Request

Dear Freedom of Information Officer, Re: Freedom of Information Request – England Infected Blood Support Scheme (EIBSS) Appeals Panel – Evidence Handling and Decision-Making I am making a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding the operation of the EIBSS Appeals Panel and the handling of evidence submitted by applicants. Please provide the following information for the period January 2023 to August 2025: 1. Document Handling and Panel Access • What formal processes exist to ensure that all evidence submitted by an appellant is presented in full to the Appeals Panel? • Are there internal checklists, SOPs, or guidance documents on how appeal bundles are compiled or filtered before reaching the Panel? • Are case officers or NHSBSA staff permitted to withhold or filter evidence from the Panel based on subjective relevance? • What is the job title of the individual who signs to confirm all evidence provided has been submitted? 2. Appeal Outcomes and Reasoning • In how many EIBSS appeals over this period was the absence of contemporaneous medical records cited as the primary or contributory reason for refusal? • In how many appeal decisions during this period did the Panel refer to academic or scientific literature submitted by applicants? • Is there any internal audit or quality assurance mechanism to check whether submitted documents were properly included in Panel bundles? • What is the job title of the individual responsible for auditing and QA? 3. Complaints and Omissions • How many complaints have been received relating to allegations of omitted or ignored evidence in EIBSS appeals? • In how many cases has the outcome of an appeal been changed or reopened due to evidence not being initially considered? • What is the process for ensuring omitted evidence is considered? Please provide the above in electronic format, preferably as PDFs or Excel spreadsheets where relevant.

Response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds some of the information you have requested.

Please note, many of the questions asked are general queries rather than requests for recorded information held by the NHSBSA. As such, the FOIA 2000 does not apply. However, we have responded to each query below for transparency.

Question 1
What formal processes exist to ensure that all evidence submitted by an appellant is presented in full to the Appeals Panel?

All evidence provided to support an application is uploaded to a secure work environment for the panel to access. 

Are there internal checklists, SOPs, or guidance documents on how appeal bundles are compiled or filtered before reaching the Panel?

There is an in house "knowledge base" system used by the assessors with instructions, and the process is handled by trained members of the team.

Are case officers or NHSBSA staff permitted to withhold or filter evidence from the Panel based on subjective relevance?

NHSBSA admin staff are not trained to review medical information, therefore would upload any and all medical information provided. 

What is the job title of the individual who signs to confirm all evidence provided has been submitted?

EIBSS assessor.

Question 2

In how many EIBSS appeals over this period was the absence of contemporaneous medical records cited as the primary or contributory reason for refusal?

As this information is not routinely recorded, the NHSBSA cannot confirm or deny if the requested information is held, as doing so would exceed the appropriate limit under section 12 of the FOIA.

We estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the non-central Government limit of £450. The limit has been specified in The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 and represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the NHSBSA holds the information, and locating, retrieving, extracting and checking the information.

Please see the following calculations which set out the estimated cost for compliance with this request:

There are 331 appeals during this period. We reasonably estimate it would take approximately 1 hour at a minimum to review each appeal to determine if the requested information is held by the NHSBSA. This is due to the volume of information held within each appeal.

331 appeals x 1 hour = 331 hours.

The above being said, EIBSS colleagues are not medically trained and even if each appeal was manually reviewed, it would require expert medical opinion to determine whether the information is held.

Please be advised that due to the way that the information is held by the NHSBSA, it is not possible to submit a refined request under the appropriate limit.

Please see the following link to view the section 12 in full - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/12

In how many appeal decisions during this period did the Panel refer to academic or scientific literature submitted by applicants?

Please see the response above.

Please be advised that all medical evidence that is submitted to support an application to the EIBSS is provided to the medical assessors for review.

Is there any internal audit or quality assurance mechanism to check whether submitted documents were properly included in Panel bundles?

Once we acknowledge a beneficiary’s appeal, we begin preparing their appeal folder. This folder contains the application, relevant emails, the appeal itself, and the original correspondence.

For the application section, we include the application form, cover sheets, medical records, and outcome letters. For emails, we convert all correspondence into PDF format, including any attachments or images. For the appeal, we copy across all information from the initial request as well as any further evidence received after the acknowledgement was issued. The original emails (now in PDF format) are also added.

We then cross-check the contents of the appeal folder against the original folder to ensure that all information has been included. Once these steps are complete, an additional check is carried out to confirm that all relevant material from the original medical application folder has been transferred.

Beneficiaries are then permitted up to 10 working days before the appeal date to submit any further evidence.

What is the job title of the individual responsible for auditing and QA?

This is carried out by specially trained EIBSS Assessors. 

Question 3

How many complaints have been received relating to allegations of omitted or ignored evidence in EIBSS appeals?

I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHSBSA as this level of information is not recorded.

In how many cases has the outcome of an appeal been changed or reopened due to evidence not being initially considered?

As above.

What is the process for ensuring omitted evidence is considered?

All evidence supplied to EIBSS is provided to the assessor for their expert opinion. Upon review of the evidence they decide if it impacts the claim. 

Data Queries

Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.

Reusing the data and copyright

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “EIBSS, NHSBSA Copyright 2025” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.