FREEDOM OF INFORMATION POLICY

Welcome to the Dr. Paul Wiley; Dr. Romana Sinclair; Dr. Jonathan Kettell General Practitioner’s Publication Scheme. This is a guide to the General Practitioners’ (who practice together) within the partnership practice Publication Scheme as required by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Introduction
How much does it cost?
How is the information made available?
Your rights to information
Feedback
Classes of Information
Useful resources
Publications
Copyright

Introduction

This Publication Scheme is a complete guide to the information routinely made available to the public by Dr. Paul Wiley, Dr. Romana Sinclair and Dr. Jonathan Kettell General Practitioners. It is a description of the information about our General Practitioners and Practice, which we make publicly available. It will be reviewed at regular intervals and we will monitor its effectiveness.

How much does it cost?

The publications are all free unless otherwise indicated within each Class (with £]. Where information is provided at a cost the charges will be calculated as set out Class 7.

How is the information made available?

The information within each class is available in hard copy from either surgery the contact details are below:

The Practice Manager
Pound Piece
Maiden Newton
Dorset
DT2 0DB

The Practice Manager
24 Tunnel Road
Beaminster
Dorset
DT8 3AB

Your rights to information

• In addition to accessing the information identified in the Publication Scheme, you are entitled to request information about Dr. Wiley & Partners General Practice under the NHS Openness Code 1995
• The Freedom of Information Act 2000 recognises that members of the public have the right to know how public services are organised and run, how much they cost and how the decisions are made.
• From January 1 st 2005 it will oblige the General Practice to respond to requests about information that it holds, and is recorded in any format and it will create a right of access to that information. These rights are subject to some exemptions, which have to be taken into consideration before deciding what information it can release.
• New environmental information regulations may be introduced as early as 2003. These will enable similar access to environmental information as under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
• Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you are also entitled to access your clinical records or any other personal information held about you and you can contact the Practice Manager to do this.

Feedback

If you have any comments about the operation of the Publication Scheme, or how we have dealt with your request for information from the Scheme, please write to:

Practice Manager,
Dr. Wiley & Partners,
Pound Piece,
Maiden Newton,
Dorset, DT2 0DB

Tel: 01300 320206

Classes of Information

All information at the Dr. Wiley & Partners General Practice is held, retained and destroyed in accordance with NHS guidelines. Our commitment to publish information excludes any information, which can be legitimately withheld under the exemptions set out in the NHS Openness Code or Freedom of Information Act 2000. Where individual Classes are subject to exemptions, the main reasons are e.g. the protection of commercial interests and personal information under the Data Protection Act 1998. This applies to all Classes within the Publication Scheme. The information on this Scheme is grouped into the following broad categories:

1. Who we are

Details of the practice, organisational structures, key personnel and how we fit into the NHS:

The practice adheres to the national General Medical Services Contract. The contract is with South West Dorset Primary Care Trust, Hilfort House, Dorchester, DT1 2PN.

The practice aims to follow National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and National Service Framework guidelines. Copies of these can be found on the NICE website (www.nice.org.uk) or the Department of Health website (www.doh.gov.uk)

The NHS is a very large part of the public sector. It is possible to find out information about our practice, the South West Dorset Primary Care Trust and other NHS services in your area by using www.nhs.uk. A full list of local General Practitioners can be found there too. The Dr. Wiley & Partners practice provides general medical services for the geographical area of Maiden Newton and Beaminster.

The full names of GP’s at our practice are listed in the introduction to this publication scheme. The practice also employs:-

Practice Manager; Administrative staff; Practice Nurses; Phlebotomist.

A full list of the services we provide is detailed in Class below.

There is a national NHS Plan that explains how the NHS is changing and sets out how all the different parts function and work together. A copy is available on the Department of Health website (www.doh.gov.uk/nhsplan).

Some information will be withheld, including personal, confidential information about individuals, which is protected by the Data Protection Act 1998.

2. Our Services

The range of services we provide under contract to the NHS

This is the range of services we provide:-

• Baby clinic
• Cervical Cytology
• Child Health Surveillance
• Contraceptive services
• Counselling
• Disease Management Clinics
• District Nursing
• Immunisations
• Maternity Medical services
• Minor Surgery
• Travel Information and Vaccinations
• Health Promotion
• Chiropody
• Dietetics
• Physiotherapy
• Citizens Advice Bureau
• Smokestop Advice Clinics

For any policies relating to our services, please refer to Class 6.

See also our practice leaflet which is available free of charge from reception.

Our opening times are Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-6.3.0 p.m.

Out of hours care is supplied by Dorset Emergency Care Services between 6.30 p.m. and 8 a.m.

Language and translation services are available on request to the Practice Manager, there is no charge for this.

3. Financial and funding information

Funding details and charging policies

Dr. Wiley & Partners practice receives money from South West Dorset Primary Care Trust according to its contract (as per Class 1 above) in exchange for services provided for patients.

The total income received from the NHS before expenses in 2003/4 was £301,563.00

The sum spent on drugs prescribed by the practice in 2003/4 was £470,608.00

Please see Part III for a link to the document titled ‘Statement of Fees and Allowances payable for General Medical Practitioners in England’. Please apply to the Department of Health for information on costs and the formats this is available in.

There may be circumstances where material cannot be released because it is confidential or commercial information or the appropriate officer designated for these purposes under the Act has taken the view that it may be prejudicial to the conduct of the Practice’s affairs.

4. Regular publications and information for the public

Guidance and information leaflets

Information leaflets relating to the clinical services and health services that we provide for patients and the public, and our range of publications are freely available at the surgery in the reception areas. Alternatively please contact the practice manager.

5. Complaints

Policies, procedures and contacts for complaints

If you wish to make a complaint about any aspect of our service, you should first contact:

The Practice Manager,
Dr. Wiley & Partners,
Pound Piece,
Maiden Newton,
Dorset DT2 0DB

Tel: 01300 320206

The complaints policy for our practice can be obtained free of charge from the practice manager.

6. Our policies and procedures

General policies and procedures in use within the practice. These include, but are not restricted to, data protection, prescribing and prescription, health and safety.

We have policies available on the following:-

• Complaints
• Confidentiality
• Data protection
• Health & safety
• Infection Control

These are available in hard copy from the practice manager.

7. This Publication Scheme

In this class we will publish any changes we make to this Publication Scheme, the criteria on which our information management policies are made and a referral point for all enquires regarding information management generally in the Trust. We will also publish any proposed changes or additions to publications already available.

Cost of Information

For the most part, we will charge you only for hard copies or copying onto media (e.g. CD ROM). Some information is available free, but for others there may be a charge. The charges will vary according to how information is made available. Charges are as follows:

[a) Via the General Practice/Primary Care Trust Web Site –Free of charge, although any charges for Internet Service provider and personal printing costs would have to be met by the individual

However, requests for multiple printouts, or for archived copies of documents which are no longer accessible or available on the web, may attract a charge for the retrieval, photocopy, postage etc. We will let you know the cost and charges that will have to be paid in advance. We will not provide printouts of other organisation’s websites.]

b) Leaflets and brochures-free of charge for leaflets or booklets on, for example, services we offer to the public. A list is available from Class 4

c) “Glossy” or other bound paper copies, or in some cases a CD Rom, video or other mediums, are for charge as in our publication lists available from the practice manager

d) e-mail-will be free of charge unless it says otherwise

The charges will be reviewed regularly.

Useful Resources

Web sites:

www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

This is the web site of the Information Commissioner

www.lcd.gov.uk

This is the web site of the Lord Chancellor’s Department

www.foi.nhs.uk

This is the NHS Freedom of Information web site

Primary Care Trust web site

Publications

• NHS Openness Code- www.doh.gov.uk/nhsexec/codemain.htm
• FOI Act 2000 www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts2000/2000036.htm
• Code of Practice under Section 45 FOI Act 2000 www.lcd.gov.uk
• Code of Practice under Section 46 FOI Act 2000 www.lcd.gov.uk
• Statement of Fees and Allowances payable for General Medical Practitioners in England

Copyright

Material available through this Publication Scheme is subject to the General Practice’s copyright unless otherwise indicated. Unless expressly indicated to the contrary, it may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium provided it is done so accurately in a manner which will not mislead. Where items are re-published or copied to others, you must identify the source and acknowledge copyright status. This permit does not extend to third party material, accessed through the scheme. For HMSO Guidance Notes see www.hmso.gov.uk/guides.htm