Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act was passed on 30 November 2000. It gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, with full access granted in January 2005. The Act sets out exemptions to that right and places certain obligations on public authorities.

FOI replaced the Open Government Code of Practice, which has been in operation since 1994.

Data Protection and FOI – how do the two interact?

The Data Protection Act 1998 came into force on 1 March 2000. It provides living individuals with a right of access to personal information held about them. The right applies to all information held in computerised form and also to non-computerised information held in filing systems structured so that specific information about particular individuals can retrieved readily.

Individuals already have the right to access information about themselves (personal data), which is held on computer and in some paper files under the Data Protection Act 1998.

The right also applies to those archives that meet these criteria. However, the right is subject to exemptions, which will affect whether information is provided. Requests will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

The Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act are the responsibility of the Lord Chancellor’s Department. A few of its strategic objectives being:

• To improve people’s knowledge and understanding of their rights and responsibilities
• Seeking to encourage an increase in openness in the public sector
• Monitoring the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information
• Developing a data protection policy which properly balances personal information privacy with the need for public and private organisations to process personal information

The Data Protection Act does not give third parties rights of access to personal information for research purposes.

The FOI Act does not give individuals access to their personal information, though if a request is made, the Data Protection Act gives the individual this right. If the individual chooses to make this information public it could be used alongside non-personal information gained by the public under the terms of the FOI Act.

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Confidentiality

Your health records are confidential between you and the health professionals you contact. From time to time we are asked for information from your health records from outside agencies such as Insurance companies, Benefits Agency, Law Courts or Solicitors.

You can be assured that none of these or other agencies will have access to your records without your written consent. When outside agencies request your data we will also contact you by telephone to confirm your agreement to pass this information on. Anonymised data will be provided at the request of the Primary Care Trust.

Patient Rights

Our patients have the right to expect to be treated in a polite and professional manner. You will have the right to consult a health care professional of your choice. We expect our patients in turn to be polite and courteous to our staff. If you are unable to attend for your booked appointment please tell us, we can offer these appointments to other patients at relatively short notice. We thank you for your cooperation.

Violence Statement

Violent or abusive behaviour towards any of the GP’s, their staff or other persons on the practice premises will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Such instances will result in the offender being informed to register at an alternative practice.

Patients may make a complaint or comment on the provision of our services in writing to the Practice Manager.

The Practice operates a procedure for the investigation of complaints:

Making your complaint to the practice in no way prejudices your right to complain to the South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust or any other complaints body, should your complaint not be resolved to your satisfaction.

Mr D Rose, Practice Manager, coordinates the complaints procedure on behalf of the practice.

Your complaint should be submitted as soon as possible after the event giving rise to your concerns, preferably in writing. Your complaint wil be investigated by the partners of the Practice when all relevant details have been collected. Your complaint will be acknowledged in writing within two working days and a report on the investigation will be sent to you within seven working days. If the investigation is to take longer than seven days, you will be informed together with the reasons for the delay. On completion of the investigation you will be given a full explanation.

Your complaint will in no way have any impact on the treatment you receive from clinicians and administrative staff at the Practice. You can be assured that YOUR care is our priority

A full copy of the complaints procedure can be obtained from the Practice Manager at the surgery.

If you wish, you may contact the Patients Advice and Liason Service (PALS) at the PCT (01283 507100) who are able to assist you with any complaint or problem with the services the NHS offers.

The Barton Family Practice has helped train medical students from Nottingham Medical School and the Derby Campus for some time. These students will often be sitting in with the GP, but really appreciate the opportunity to talk, and examine patients. Their time in General Practice is a very important aspect of their training. You will always be asked if it is OK for students to sit in on your consultation.

From the 21 August 2008 we have been offically recognised as a Training Practice. This has been made possible by the move to larger premises in October last year. This means that we now have fully qualified doctors, known as GP Registrars, posted to our practice for several months at a time. These are doctors who are going to become GPs at the end of their post-graduate training and come to the practice to get first hand experience of working in General Practice. Because they are at a more advanced stage of their training they will usually see patients on their own. However, one of the GPs will always be supervising their work, and indeed, may be called in to give an opinion on a tricky aspect of the consultation.

On some occasions you may be asked if your consultation can be recorded on a digital camera as an aid to teaching the Registrar. This again will only take place with your consent, and a written explanation of this aspect of their training will be given to you prior to your consultation with the doctor. You can be assured that the recording will only be used for training the GP registrar under strict guidelines and your confidentiality will be maintained throughout. The recording will be erased once the doctors have reviewed the consultation. Please tell the receptionist if you are uncomfortable about having your consultation recorded.

We thank you for your contribution in training the Doctors of the future.