BMA Scotland Model Publication Scheme for GP Practices in Scotland
Dalhousie Medical Practice Publication Scheme
Produced as required by the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Index
Section 1 Introduction to the publication scheme
Section 2 About Dalhousie Medical Practice
Section 3 Preparing the publication scheme
Section 4 Accessing information under the scheme
Section 5 Information that we may withhold
Section 6 Our charging policy
Section 7 Our copyright policy
Section 8 Our records management and disposal policy
Section 9 Feedback
Section 10 Complaints
Section 11 How to access information which is not available under this scheme
Section 12 Classes of information
Section 1: Introduction to the publication scheme
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) provides individuals with a right of access to recorded information held by Scotland’s public authorities. Anyone can use this right, and information can only be withheld where FOISA expressly permits it. FOISA provides that GPs are public authorities, to a certain extent, and you will have a right to access certain information held by GPs. A large proportion of the recorded information held by GPs is personal information contained in medical records. Personal information can be withheld under FOISA, but you have rights to access your own medical records under other legislation and this is explained in this scheme.
Section 23 of FOISA also requires that all Scottish public authorities maintain a publication scheme. A publication scheme sets out the types of information that a public authority routinely makes available. This scheme has been approved by the Scottish Information Commissioner, who is responsible for enforcing FOISA. We are also obliged to review this scheme from time to time.
The purpose of the scheme is to provide you with details of the range of information that we routinely publish. The scheme also provides details of how you can access this information, and tells you whether it is available free, or if there is a charge for the information. With this scheme we aim to improve public access to the information we hold and to encourage public awareness, and participation in, the decisions we make.
Where information is not published under this scheme, you can request it from us under FOISA. For further information on accessing information not covered by this scheme, refer to Section 11 – How to access information not available under the scheme.
Section 2: About Dalhousie Medical Practice
The National Health Service Scotland is the publically funded healthcare service for
Scotland . The provision of healthcare is the responsibility of geographically based NHS boards and a number of Special Health Boards. Details of NHS Scotland’s organisation can be found at http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/organisations/index.aspx.
NHS Boards contract with GP practices to provide primary care services to patients.
Dalhousie Medical Practice holds a General Medical Services contract with NHS Lothian. Under this contract we provide primary medical services to patients on our practice list.
Who we are
Details of the practice team, structure and services are available in the practice leaflet and on the practice website www.dalhousiemedicalpractice.co.uk .
Our services
General practitioners are registered with the General Medical Council and follow the
standards and good medical practice guidelines laid down by the GMC, including the
requirements set out in the GMC guidance Duties of a Doctor (http://www.gmcuk.
org/guidance/good_medical_practice/duties_of_a_doctor.asp) . This practice is required to provide primary medical services to the standard laid down in our contract with the NHS board. This practice participates in the Quality and Outcomes Framework established under current General Medical Services contract (from 1 April 2004 Funding under the QOF is dependent on achievement against a variety of clinical and non-clinical indicators. This practice aims to take account of NHS Quality and Improvement Scotland standards and guidance, Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines relevant to general practice, and Scottish Government Health Directorates service strategies and frameworks.
All practices are subject to a contract review conducted by their NHS board to ensure the practice is meeting the requirements of its contract.
Under our contract with Lothian Health Board we provide a range of services to our
patients, including:
General primary medical services, child health surveillance, contraception, maternity, joint injections, influenza and pneumococcal immunisation, palliative care, drug misuse, warfarin, adults with learning disabilities, alcohol intervention, lithium, anticipatory care and extended hours services.
Some services may involve information sharing with other agencies and outline practice policy on data protection and these records are only accessed by the doctors and other health care professionals involved in patient care. Dalhousie Medical Practice is committed to providing its patients with high quality health care and to forming a relationship with them based upon trust. This means that both the staff and the clinicians respect patient privacy and the confidentiality of their medical information.
Our decision making process
The Practice is a Partnership of six Partners. We employ a Practice Manager to assist in the running of the Practice and there is also an Office Manager and Practice Nurse Manager. The Partners hold weekly meetings with these managers to assist with the major decisions in the running of Practice business. The Practice Manager and his team are also responsible for the day to day running of the Practice.
Financial and funding information
Dalhousie Medical Practice receives funding from NHS sources to provide NHS services to patients.
For the financial period 1st April 2010 to 31st March 2011, we received £976,971 from NHS sources.
For the financial period 1st April 2011 to 31st March 2012, we received £973,247 from NHS sources.
We do not charge patients for NHS services. A list of charges for non-NHS services is available.
Section 3: Preparing the publication scheme
This publication scheme is adapted from a model publication scheme produced by BMA Scotland and the Scottish General Practitioners Committee. Ultimate responsibility for the model publication scheme rests with the British Medical Association. BMA Scotland welcomes comments on the model publication scheme and is committed to revaluating the appropriateness of the model publication scheme on an ongoing basis. The BMA model publication scheme was used as the basis for our practice publication scheme. Both the model publication scheme and this publication scheme were produced with due regard to public interest in providing access to the information that we hold which relates to:
• The services we provide
• The costs of those services
• The standard of those services
• The facts that inform the important decision we take
• The reasoning that informs our decisions
Section 4: Accessing Information under the scheme
Information available under our publication scheme will normally be available through the routes described below. Section 12 – Classes of Information provides more details on the information available under the scheme, along with additional guidance on how the information falling with each “class” may be accessed.
Online
Much of the information listed in our publication scheme is available to download from our practice website www.dalhousemedicalpractice.co.uk. If you have any difficulty accessing information online please contact us by post.
By post
All information under the scheme will normally be available in paper copy form, but please consider the impact on the environment. Please address your request to:
The Practice Manager
Dalhousie Medical Practice
109 – 111 High Street
Bonnyrigg
EH19 2ET
When writing to us to request information, please include your name and address, full details of the information or documents you would like to receive, and any fee payable (see Section 6: Our charging policy for further information on fees). Please also include a telephone number so we can telephone you to clarify any details, if necessary and correspondence address.
Advice and assistance
If you have any difficulty identifying the information you want to access, then please contact the practice by one of the methods listed above.
Section 5: Information that we may withhold
All information covered by our publication scheme can either be accessed through our
website, or will be provided promptly following our receipt of your request.
Our aim in maintaining this publication scheme is to be as open as possible. You should note, however, that there may be circumstances where information will be withheld from one of the classes of information listed in Section 12 – Classes of Information. Information will only be withheld where permitted by FOISA.
Information may be withheld, for example, where its disclosure would breach the law of confidentiality or harm an organisation’s commercial interests. Information may also be withheld if it is another person’s personal information, and its release would breach data protection legislation.
Information would not be disclosed in the following examples:
• Requests for information that is contained in patient medical records. However, you
do have the right to request your own medical records, see Section 11 - How to access
information which is not available under this scheme.
• Requests for information relating to private income of practice partners or practice
staff
• Requests for financial information that would likely prejudice substantially the
commercial interests of any person
Additionally, section 25 of FOISA provides an absolute exemption which allows our practice to refuse to deal with a request where the requested information is already reasonably obtainable elsewhere, even where a fee may be charged. Information provided in the publication scheme is considered reasonably obtainable.
Whenever information is withheld we will inform you of this, and will set out why it was not appropriate for that information to be disclosed. Even where information is withheld it may, in many cases, be possible to provide copies with the withheld information edited out.
If you wish to complain about any information which has been withheld from you, please refer to Section 10 – Complaints.
Section 6: Our charging policy
Unless otherwise stated in Section 12 – Classes of Information, all information contained within our scheme is available from us free of charge where it can be downloaded from our website or where it can be sent to you electronically by email.
We reserve the right to impose charges for providing information in paper copy or on
computer disc. Charges will reflect the actual costs of reproduction and postage to the
practice, as set out below. In the event that a charge is to be levied, you will be advised of the charge and how it has been calculated. Information will not be provided to you until payment has been received.
Reproduction costs:
Where charges are applied, photocopied information will be charged at a standard rate of 10p per A4 paper (black and white copy) and 30p per A4 paper (colour copy).
Postage cost:
We will pass on postage charges to the requester at the cost to the practice of sending the information by first class post.
Section 7: Our copyright policy
Dalhousie Medical Practice holds the copyright for the vast majority of information in this publication scheme. All of this information can be copied or reproduced without our formal permission, provided it is copied or reproduced accurately, is not used in a misleading context, and provided that the source of the material is identified.
The publication scheme may, however, contain information where the copyright holder is not Dalhousie Medical Practice. In most cases the copyright holder will be obvious from the documents. In cases where the copyright is unclear, however, it is the responsibility of the person accessing the information to locate and seek the permission of the copyright holder before reproducing the material or in any other way breaching the rights of the copyright holder. Wherever possible, this scheme will indicate where we do not own the copyright on documents within Section 12 – Classes of Information.
Information about Crown copyright material is available on the website of the Queens Printer for Scotland at www.oqps.gov.uk. We can provide you with a copy of this information if you do not have internet access.
Section 8: Our records management and disposal policy
All information at the Dalhousie Medical Practice is held, retained and destroyed in
accordance with Scottish Government – Records Management: NHS Code of Practice
(Scotland) . Confidentiality of patient information is maintained in accordance with the NHS (Scotland) Act 1978 Directions on the Confidentiality and Disclosure of Information: General Medical Services, Primary Medical Services Section 17C Agreements and Health Boards Primary Medical Services Contracts. These documents are available on the NHS Scotland website (http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk).
Section 9: Feedback
FOISA requires that we review our publication scheme from time to time. As a result, we welcome feedback on how we can develop our scheme further. If you would to comment on any aspect of this publication scheme, then please contact us. You may, for example wish to tell us about:
• other information that you would like to see included in the scheme
• whether you found the scheme easy to use
• whether you found the publication scheme useful
• whether our staff were helpful
• other ways in which our publication scheme can be improved
Please send any comments or suggestions to The Practice Manager, Dalhousie Medical Practice, 109-111 High Street, Bonnyrigg, EH19 2ET.
Section 10: Complaints
Our aim is to make our publication scheme as user-friendly as possible, and we hope that you can access all the information we publish with ease. If you do wish to complain about any aspect of the publication scheme, however, then please contact us, and we will try and resolve your complaint as quickly as possible. You can contact The Practice Manager, Dalhousie Medical Practice, 109-111 High Street, Bonnyrigg, EH19 2ET.
Any complaint will be acknowledged within two working days of receipt and we will respond in full within ten working days.
You have legal rights to access information under this scheme and a right of appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner if you are dissatisfied with our response. These rights apply only to information requests made in writing or another recordable format. If you are unhappy with our responses to your request you can ask us to review it and if you are still unhappy, you can make an appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner. The Commissioner’s website has a guide to this three step process, and he operates an enquiry service on Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 5:00pm. His office can be contacted as follows:
Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
Telephone 01334 464610
Email enquiries@itspublicknowledge.info
Website www.itspublicknowledge.info
Section 11: How to access information which is not available under this scheme
If the information you are seeking is not available under this publication scheme, then you may wish to request it from us. The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) provides you with a right of access to the information we hold, subject to certain exemptions.
The Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) separately provide a right of access to the environmental information we hold, while the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) provides a right of access to any personal information about you that we hold. Again, these rights are subject to certain exceptions or exemptions.
Should you wish to request a copy of any information that we hold that is not available under this scheme, please write to The Practice Manager, Dalhousie Medical Practice, 109-111 High Street, Bonnyrigg, EH19 2ET.
Charges for information which is not available under the scheme
The charges for information which is available under this scheme are set out under section 6 – Our Charging Policy. Fees for information that is not available under this scheme are outlined in The Freedom of Information (Fees for Required Disclosure) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/ssi2004/20040467.htm).
If you submit a request to us for information which is not available under the scheme the charges will be based on the following calculations:
General information requests
• There will be no charge for information requests which cost us £100 or less to
process.
• Where information costs between £100 and £600 to provide you may be asked to pay 10% of the cost. That is, if you were to ask for information that cost us £600 to
provide, you would be asked to pay £50, calculated on the basis of a waiver for the
first £100 and 10% of the remaining £500.
• We are not obliged to respond to requests which will cost us over £600 to process.
• In calculating any fee, staff time will be calculated at actual cost per staff member
hourly salary rate to a maximum of £15 per person per hour.
• We do not charge for the time to determine whether we hold the information
requested, nor for the time it takes to decide whether the information can be released.
Charges may be made for locating, retrieving and providing information to you.
• In the event that we decide to impose a charge we will issue you with notification of
the charge (a fees notice) and how it has been calculated. You will have three months
from the date of issue of the fees notice in which to decide whether to pay the charge.
The information will be provided to you on payment of the charge. If you decide not
to proceed with the request there will be no charge to you.
Charges for environmental information
We do not charge for the time to determine whether we hold the information requested, nor for the time it takes to decide whether the information can be released.
In the event that we decide to impose a charge we will issue you with notification of the charge and how it has been calculated. The information will be provided to you on payment of the charge. If you decide not to proceed with the request there will be no charge to you. Charges are calculated on the basis of the actual cost to the authority of providing the information.
• Photocopying is charged at 10p per A4 sheet for black and white copying, 30p per A4 sheet for colour copying.
• Postage is charged at actual rate for first class mail.
• Staff time is calculated at actual cost per staff member hourly salary rate to a
maximum of £15 per person per hour.
The first £100 worth of information will be provided to you without charge.
Where information costs between £100and £600 to provide you will be asked to pay 10% of the cost. That is, if you were to ask for information that cost us £600 to provide, you would be asked to pay £50 calculated on the basis of a waiver for the first £100 and 10% of the remaining £500.
Where it would cost more than £600 to provide the information to you, however, we will ask you to pay the full cost of providing the information, with no waiver for any portion of the cost.
Requests for your own personal data:
While you cannot request personal data under the FOISA you are entitled to request your own personal data under the DPA. Under the DPA you can request your personal
information from Dalhousie Medical Practice. We reserve the right to charge a maximum of £50 for requests for an individual’s own personal information.
Section 12: Classes of information
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act, 2002 requires a publication scheme to specify the classes of information the Public Authority already publishes or intends to publish. Our intention is to publish as much information as possible where there is known to be public interest. However, exemptions under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act, 2002 may allow us to withhold some information, as indicated in Section 5: Information that we may withhold.
Our practice publishes, or intends to publish, information under the Classes listed below:
A. Who we are
B. Our services
C. Financial and funding information
D. Regular publications, promotional and advisory leaflets
E. Our policies and procedures
F. Complaints procedures
A. Who we are
Details of the practice including organisational structures, key personnel, and how the practice fits into the NHS.
Information is included in our practice leaflet and website. It is also available from our GP practice. Information provided is free. Information requested by post or on disc may attract a fee as outlined in Section 6: Our charging policy.
B. Our services
Details of the range of services the practice provides under contract to the NHS.
Information is included in section 2 of this publication scheme and our practice leaflet. This information is available by post and on our practice website. It is also available from our GP practice. Information requested by post or on disc may attract a
fee as outlined in Section 6: Our charging policy.
C. Financial and funding information
Details on the NHS funding of the practice, our charging policies.
General information is included in section 2 of this publication scheme. Individual drawings or salaries are considered personal data and commercially sensitive and are therefore exempt from publication under FOISA.
This information is available by post. It is also available from our GP practice. Information requested by post or on disc may attract a fee as outlined in Section 6: Our charging policy.
D. Regular publications, promotion and advisory leaflets
Details of the guidance and information leaflets relating to the clinical services and
health services we provide.
This information is available by post. It is also available from our GP practice. Information requested by post or on disc may attract a fee as outlined in Section 6: Our charging policy.
E. Our policies and procedures
This includes details of our decision making processes and general policies and procedures including patient confidentiality, data protection and health and safety.
This information is by post. It is also available from our GP practice. Information
requested by post or on disc may attract a fee as outlined in Section 6: Our charging policy.
F. Complaints procedures
Details on how to make a complaint and who to contact to make a complaint. This information is included in our practice leaflet and is available by post. It is also
available from our GP practice. Information requested by post or on disc may attract a
fee as outlined in Section 6: Our charging policy.