HOSPITAL chiefs have been forced to promise they will speed up their responses to Freedom of Information (FoI) requests.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust has been criticised by the Information Commissioner over the way it handles queries made under the Freedom of Information Act.

The trust, along with five other public authorities, has now signed an undertaking which pledges that its staff will be trained and familiar with the Act and that it will deliver quicker responses.

It has also agreed to devote sufficient resources to handling requests in an effort to answer them on time.

Bodies subject to the Act have 20 working days to respond to requests to provide information.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals.

The Information Commissioner Christopher Graham contacted East Lancashire Hospitals about the ‘timelines of its handling of requests’ in March last year.

He expressed concerns that it ‘was not displaying satisfactory performance’ and said he would monitor its results over a three-month period.

Following the review he said he was concerned that the trust ‘may not be sufficiently aware of its responsibilities’.

However, Mr Graham decided to stop short of using his powers to issue an enforcement notice, provided the trust sticks to an undertaking to improve.

Mr Graham said: “Six authorities fell below the required standard and have been told to make changes or risk formal enforcement action.”

Mark Brearley, East Lancashire Hospitals’ chief executive, agreed that the trust needed to deal with requests appropriately and provide assurance that it ‘embraced the culture of openness and transparency’.

He promised that the trust would ‘endeavour to consistently provide responses to requests within the statutory timescales’.

A trust spokesman said: “We recognise the importance of responding promptly to Freedom of Information requests.

“We have put actions in place to make improvements to our FoI handling process and we have seen improvements in our response times in recent months as a result of this action.”