Information Commissioner's Office

Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

8 March 2016, Health (NHS)

The complainant has requested information on the number of mothers who had been in the care of the Trust’s maternity unit at any time during their pregnancy and had subsequently died over a given period together with information on the year and month of each mother’s death and where they died. The Trust provided the total number of deaths and some further details in respect of some of those deaths, but refused to provide the other details under section 41 as it believed to do so would breach a duty of confidence owed to the deceased. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Trust is not entitled to rely on section 41 to withhold this information. The Commissioner requires the public authority to disclose the withheld information.

FOI 41: Upheld