org.hk
2. file:///tmp/www.ha.org.hk
3. file:///tmp/www.ha.org.hk

收起引用部分

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

Thank you for your application dated 9 June 2016.

 

As the processing of your request for information involves consultation
with various parties concerned, we are unable to provide you with the
information at this stage.  You will be advised further in relation to
your request on or before 29 June 2016.

 

Should you have any questions in the meantime, please contact me at 2300
6568/2300 6555 or Ms H L Tsang at 2300 7422/2300 6555.

 

  

Yours sincerely,

Sandy Chu (Miss)

Access to Information Officer

Hospital Authority Head Office

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Edmunds [[1]mailto:[FOI #83 email]]
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2016 6:22 PM
To: [2][Hospital Authority request email]
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on
data charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott
Edmunds)

 

Dear [3][Hospital Authority request email],

 

Many thanks for clarifying much of my question. Can I ask where the annual
Statistical report is located, as I can only find them up to 2012/2013
([4]https://www.ha.org.hk/gallery/ha_publica...).
Can I also follow up on a few a few other points?

 

1. When you say "In the past two years, we received around 14 data
requests for academic research per year",  how many of these did you
approve, and if you turned some down for what were the reasons for this?

 

2. I appreciate there may be costs involved in collecting this data, and
issues of data privacy that will necessitate anonymization, but once this
is carried out and the data has been safely safely de-identified and
anonymised, can researchers share this data further? If another researcher
wanted to use the exact same data for another project would the HA allow
this, and are there any additional costs or charges? As all the costs are
in the collection and electronic dissemination is effectively free, could
I request previously collected data via a request such as this, and could
this be uploaded to data.gov.uk to maximise its reuse and benefit for
public health and research?

 

3. The US and UK research funders have all given strong commitments to
publicly funded research data, and the European Union has just pledged a
mandate for all its funded research by 2020. With concerns about
irreproducible research and fraud, journals are increasingly mandating the
supporting data behind publications to be released as well. As the worlds
largest journal PLOS has since 2014 had a firm mandate that data be
released, do you have any policies on researchers publishing in these
journals releasing their supporting (safely anonymised) data in a public
repository such as Zenodo, Figshare or Dryad?

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Scott Edmunds

 

-----Original Message-----

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

Further to our reply dated 20 May 2016, please find below the Hospital 
Authority’s response:

 

The principal core function of the Hospital Authority (HA) is to provide 
public healthcare services to eligible residents of Hong Kong. Patients 
using the HA’s services will have their personal data as well as clinical 
care process data collected. The main purpose of data collection is to 
facilitate the treatment and care process, as well as for overall
services  planning and development. HA produces an annual Statistical
Report and  also provides information, including statistical information,
to the  Legislative Council (in response to over 280 questions in the
financial  year 2014/15) on a regular basis, both of which are accessible
by the  general public via the internet.

 

For other external requests for data and statistical information, the HA 
usually provides readily available statistics wherever appropriate.

However, a proportion of these requests must require our considerable 
efforts to extract and consolidate data from multiple clinical
information  systems within the HA with the use of different software
programming  techniques. And they come from academia for academic research
purpose.

 

The HA has a mechanism in place to vet all these external data requests 
for academic research in accordance with the HA Standard Procedures. The 
requests will be approved if all the requirements of our standard 
procedures, particularly on patient data privacy, relevance of data to 
study protocol, reasonable data quality and ethics approval, are 
satisfactorily fulfilled.

 

When the data request is accepted by the HA, a charge will be made for
the  provision of data because it is outside our core duties and requires 
considerable amount of staff time with expertise in various computer 
programming techniques to extract and consolidate data across multiple 
clinical information systems. The requestor is informed of this charge
for  performing the data extraction, and after obtaining his/her
agreement, the  HA will proceed to process the request. The charge is
calculated according  to the manpower resources required at the working
level for processing the  request, which is based on the estimated man
hours required for our  supporting statistical staff to prepare and
produce the dataset according  to the agreed data requirements. The charge
is to cover the labour costs  of the supporting staff only, and from time
to time we need to employ  temporary staff to cope with extra workload as
a result that some  permanent staff resources have been deployed to
process these external  data requests.

 

In the past two years, we received around 14 data requests for academic 
research per year and a total charge of around $250,000 per year in order 
to recover the additional cost and manpower required.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about this 
reply.

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sandy Chu(Miss)

 

Access to Information Officer

 

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

(Tel.: 2300 6568/2300 6555)

 

 

 

From: [1][Hospital Authority request email]

Sent: Friday, May 20, 2016 2:12 PM

To: '[FOI #83 email]'

Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on data 
charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott

Edmunds)

 

 

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

 

 

Thank you for your Application for Access to Information dated 11 May 
2016.

 

 

 

As the processing of your request involves the search of records, we are 
unable to provide you with the information sought at this stage.  You will
 be advised further in relation to your request on or before 31 May 2016.

 

 

 

Should you have any questions in the meantime, please contact me at 2300

6568 or 2300 6555.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sandy Chu(Miss)

 

Access to Information Officer

 

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[5][FOI #83 email]

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[6]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

 

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************************************************************
Disclaimer

This Email may contain privileged and confidential information and is
solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended
recipient, you must not print, copy, distribute or take any action in
reliance on it. If you have received this Email by mistake, please notify
the sender and then delete this Email from your computer. The Hospital
Authority does not accept liability arising from Email transmitted by
mistake.

Although this Email and any attachments are believed to be free of virus
or other defects that might affect any computer system into which it is
received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure
that it is virus free, and no responsibility is accepted by the Hospital
Authority for any loss or damage in any way arising from its use.

All views or opinions expressed in this Email and its attachments are
those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions
of the Hospital Authority.
***************************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #83 email]
2. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
3. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
4. https://www.ha.org.hk/gallery/ha_publica...
5. mailto:[FOI #83 email]
6. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

收起引用部分

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

Further to our reply dated 13 June 2016, please find below the Hospital
Authority’s response:

 

(1)      The Hospital Authority (HA) Statistical Report (2014-15 is the
latest version) can be accessed via the HA’s following webpage:

 

[1]http://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_visitor_...

 

(2)      For all external data requests for academic research which have
been so far vetted under the current HA mechanism, they have been entirely
accepted although some of which were required to refine some data
requirements to fulfil the HA Standard Procedures and were agreed by the
respective requestors after communication.

 

(3)      To recap, the principal core function of the HA is to
provide public healthcare services to eligible residents of Hong Kong.
Patients using the HA’s services will have their personal data as well as
clinical data collected during the care process. The main purpose of data
collection is to facilitate the treatment and care process, as well as for
overall services planning and development. While the HA supports academic
research through the set-up of a mechanism to vet and process external
data requests for academic research in accordance with the HA Standard
Procedures, the HA is also obliged to comply with the Personal Data
(Privacy) Ordinance.

 

For those external data requests which require patient-based records for
academic research, although they are de-identified, each record contains
personal particulars and clinical care information pertaining to an
individual person. If it were to be cross-matched with other database,
there is a potential chance to re-identify a particular patient through
matching on multiple data fields. Also, this violates the Personal Data
(Privacy) Ordinance (Chapter 486, Section 30 – matching procedure not to
be carried out except with consent of data subject). Therefore, requests
for the HA patient data for academic research purposes are considered on a
case-by-case basis. In the case when the data request is accepted by the
HA, the requestors have to undertake that they must not use the data for
any projects/purposes other than the original study, except with the HA’s
prior written approval. In addition, they are requested to destruct and
delete the patient data from their computer system or other records in
whatever form or medium after study completion.

(4)      The HA’s current mechanism for handling external data requests
for academic research is stated in point (3) above. As the use of the HA
data is for statistics and research purposes, only aggregated or summary
data can be presented or published. The requestors are required to
undertake not to disclose or make any reference to individual
patient-based records or data in publication, which implies that releasing
the data in a public repository is not allowed. Also, the requestors are
required to destroy the patient data released by the HA after study
completion.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me at 2300 6568/2300 6555 or Ms H L
Tsang at 2300 7422/2300 6555 if you have any questions about this reply.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Sandy Chu (Miss)

Access to Information Officer

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

From: [2][Hospital Authority request email]
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2016 5:52 PM
To: '[FOI #83 email]'
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on data
charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott
Edmunds)

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

Thank you for your application dated 9 June 2016.

 

As the processing of your request for information involves consultation
with various parties concerned, we are unable to provide you with the
information at this stage. You will be advised further in relation to your
request on or before 29 June 2016.

 

Should you have any questions in the meantime, please contact me at 2300
6568/2300 6555 or Ms H L Tsang at 2300 7422/2300 6555.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Sandy Chu (Miss)

Access to Information Officer

Hospital Authority Head Office

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Edmunds [[3]mailto:[FOI #83 email]]
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2016 6:22 PM
To: [4][Hospital Authority request email]
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on
data charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott
Edmunds)

 

Dear [5][Hospital Authority request email],

 

Many thanks for clarifying much of my question. Can I ask where the annual
Statistical report is located, as I can only find them up to 2012/2013
([6]https://www.ha.org.hk/gallery/ha_publica...).
Can I also follow up on a few a few other points?

 

1. When you say "In the past two years, we received around 14 data
requests for academic research per year", how many of these did you
approve, and if you turned some down for what were the reasons for this?

 

2. I appreciate there may be costs involved in collecting this data, and
issues of data privacy that will necessitate anonymization, but once this
is carried out and the data has been safely safely de-identified and
anonymised, can researchers share this data further? If another researcher
wanted to use the exact same data for another project would the HA allow
this, and are there any additional costs or charges? As all the costs are
in the collection and electronic dissemination is effectively free, could
I request previously collected data via a request such as this, and could
this be uploaded to data.gov.uk to maximise its reuse and benefit for
public health and research?

 

3. The US and UK research funders have all given strong commitments to
publicly funded research data, and the European Union has just pledged a
mandate for all its funded research by 2020. With concerns about
irreproducible research and fraud, journals are increasingly mandating the
supporting data behind publications to be released as well. As the worlds
largest journal PLOS has since 2014 had a firm mandate that data be
released, do you have any policies on researchers publishing in these
journals releasing their supporting (safely anonymised) data in a public
repository such as Zenodo, Figshare or Dryad?

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Scott Edmunds

 

-----Original Message-----

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

Further to our reply dated 20 May 2016, please find below the Hospital
Authority’s response:

 

The principal core function of the Hospital Authority (HA) is to provide
public healthcare services to eligible residents of Hong Kong. Patients
using the HA’s services will have their personal data as well as clinical
care process data collected. The main purpose of data collection is to
facilitate the treatment and care process, as well as for overall services
planning and development. HA produces an annual Statistical Report and
also provides information, including statistical information, to the
Legislative Council (in response to over 280 questions in the financial
year 2014/15) on a regular basis, both of which are accessible by the
general public via the internet.

 

For other external requests for data and statistical information, the HA
usually provides readily available statistics wherever appropriate.

However, a proportion of these requests must require our considerable
efforts to extract and consolidate data from multiple clinical information
systems within the HA with the use of different software programming
techniques. And they come from academia for academic research purpose.

 

The HA has a mechanism in place to vet all these external data requests
for academic research in accordance with the HA Standard Procedures. The
requests will be approved if all the requirements of our standard
procedures, particularly on patient data privacy, relevance of data to
study protocol, reasonable data quality and ethics approval, are
satisfactorily fulfilled.

 

When the data request is accepted by the HA, a charge will be made for the
provision of data because it is outside our core duties and requires
considerable amount of staff time with expertise in various computer
programming techniques to extract and consolidate data across multiple
clinical information systems. The requestor is informed of this charge for
performing the data extraction, and after obtaining his/her agreement, the
HA will proceed to process the request. The charge is calculated according
to the manpower resources required at the working level for processing the
request, which is based on the estimated man hours required for our
supporting statistical staff to prepare and produce the dataset according
to the agreed data requirements. The charge is to cover the labour costs
of the supporting staff only, and from time to time we need to employ
temporary staff to cope with extra workload as a result that some
permanent staff resources have been deployed to process these external
data requests.

 

In the past two years, we received around 14 data requests for academic
research per year and a total charge of around $250,000 per year in order
to recover the additional cost and manpower required.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about this
reply.

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sandy Chu(Miss)

 

Access to Information Officer

 

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

(Tel.: 2300 6568/2300 6555)

 

 

 

From: [1][Hospital Authority request email]

Sent: Friday, May 20, 2016 2:12 PM

To: '[FOI #83 email]'

Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on data
charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott

Edmunds)

 

 

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

 

 

Thank you for your Application for Access to Information dated 11 May
2016.

 

 

 

As the processing of your request involves the search of records, we are
unable to provide you with the information sought at this stage. You will
be advised further in relation to your request on or before 31 May 2016.

 

 

 

Should you have any questions in the meantime, please contact me at 2300

6568 or 2300 6555.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sandy Chu(Miss)

 

Access to Information Officer

 

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[7][FOI #83 email]

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[8]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

 

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************************************************************
Disclaimer

This Email may contain privileged and confidential information and is
solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended
recipient, you must not print, copy, distribute or take any action in
reliance on it. If you have received this Email by mistake, please notify
the sender and then delete this Email from your computer. The Hospital
Authority does not accept liability arising from Email transmitted by
mistake.

Although this Email and any attachments are believed to be free of virus
or other defects that might affect any computer system into which it is
received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure
that it is virus free, and no responsibility is accepted by the Hospital
Authority for any loss or damage in any way arising from its use.

All views or opinions expressed in this Email and its attachments are
those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions
of the Hospital Authority.
***************************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. http://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_visitor_...
2. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
3. mailto:[FOI #83 email]
4. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
5. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
6. https://www.ha.org.hk/gallery/ha_publica...
7. mailto:[FOI #83 email]
8. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

收起引用部分

This is to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail message.
 
(The above is generated by an auto-reply programme)
 
 
 
Hospital Authority ([1]www.ha.org.hk)
 
 
=====================================
 
謝謝閣下的電子郵件。
 
（以上為電腦自動發出的訊息）
 
 
 
醫院管理局 ([2]www.ha.org.hk)
 
 
=====================================
 
谢谢阁下的电子邮件。
 
（以上为电脑自动发出的讯息）
 
 
 
医院管理局 ([3]www.ha.org.hk)
 
  ________________________________  
Support Organ Donation – Register NOW!
支持器官捐贈 – 立即登記!
[4]http://www.ha.org.hk/organdonationcampaign

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************************************************************
Disclaimer

This Email may contain privileged and confidential information and is
solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended
recipient, you must not print, copy, distribute or take any action in
reliance on it. If you have received this Email by mistake, please notify
the sender and then delete this Email from your computer. The Hospital
Authority does not accept liability arising from Email transmitted by
mistake.

Although this Email and any attachments are believed to be free of virus
or other defects that might affect any computer system into which it is
received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure
that it is virus free, and no responsibility is accepted by the Hospital
Authority for any loss or damage in any way arising from its use.

All views or opinions expressed in this Email and its attachments are
those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions
of the Hospital Authority.
***************************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/www.ha.org.hk
2. file:///tmp/www.ha.org.hk
3. file:///tmp/www.ha.org.hk
4. http://www.ha.org.hk/organdonationcampaign

收起引用部分

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

Thank you for your application dated 21 July 2016.

 

As your request for information involves consultation with various parties
concerned, we are unable to provide you with the information at this
stage.   You will be advised further in relation to your request on or
before 10 August 2016.

 

Should you have any questions in the meantime, please contact me at 2300
6568 or 2300 6555.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Sandy Chu (Miss)

Access to Information Officer

Hospital Authority Head Office

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Edmunds [[1]mailto:[FOI #83 email]]
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2016 2:33 AM
To: [2][Hospital Authority request email]
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on
data charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott
Edmunds)

 

Dear [3][Hospital Authority request email],

 

Thanks again for clarifying further. As the aggregate/summary data is safe
and allowed to be published/shared, can you share with me the summary data
from the previous 14 applications, and can this be posted in data.gov.hk
to maximise its re-use by the research community?

 

Another question is can researchers could share data with other
researchers with your permission? For instance if I could share the data I
paid for with another researcher assuming the other researchers project
was approved by you, can they get the data from me, rather than having to
pay the fee to you again?

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Scott Edmunds

 

-----Original Message-----

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

 

 

Further to our reply dated 13 June 2016, please find below the Hospital 
Authority’s response:

 

 

 

(1)      The Hospital Authority (HA) Statistical Report (2014-15 is the 
latest version) can be accessed via the HA’s following webpage:

 

 

 

[1][4]http://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_visitor_...

 

 

 

(2)      For all external data requests for academic research which have 
been so far vetted under the current HA mechanism, they have been
entirely  accepted although some of which were required to refine some
data  requirements to fulfil the HA Standard Procedures and were agreed by
the  respective requestors after communication.

 

 

 

(3)      To recap, the principal core function of the HA is to 
provide public healthcare services to eligible residents of Hong Kong.

Patients using the HA’s services will have their personal data as well as 
clinical data collected during the care process. The main purpose of data 
collection is to facilitate the treatment and care process, as well as
for  overall services planning and development. While the HA supports
academic  research through the set-up of a mechanism to vet and process
external  data requests for academic research in accordance with the HA
Standard  Procedures, the HA is also obliged to comply with the Personal
Data

(Privacy) Ordinance.

 

 

 

For those external data requests which require patient-based records for 
academic research, although they are de-identified, each record contains 
personal particulars and clinical care information pertaining to an 
individual person. If it were to be cross-matched with other database, 
there is a potential chance to re-identify a particular patient through 
matching on multiple data fields. Also, this violates the Personal Data

(Privacy) Ordinance (Chapter 486, Section 30 – matching procedure not to 
be carried out except with consent of data subject). Therefore, requests 
for the HA patient data for academic research purposes are considered on
a  case-by-case basis. In the case when the data request is accepted by
the  HA, the requestors have to undertake that they must not use the data
for  any projects/purposes other than the original study, except with the
HA’s  prior written approval. In addition, they are requested to destruct
and  delete the patient data from their computer system or other records
in  whatever form or medium after study completion.

 

(4)      The HA’s current mechanism for handling external data requests 
for academic research is stated in point (3) above. As the use of the HA 
data is for statistics and research purposes, only aggregated or summary 
data can be presented or published. The requestors are required to 
undertake not to disclose or make any reference to individual 
patient-based records or data in publication, which implies that
releasing  the data in a public repository is not allowed. Also, the
requestors are  required to destroy the patient data released by the HA
after study  completion.

 

 

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me at 2300 6568/2300 6555 or Ms H L 
Tsang at 2300 7422/2300 6555 if you have any questions about this reply.

 

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sandy Chu (Miss)

 

Access to Information Officer

 

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

 

 

From: [2][Hospital Authority request email]

Sent: Monday, June 13, 2016 5:52 PM

To: '[FOI #83 email]'

Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on data 
charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott

Edmunds)

 

 

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

 

 

Thank you for your application dated 9 June 2016.

 

 

 

As the processing of your request for information involves consultation 
with various parties concerned, we are unable to provide you with the 
information at this stage. You will be advised further in relation to
your  request on or before 29 June 2016.

 

 

 

Should you have any questions in the meantime, please contact me at 2300

6568/2300 6555 or Ms H L Tsang at 2300 7422/2300 6555.

 

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sandy Chu (Miss)

 

Access to Information Officer

 

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[5][FOI #83 email]

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[6]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

 

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Support Organ Donation – Register NOW!
支持器官捐贈 – 立即登記!
[7]http://www.ha.org.hk/organdonationcampaign

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************************************************************
Disclaimer

This Email may contain privileged and confidential information and is
solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended
recipient, you must not print, copy, distribute or take any action in
reliance on it. If you have received this Email by mistake, please notify
the sender and then delete this Email from your computer. The Hospital
Authority does not accept liability arising from Email transmitted by
mistake.

Although this Email and any attachments are believed to be free of virus
or other defects that might affect any computer system into which it is
received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure
that it is virus free, and no responsibility is accepted by the Hospital
Authority for any loss or damage in any way arising from its use.

All views or opinions expressed in this Email and its attachments are
those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions
of the Hospital Authority.
***************************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #83 email]
2. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
3. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
4. http://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_visitor_...
5. mailto:[FOI #83 email]
6. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers
7. http://www.ha.org.hk/organdonationcampaign

收起引用部分

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

Further to our reply dated 28 July 2016, please find below the Hospital
Authority’s response:

 

(1)   Regarding the previous 14 applications, they are all for academic
research. They are conducted in accordance with the research protocol.
Study findings, including aggregate/summary data, are normally published
in peer review journals.  

 

(2)   All external data requests for academic research are considered on a
case-by-case-basis. When it is assessed to be appropriate to release the
Hospital Authority data for academic research, requestors are required to
undertake and agree that only the authorised users will be given access to
the data and they have to keep the data in safe and secure custody to
protect the data against unauthorised or accidental access, processing,
erasure, loss or use. In addition, they must not transmit or release the
data, in whole or in part and in whatever form or media, to any other
parties. 

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about this
reply.

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Sandy Chu (Miss)

Access to Information Officer

Hospital Authority Head Office

(Tel.: 2300 6568/2300 6555)

 

From: [1][Hospital Authority request email]
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2016 2:36 PM
To: '[FOI #83 email]'
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on data
charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott
Edmunds)

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

Thank you for your application dated 21 July 2016.

 

As your request for information involves consultation with various parties
concerned, we are unable to provide you with the information at this
stage.   You will be advised further in relation to your request on or
before 10 August 2016.

 

Should you have any questions in the meantime, please contact me at 2300
6568 or 2300 6555.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Sandy Chu (Miss)

Access to Information Officer

Hospital Authority Head Office

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Edmunds [[2]mailto:[FOI #83 email]]
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2016 2:33 AM
To: [3][Hospital Authority request email]
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on
data charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott
Edmunds)

 

Dear [4][Hospital Authority request email],

 

Thanks again for clarifying further. As the aggregate/summary data is safe
and allowed to be published/shared, can you share with me the summary data
from the previous 14 applications, and can this be posted in data.gov.hk
to maximise its re-use by the research community?

 

Another question is can researchers could share data with other
researchers with your permission? For instance if I could share the data I
paid for with another researcher assuming the other researchers project
was approved by you, can they get the data from me, rather than having to
pay the fee to you again?

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Scott Edmunds

 

-----Original Message-----

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

 

 

Further to our reply dated 13 June 2016, please find below the Hospital 
Authority’s response:

 

 

 

(1)      The Hospital Authority (HA) Statistical Report (2014-15 is the 
latest version) can be accessed via the HA’s following webpage:

 

 

 

[1][5]http://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_visitor_...

 

 

 

(2)      For all external data requests for academic research which have 
been so far vetted under the current HA mechanism, they have been
entirely  accepted although some of which were required to refine some
data  requirements to fulfil the HA Standard Procedures and were agreed by
the  respective requestors after communication.

 

 

 

(3)      To recap, the principal core function of the HA is to 
provide public healthcare services to eligible residents of Hong Kong.

Patients using the HA’s services will have their personal data as well as 
clinical data collected during the care process. The main purpose of data 
collection is to facilitate the treatment and care process, as well as
for  overall services planning and development. While the HA supports
academic  research through the set-up of a mechanism to vet and process
external  data requests for academic research in accordance with the HA
Standard  Procedures, the HA is also obliged to comply with the Personal
Data

(Privacy) Ordinance.

 

 

 

For those external data requests which require patient-based records for 
academic research, although they are de-identified, each record contains 
personal particulars and clinical care information pertaining to an 
individual person. If it were to be cross-matched with other database, 
there is a potential chance to re-identify a particular patient through 
matching on multiple data fields. Also, this violates the Personal Data

(Privacy) Ordinance (Chapter 486, Section 30 – matching procedure not to 
be carried out except with consent of data subject). Therefore, requests 
for the HA patient data for academic research purposes are considered on
a  case-by-case basis. In the case when the data request is accepted by
the  HA, the requestors have to undertake that they must not use the data
for  any projects/purposes other than the original study, except with the
HA’s  prior written approval. In addition, they are requested to destruct
and  delete the patient data from their computer system or other records
in  whatever form or medium after study completion.

 

(4)      The HA’s current mechanism for handling external data requests 
for academic research is stated in point (3) above. As the use of the HA 
data is for statistics and research purposes, only aggregated or summary 
data can be presented or published. The requestors are required to 
undertake not to disclose or make any reference to individual 
patient-based records or data in publication, which implies that
releasing  the data in a public repository is not allowed. Also, the
requestors are  required to destroy the patient data released by the HA
after study  completion.

 

 

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me at 2300 6568/2300 6555 or Ms H L 
Tsang at 2300 7422/2300 6555 if you have any questions about this reply.

 

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sandy Chu (Miss)

 

Access to Information Officer

 

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

 

 

From: [2][Hospital Authority request email]

Sent: Monday, June 13, 2016 5:52 PM

To: '[FOI #83 email]'

Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on data 
charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott

Edmunds)

 

 

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

 

 

Thank you for your application dated 9 June 2016.

 

 

 

As the processing of your request for information involves consultation 
with various parties concerned, we are unable to provide you with the 
information at this stage. You will be advised further in relation to
your  request on or before 29 June 2016.

 

 

 

Should you have any questions in the meantime, please contact me at 2300

6568/2300 6555 or Ms H L Tsang at 2300 7422/2300 6555.

 

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sandy Chu (Miss)

 

Access to Information Officer

 

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[6][FOI #83 email]

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[7]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

 

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Support Organ Donation – Register NOW!
支持器官捐贈 – 立即登記!
http://www.ha.org.hk/organdonationcampaign

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************************************************************
Disclaimer

This Email may contain privileged and confidential information and is
solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended
recipient, you must not print, copy, distribute or take any action in
reliance on it. If you have received this Email by mistake, please notify
the sender and then delete this Email from your computer. The Hospital
Authority does not accept liability arising from Email transmitted by
mistake.

Although this Email and any attachments are believed to be free of virus
or other defects that might affect any computer system into which it is
received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure
that it is virus free, and no responsibility is accepted by the Hospital
Authority for any loss or damage in any way arising from its use.

All views or opinions expressed in this Email and its attachments are
those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions
of the Hospital Authority.
***************************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
2. mailto:[FOI #83 email]
3. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
4. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
5. http://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_visitor_...
6. mailto:[FOI #83 email]
7. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

收起引用部分

This is to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail message.
 
(The above is generated by an auto-reply programme)
 
 
 
Hospital Authority ([1]www.ha.org.hk)
 
 
=====================================
 
謝謝閣下的電子郵件。
 
（以上為電腦自動發出的訊息）
 
 
 
醫院管理局 ([2]www.ha.org.hk)
 
 
=====================================
 
谢谢阁下的电子邮件。
 
（以上为电脑自动发出的讯息）
 
 
 
医院管理局 ([3]www.ha.org.hk)
 
  ________________________________  
Support Organ Donation – Register NOW!
支持器官捐贈 – 立即登記!
[4]http://www.ha.org.hk/organdonationcampaign

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************************************************************
Disclaimer

This Email may contain privileged and confidential information and is
solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended
recipient, you must not print, copy, distribute or take any action in
reliance on it. If you have received this Email by mistake, please notify
the sender and then delete this Email from your computer. The Hospital
Authority does not accept liability arising from Email transmitted by
mistake.

Although this Email and any attachments are believed to be free of virus
or other defects that might affect any computer system into which it is
received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure
that it is virus free, and no responsibility is accepted by the Hospital
Authority for any loss or damage in any way arising from its use.

All views or opinions expressed in this Email and its attachments are
those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions
of the Hospital Authority.
***************************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/www.ha.org.hk
2. file:///tmp/www.ha.org.hk
3. file:///tmp/www.ha.org.hk
4. http://www.ha.org.hk/organdonationcampaign

收起引用部分

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

Thank you for your application dated 10 August 2016.

 

As your request for information involves consultation with various parties
concerned, we are unable to provide you with the information at this
stage. You will be advised further in relation to your request on or
before 30 August 2016.

 

Should you have any questions in the meantime, please contact me at 2300
6568 or 2300 6555.

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Sandy Chu (Miss)

Access to Information Officer

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Edmunds [[1]mailto:[FOI #83 email]]
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2016 3:17 PM
To: [2][Hospital Authority request email]
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on
data charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott
Edmunds)

 

Dear [3]Sandy/[Hospital Authority request email],

 

Regarding both of these points, for aggregate/summary data that is totally
anonymised, safe and allowed to be published/shared, do you still restrict
its sharing between researchers? Can you not share with me now whatever is
in this processed, aggregated and safe form from the previous 14
applications? If data is not identifiable in any way, arguments about
protecting patients are not valid, and are if anything actually
detrimental to their and the public health.

 

Also what is the authorisation process, and how do you define "academic
research"?  I work for a non-for-profit research organisation, so do you
only authorise use by university researchers? What about people carrying
out research in the private sector, for example developers of healthcare
apps? Or patient advocates and citizen scientists?  Are there geographic
restrictions on who you will provide access to this data as well?

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Scott Edmunds

 

-----Original Message-----

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

 

 

Further to our reply dated 28 July 2016, please find below the Hospital 
Authority’s response:

 

(1)   Regarding the previous 14 applications, they are all for academic 
research. They are conducted in accordance with the research protocol.

Study findings, including aggregate/summary data, are normally published 
in peer review journals.  

 

(2)   All external data requests for academic research are considered on
a  case-by-case-basis. When it is assessed to be appropriate to release
the  Hospital Authority data for academic research, requestors are
required to  undertake and agree that only the authorised users will be
given access to  the data and they have to keep the data in safe and
secure custody to  protect the data against unauthorised or accidental
access, processing,  erasure, loss or use. In addition, they must not
transmit or release the  data, in whole or in part and in whatever form or
media, to any other  parties. 

 

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about this 
reply.

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sandy Chu (Miss)

 

Access to Information Officer

 

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

(Tel.: 2300 6568/2300 6555)

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [1][Hospital Authority request email]

Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2016 2:36 PM

To: '[FOI #83 email]'

Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on data 
charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott

Edmunds)

 

 

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

 

 

Thank you for your application dated 21 July 2016.

 

 

 

As your request for information involves consultation with various
parties  concerned, we are unable to provide you with the information at
this  stage.   You will be advised further in relation to your request on
or  before 10 August 2016.

 

 

 

Should you have any questions in the meantime, please contact me at 2300

6568 or 2300 6555.

 

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sandy Chu (Miss)

 

Access to Information Officer

 

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[4][FOI #83 email]

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[5]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

 

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Support Organ Donation – Register NOW!
支持器官捐贈 – 立即登記!
[6]http://www.ha.org.hk/organdonationcampaign

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************************************************************
Disclaimer

This Email may contain privileged and confidential information and is
solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended
recipient, you must not print, copy, distribute or take any action in
reliance on it. If you have received this Email by mistake, please notify
the sender and then delete this Email from your computer. The Hospital
Authority does not accept liability arising from Email transmitted by
mistake.

Although this Email and any attachments are believed to be free of virus
or other defects that might affect any computer system into which it is
received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure
that it is virus free, and no responsibility is accepted by the Hospital
Authority for any loss or damage in any way arising from its use.

All views or opinions expressed in this Email and its attachments are
those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions
of the Hospital Authority.
***************************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #83 email]
2. mailto:[Hospital Authority request email]
3. mailto:sandy/[Hospital Authority request email]
4. mailto:[FOI #83 email]
5. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers
6. http://www.ha.org.hk/organdonationcampaign

收起引用部分

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

Further to our reply dated 12 August 2016, please find below the
Hospital Authority’s (HA’s) response as marked in blue:

 

(1)  “Regarding both of these points, for aggregate/summary data that is
totally anonymised, safe and allowed to be published/shared, do you still
restrict its sharing between researchers? Can you not share with me now
whatever is in this processed, aggregated and safe form from the previous
14 applications? If data is not identifiable in any way, arguments about
protecting patients are not valid, and are if anything actually
detrimental to their and the public health.”

 

The context of aggregated or summary data mentioned in point (4) of the
HA’s previous response dated 16 June 2016 refers to the key research
findings published by the principal investigator after completing his/her
academic research.  These research findings, presented in aggregated or
summary data format, are accessible to general readers of the journal. 
Interested readers may, with the permission of the journal, re-use or
re-analyse the aggregated or summary data for a specific purpose.  The HA
does not restrict sharing of these published data.

 

(2)  “Also what is the authorisation process, and how do you define
"academic research"?  I work for a non-for-profit research organisation,
so do you only authorise use by university researchers? What about people
carrying out research in the private sector, for example developers of
healthcare apps? Or patient advocates and citizen scientists?  Are there
geographic restrictions on who you will provide access to this data as
well?”

 

Academic research refers to those research studies that are guided by
proper research protocols and research ethics.  Individual research
protocol spells out clearly the study hypothesis, aims/objectives of the
research, study design and methodology including sampling frame, sample
size, selection of study subjects, and sources of data, as well as method
of statistical modelling and analysis etc.  Hence, academic research has
high scientific merit that encompasses amongst other things originality,
scientific rigour, sound study design and methods, and local relevance and
importance of the research questions.  As mentioned previously, the
principal core function of the HA is to provide public healthcare services
to eligible residents of Hong Kong.  Resources deployed by the HA are
geared towards this principal function of healthcare service provision. 
In facilitating research, the HA considers whether the issue to be
addressed is of local relevance, significance and importance and whether
the study is of scientific merit and governed by research ethics.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about
this reply.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Sandy Chu (Miss)

Access to Information Officer

Hospital Authority Head Office

(Tel.: 2300 6568/2300 6555)

 

From: [Hospital Authority request email]
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2016 6:21 PM
To: '[FOI #83 email]'
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on data
charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott
Edmunds)

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

Thank you for your application dated 10 August 2016.

 

As your request for information involves consultation with various parties
concerned, we are unable to provide you with the information at this
stage. You will be advised further in relation to your request on or
before 30 August 2016.

 

Should you have any questions in the meantime, please contact me at 2300
6568 or 2300 6555.

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Sandy Chu (Miss)

Access to Information Officer

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Edmunds [[1]mailto:[FOI #83 email]]
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2016 3:17 PM
To: [2][Hospital Authority request email]
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on
data charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott
Edmunds)

 

Dear [3]Sandy/[Hospital Authority request email],

 

Regarding both of these points, for aggregate/summary data that is totally
anonymised, safe and allowed to be published/shared, do you still restrict
its sharing between researchers? Can you not share with me now whatever is
in this processed, aggregated and safe form from the previous 14
applications? If data is not identifiable in any way, arguments about
protecting patients are not valid, and are if anything actually
detrimental to their and the public health.

 

Also what is the authorisation process, and how do you define "academic
research"?  I work for a non-for-profit research organisation, so do you
only authorise use by university researchers? What about people carrying
out research in the private sector, for example developers of healthcare
apps? Or patient advocates and citizen scientists?  Are there geographic
restrictions on who you will provide access to this data as well?

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Scott Edmunds

 

-----Original Message-----

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

 

 

Further to our reply dated 28 July 2016, please find below the Hospital 
Authority’s response:

 

(1)   Regarding the previous 14 applications, they are all for academic 
research. They are conducted in accordance with the research protocol.

Study findings, including aggregate/summary data, are normally published 
in peer review journals.  

 

(2)   All external data requests for academic research are considered on
a  case-by-case-basis. When it is assessed to be appropriate to release
the  Hospital Authority data for academic research, requestors are
required to  undertake and agree that only the authorised users will be
given access to  the data and they have to keep the data in safe and
secure custody to  protect the data against unauthorised or accidental
access, processing,  erasure, loss or use. In addition, they must not
transmit or release the  data, in whole or in part and in whatever form or
media, to any other  parties. 

 

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about this 
reply.

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sandy Chu (Miss)

 

Access to Information Officer

 

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

(Tel.: 2300 6568/2300 6555)

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [1][Hospital Authority request email]

Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2016 2:36 PM

To: '[FOI #83 email]'

Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request for statistics on data 
charges and revenue (Application for Access to Information from Scott

Edmunds)

 

 

 

Dear Mr Edmunds,

 

 

 

Thank you for your application dated 21 July 2016.

 

 

 

As your request for information involves consultation with various
parties  concerned, we are unable to provide you with the information at
this  stage.   You will be advised further in relation to your request on
or  before 10 August 2016.

 

 

 

Should you have any questions in the meantime, please contact me at 2300

6568 or 2300 6555.

 

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sandy Chu (Miss)

 

Access to Information Officer

 

Hospital Authority Head Office

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

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