Shropshire hospital trust responds to grieving daughter over information request
A grieving daughter has challenged a Shropshire hospital trust to release information that she claims has been wrongly denied to her.
The board of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust was told that officials believe it has not breached regulations in the case when the issue was raised at a meeting.
The board answers questions from members of the public at its meetings and did so at a gathering last week.
Mrs Vanessa Perry was not present at the meeting at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital on Thursday but a series of questions from her were read out at the meeting.
“I am the daughter of a parent who died following treatment,” the meeting was told.
In September 2025 Mrs Perry asked the trust to reveal data that it held “relevant to the handling of a complaint and to my parent’s care and death.”
The board meeting was told that solicitors are involved following the death and an inquest is being held.
The deceased patient’s name was not revealed at the meeting.
Mrs Perry alleged that the trust is “in breach of regulations” after it told her that that it “will not process the request until and unless it is contacted by the information commissioner.”
Her question asked board members to explain “why the trust is withholding legally required personal data.”
Trust chair Andrew Morgan said the trust is communicating with Mrs Perry about her complaint, which involves lawyers, the information commissioner and for the purposes of an inquest.
Anna Milanec, the trust’s director of governance, said: “This is a complex case involving regulatory, legal and other matters.”
She said that there had been changes in the law around data protection that mean the trust has not breached any regulations.
“I am quite confident at this stage with the information that we have that we have not breached,” she said.
She added that it was not appropriate to go any further with a response in a public forum.
But she continued that the trust continues to “liaise” with Mrs Perry.
Mrs Perry also asked about the trust’s league table performance and how the trust assures itself that its leadership is the “right team.”
She was told that there are a range of measures from recruitment to “fit and proper person” regulations, codes of conduct and behaviour and appraisals.
The trust board also fielded another question from the family after Jamie Perry asked about “safe staffing levels” at the trust.
The board was told of the steps taken to assess staffing levels, to allocate people to wards and to bring in agency staff.
Health campaigner David Sandbach told the meeting that his “expectation” is that the trust’s performance would put it in the top 15 to 20 per cent of trusts in “nine to ten months.”
Chairman Andrew Morgan said: “That would be our hope as well. The trust is going in the right direction but we are in no way complacent.
“There are lots of things that are showing significant improvement.”
