Your Information

We ask for information about you so that you can receive the best possible care and treatment. We keep this information, together with details of your care, to ensure that your doctor or nurse has accurate and up to date information. It also may be needed if we see you again.

There are times when we have to pass on information about you to other people such as hospitals, Social Services or the Health Authority. This is always done confidentially or by removing your identifying details when they are not essential.

Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to maintain the highest level of confidentiality about patient information.

As part of this Practice's contribution to the study of clinical care, we provide important anonymised information on diseases and treatments for research by third parties including academic, patient and commercial organisations. No identifiable information such as your name and address is provided. These data are combined with similar data from many other practices to give more than one million anonymised records. Such information contributes to our understanding of health and health care.

The Practice is registered under the Data Protection Act, Registration Number A073419X.

Everyone should be able to see the information that is kept in their medical records. If you wish to see your own medical records you should submit a request in writing to the Practice Manager. We will only give your relatives, friends and carers information if you want us to.

Freedom of Information

The ICO has published a new Model Publication Scheme that all public authorities are required to adopt by 1st January 2009.

Model Publication Scheme - further information

Complaints & Comments

We try very hard to offer you the best possible service at all times but there may be occasions when you wish to express dissatisfaction or make comment. We offer an in-house procedure to respond to your comments, suggestions and complaints about the service we provide and you are most welcome to contact our Practice Manager, Sandra Butler, directly either by telephone or letter.

Practice Charter

Your doctors will always do their best for you. But they need your help to provide the best care for all patients. Please show your support by following these simple guidelines:

• Please treat your doctor and their staff as you would expect to be treated by them—with politeness and respect. Violent or aggressive patients may be removed from the practice list.
• Please cancel appointments that you cannot attend or no longer need—somebody else is always waiting.
• Please think twice before calling a doctor to your home—is a visit really necessary?
• Please do not expect a prescription every time you visit the surgery—good advice is often the best treatment.
• Please remember that you can find basic health information elsewhere—for example from NHS Direct.
• Please request your repeat prescription in good time—this will help avoid delays.
• Please remember that doctors are only human—they cannot solve all your problems and some illnesses cannot be cured. If you do have a genuine complaint, please contact the practice manager first. This is the quickest way to solve any problems.

Thank you for helping your surgery to provide a better service.

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.

FOI Publication Scheme