The Freedom of Information Act creates a right of access to recorded information and obliges a public authority to:

• Have a publication scheme in place

• Allow public access to information held by public authorities.

The Act covers any recorded organisational information such as reports, policies or strategies, that is held by a public authority in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland, however it does not cover personal information such as patient records which are covered by the Data Protection Act.

Public authorities include government departments, local authorities, the NHS, state schools and police forces.

The Act is enforced by the Information Commissioner who regulates both the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act.

The Surgery publication scheme

A publication scheme requires an authority to make information available to the public as part of its normal business activities.

The scheme lists information under seven broad classes, which are:

• who we are and what we do

• what we spend and how we spend it

• what our priorities are and how we are doing it

• how we make decisions

• our policies and procedures

• lists and registers

• the services we offer

You can request our publication scheme leaflet at the surgery.

Who can request information?

Under the Act, any individual, anywhere in the world, is able to make a request to a practice for information. An applicant is entitled to be informed in writing, by the practice, whether the practice holds information of the description specified in the request and if that is the case, have the information communicated to him. An individual can request information, regardless of whether he/she is the subject of the information or affected by its use.

How should requests be made?

Requests must:

• be made in writing (this can be electronically e.g. email/fax)

• state the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence

• describe the information requested.

What cannot be requested?

Personal data about staff and patients covered under Data Protection Act.

For more information see these websites:

• Legislation GOV.UK

• Information Commissioner’s Office

What do we record?

Information about you, your medical treatment, and family background may be recorded, either on paper or in computer files, as part of providing you with health services. This information is vital to the proper operation of the NHS, and is needed to give you and others the best possible healthcare.

What you can do?

Please read the rest of this notice in order to better understand how we use medical information about you. For further details please see information leaflet entitled “Your Information” displayed in the Practice or ask receptionist for details.

Other Agencies

The NHS is not the only government service to provide you with care, and it will be necessary for us to provide other agencies with appropriate information, but only with your consent (or that of your relatives if you are too ill).

How do we protect your information?

The sensitivity of patient information is well understood within the NHS. All staff and contractors are trained to respect their duty of confidentiality to you. We keep paper and electronic records securely to prevent unauthorised access or misuse. Wherever practicable, we also remove references to personal details such as your name and address, and often restrict it further to reduce the chances of anyone identifying a record as relating to you.

Other questions?

You can have a say in how the NHS uses information about you. If you want to find out more or have any concerns you can phone NHS Direct on 0845 4647 and request a booklet giving more details; go online at www.nhs.uk\confidentiality; or you can contact the Patient Liaison Team at the following address: Bromley PCT, Bassetts House, Broadwater Gardens, Orpington, Kent BR6 7UA. Tel. No. 01689 853339

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

How information about you helps us to provide better care.

Confidential information from your medical records can be used by the NHS to improve the services offered so we can provide the best possible care for everyone. This information along with your postcode and NHS number  but not your name, are sent to a secure system where it can be linked with other health information. This allows those planning NHS services or carrying out medical research to use information from different parts of the NHS in a way which does not identify you. You have a choice.

If you are happy for your information to be used in this way you do not have to do anything. If you have any concerns or wish to prevent this from happening, please see the leaflet “How information about you helps us to provide better care” in the waiting Room.

Useful Websites

• Confidentiality NHS Code of Practice
  • Confidentiality and Mental Health
  • Confidentiality Guidance

The Surgery prides itself in maintaining professional standards. For certain examinations during consultations an impartial observer (a “Chaperone”) will be required.

This impartial observer will be a practice Nurse, Health Care Assistant or a member of our reception team who is familiar with the procedure and be available to reassure and raise any concerns on your behalf. If a nurse in unavailable at the time of your consultation then your examination may be rescheduled for another time.

You are free to decline any examination or chose an alternative examiner or chaperone. You may also request a chaperone for any examination or consultation if one is not offered to you. The GP may not undertake an examination if a chaperone is declined.

The role of a Chaperone:

• Maintains professional boundaries during intimate examinations.

• Acknowledges a patient’s vulnerability.

• Provides emotional comfort and reassurance.

• Assists in the examination.

• Assists with undressing patients, if required.

All GP Practices are required to declare mean earnings (i.e. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.

The annual surgery income for 2015-16 was £75808.00.

GP surgeries in Bromley work hard to provide the public and patients with clear and accurate information relating to how their personal information is used. Privacy Notices are put in place on the Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group website to inform service users of these uses of data by your GP surgery.

To Provide You with Treatment

Doctors need to make notes about any diagnosis, test results, treatments including drugs prescriptions, and other information that you may provide, that seems relevant to the treatment of your condition. We need to keep this information in order to provide proper care for you (for later treatment, or if you should be seen by another doctor) and to allow others to check the treatment that you have received.

Nurses and other health professionals also need access to these records, and will add their own notes, as part of the overall healthcare provision. Secretaries, receptionists, and other clerical staff need access to some of your records in order to do administrative tasks, such as: booking appointments and communicating with you and other parts of the NHS.

Your doctor may also need to provide information under certain Acts of Parliament (e.g. the Communicable Diseases Act 1978, which is necessary to prevent the outbreak of certain highly contagious diseases) to protect you and others.

The Health Service

In order to manage the NHS, some restricted information concerning treatments, drugs prescribed, numbers of patients seen etc. is needed, and hospitals and general practices must provide this information in returns to various central bodies. This information has personal details such as your name and address removed wherever possible. It is necessary from time to time to check these returns to prevent fraud as part of the NHS’s statutory obligations.

This may result in your being contacted by an NHS Fraud Office to see if you will consent to your records being checked. Only if you provide your consent will the auditors be allowed to access your records.

Teaching Clinicians

Some medical files are needed to teach student clinicians. Without such materials, new doctors and nurses would be not be properly prepared to treat you.

Planning

We need to be able to plan ahead about treatments, patient numbers, etc., but this uses summary information, not personal information.

Medical Research

Some medical research will require your direct involvement (especially if taking part in clinical trials) in which case the circumstances will be fully explained to you, and your express consent required. If you do not consent, then you will not be included in the trial.

Other researchers only require access to medical statistics, and can greatly improve our understanding of health, and how to treat patients more effectively. Generally, researchers only need information about groups of people, so that no individual information is apparent. In some cases, they need individual records, but wherever we can we will provide these in an anonymous form (so individuals cannot be identified). Sometimes, researchers need access to individual medical files.

We will contact you first for your consent (and before this the researchers must present their case before an Ethics Committee to check that their research is appropriate and worthwhile). Rarely, it may not be practicable (or even possible) to contact individuals for their consent, in which case the researchers must make their case before a Confidentiality Committee to show that there is enough benefit to the public at large to justify this.

How do we manage your information?

We need to be able to move electronic information from system to system, extracting the data and modifying it for the next system. Occasionally, tests will need to be made on the data to check that it has been transferred correctly. This will only be done under carefully controlled conditions and all employees and contractors will be under strict contractual obligations to protect your confidentiality.

The practice fully supports the NHS Zero Tolerance Policy. The aim of this policy is to tackle the increasing problem of violence against staff working in the NHS and ensures that doctors and their staff have a right to care for others without fear of being attacked or abused.

We understand that ill patients do not always act in a reasonable manner and will take this into consideration when trying to deal with a misunderstanding or complaint. We ask you to treat your doctors and their staff courteously and act reasonably.

All incidents will be followed up and you will be sent a formal warning after a second incident or removed from the practice list after a third incident if your behaviour has been unreasonable.

However, aggressive behaviour, be it violent or verbal abusive, will not be tolerated and may result in you being removed from the Practice list and, in extreme cases, the Police will be contacted if an incident is taking place and the patient is posing a threat to staff or other patients.

Removal from the Practice List

A good patient-doctor relationship, based on mutual respect and trust, is the cornerstone of good patient care. The removal of patients from our list is an exceptional and rare event and is a last resort in an impaired patient-practice relationship.

When trust has irretrievably broken down, it is in the patient’s interest, just as much as that of The Surgery, that they should find a new practice. An exception to this is on immediate removal on the grounds of violence e.g. when the Police are involved.

Removing other members of the household

In rare cases, however, because of the possible need to visit patients at home it may be necessary to terminate responsibility for other members of the family or the entire household. The prospect of visiting patients where a relative who is no longer a patient of the practice by virtue of their unacceptable behaviour resides, or being regularly confronted by the removed patient, may make it too difficult for the practice to continue to look after the whole family.

This is particularly likely where the patient has been removed because of violence or threatening behaviour and keeping the other family members could put doctors or their staff at risk.