Freedom of Information Act Welcome to the Green Practice, Stockbridge Health Centre General Practitioner's Publication Scheme. This is a guide to the General Practitioner's (who practice together) within the partnership/single practice Publication Scheme as required under section 23 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. Drs J Sayers, MM Reid, J Richards, S Martin, J Lamb, Green Practice, Stockbridge Health Centre, 1 India Place, Edinburgh EH3 6EH. Introduction
- Under Section 23 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (The Act), a 'public authority', which is defined as including General Practitioners, must prepare a publication scheme setting out the information it routinely makes publicly available. The British Medical Association Model Publication Scheme for General Practitioners in Scotland has been approved by the Scottish Information Commissioner who is responsible for promoting and enforcing the Act. In addition we have to review the scheme from time to time.
This Publication Scheme is a complete guide to the information routinely made available to the public by Green Practice Stockbridge Health Centre. 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. In adopting (or reviewing) our publication scheme, we are required to have regard to the public interest in:
- Allowing public access to information we hold; and
- The publication of reasons for the decisions we make.
Freedom Of Information Contact Details The Model Publication Scheme Overall responsibility for the Model Publication Scheme developed by the British Medical Association for adoption by General Practitioners in Scotland rests with the British Medical Association. This Model Publication Scheme will be subject to review by the British Medical Association and we welcome comments. Electronic copies of this Model Publication Scheme may be downloaded from the Scottish General Practitioners pages of the British Medical Association web site at www.bma.org.uk or paper copies will be available on written request to the Secretary of the Scottish General Practitioners Committee of the British Medical Association. The point of contact for further information or comments relating to the Model Publication Scheme is: Ms Carrie Young
Secretary
Scottish General Practitioners Committee
British Medical Association
14 Queen Street
Edinburgh
EH2 1LL Tel: 0131 247 3000 Fax: 0131 247 3001 Copies of the scheme as adopted by a practice/general practitioner should be obtained directly from that practice. Practice information under the scheme Our General Practice has formally adopted the British Medical Association Model Publication Scheme for General Practitioners in Scotland and for all enquiries relating to practice information, which is contained in this scheme please contact: Mrs Linda Skeldon, Practice Manager, Green Practice Stockbridge Health Centre, 1 India Place, Edinburgh EH3 6EH Telephone 0131 260 9227 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: Dr Richards, Green Practice Stockbridge Health Centre, 1 India Place, Edinburgh EH3 6EH Telephone 0131 260 9227 If we are unable to resolve any complaint, you can complain to the Scottish Information Commissioner who oversees the Act and whose contact details are below. From 1 January 2005, when the general right of access comes into force, there will be a formal appeal mechanism to deal with situations where information is withheld. Further details on this will be available on the Commissioner's web site at www.itspublicknowledge.info/ before this date. FOI enquiries should be addressed to: Kevin Dunion
OBE Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS Tel: 01334 464610
enquiries@itspublicknowledge.info
www.itspublicknowledge.info Your rights to information
- The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 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 1st 2005 the General Practice will be obliged to respond to requests about recorded information that it holds. The Act creates a right of access to that information, subject to certain exemptions listed in the Act.
- New environmental information regulations will be introduced in January 2005. These will enable similar access to environmental information as under the Freedom of Information ( Scotland) Act 2002.
- 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: Mrs Linda Skeldon, Practice Manager, Green Practice, Stockbridge Health Centre, 1 India Place, Edinburgh EH3 6EH. Telephone 01312 60 9227.
How is the information made available? The information within each class is either downloadable from our web site [www.greenpractice-shc.co.uk] or is available in hard copy: contact: Linda Skeldon, Practice Manager. Other formats/accessibility of information Where possible the practice will take all reasonable steps to endeavor to meet requests to provide information in accessible formats. CLASSES OF INFORMATION Section 23(2) a of The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 states that a publication scheme must specify the classes of information which authorities publish or intend to publish under the scheme. The Scottish Information Commissioner has clarified in guidance on publication schemes (under paragraph 6) that 'class' can be defined as 'a group of information having one or more common characteristics, such as the subject or source of origin.' The Scottish Information Commissioner's guidance also notes that 'a class of information is not the same as the actual documents which will appear in the class, although in certain cases it is possible that a class will only contain one document.' All information at the Green Practice Stockbridge Health Centres held, retained and destroyed in accordance with NHS guidelines. Our commitment to publish information excludes any information that can legitimately be withheld under the exemptions set out in the Freedom of Information ( Scotland) Act 2002. Where individual classes of information are subject to exemptions, the main reasons for this relate to the protection of commercial interests and personal information under the Data Protection Act 1998. Consequently, we may withhold information if its disclosure would breach confidentiality or seriously prejudice the commercial interests of any person or organisation. We may also withhold information that is personal information under the Data Protection Act 1998. In these cases, we will indicate why the information is being withheld. If you wish to complain about information which is being withheld from you, please read the Complaints section below and also refer to the previous 'Feedback' paragraph in this Model Publication Scheme, as this gives the contact details of a senior person in the practice who has overall responsibility for the operation of the scheme. This applies to all Classes within the Publication Scheme. The information in this Scheme is grouped into the following classes: 1. Who we are Details of the practice, organisational structures, key personnel and how we fit into the NHS. The NHS is a very large part of the public sector. A full list of local General Practices can be found on NHS Lothian's web site: www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk The Green Practice Stockbridge Health Centre General Practice provides primary medical services for the following geographical area: The practice area is approximately bounded by Newhaven Road and Easter Road (partial) on the eastern side, on the southern side by Princes Street and the A8, and on the western side by Murrayfield Avenue/Craigcrook and Silverknowes Road. (Please note that we do NOT cross Princes St). 2. Our services This practice provides primary medical services to the standard laid down in the NHS (Primary Medical Services Section 17C Agreements) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 and the range of services we provide are contained within the Practice Leaflet and on the practice web site [ www.greenpractice-shc.co.uk].
- Data Protection Act : The Green Practice is registered with the Data Protection Register and complies with the Data Protection principals to safeguard all data held.
- Confidentiality : The practice may from time to time be asked for information on a patient from outside agencies. The doctors, nurses and all other members of staff operate a strict policy of patient confidentiality. You should therefore feel comfortable in disclosing any information you think is important in the knowledge that all information is protected and will not be released to anyone without your consent.
- Practice premises and hours of opening : this information is available in the practice leaflet and from the practice web site: www.greenpractice-shc.co.uk
- Out of hours cover : this information is available in the practice leaflet and from the practice web site: www.greenpractice-shc.co.uk
- Advocacy/Chaperone/Interpreter Patients are welcome to attend any appointment accompanied by a friend or relative if they find this helpful. Patients attending on their own may also ask for a chaperone to be provided during a consultation with the doctor or nurse. If required, an interpreter can be organized to accompany the patient to see the doctor [ask receptionist for details].
- Areas of Special Interest Each doctor has their own areas of special interest as follows:
- Dr Sayers - dermatology, cardiovascular disease, child health
- Dr M Reid - epilepsy, heart failure, hypertension, child health
- Dr J Richards - women's health, depression, mental health, cancer care
- Dr S Martin - oral pathology, ENT, minor surgery, family planning
- Dr J Lamb - blood disorders, care of the Elderly, learning disabilities, mental health
- This practice aims to take into account NHS Quality Improvement Scotland standards and guidance, SIGN guidelines relevant to general practice and Scottish Executive Health Department service strategies and frameworks.
- 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'.
- This practice has met RCGP Scotland Practice Accreditation Standards and obtained the Quality Practice Award in October 2001.
- This is an approved training practice.
3. Financial and funding information Funding details and charging policies. We received £631,436 from NHS sources during our financial year ended April 2004. We make no charge for NHS services. 4. Regular publications, promotional and advisory leaflets Guidance and information leaflets produced by the practice and available for patients and/or the general public are available from the practice, and a list of these can be obtained at reception or via our web site. 5. Complaints Policies, procedures and contacts for complaints. The practice runs an in-house complaints procedure. If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in the practice, please contact [Linda Skeldon, Practice Manager]. We will try our best to resolve matters as quickly as possible. 6. Our policies and procedures General policies and procedures in use within the practice and appropriate policies which inform decision making processes within the practice, which are of importance to the public. These include, but are not restricted to, data protection, prescribing and prescription, health and safety. We make changes to our services on the basis of instructions received from the NHS Board. 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 in some cases 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 web site [www.greenpractice-shc.co.uk] free of charge, although any charges for Internet Service provider and personal printing costs would have to be met by the individual. For those without Internet access, a single printout as on the web site would be available by post from [Linda Skeldon, Practice Manager ]or by personal application at the [Green Practice, Stockbridge Health Centre ].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 photocopying and postage. 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 web sites. b) Leaflets and brochures on services we offer to the public will be provided free of charge. A list is available from reception or via our web site. c) "Glossy" or other bound paper copies, or in some cases a CD Rom, video or other mediums, will be provided on loan free of charge. A list is available from reception or via our web site. d) Information provided via e-mail will be free of charge. e) where information is available subject to a fee, such as the charge per sheet of photocopying the fee will be 40p. The practice will, wherever possible, let people making the request for such information know in advance how much a document would cost, taking into account any total copying charges for the document. The charges will be reviewed regularly and this scheme updated. Useful Resources Web sites: www.itspublicknowledge.info This is the web site of the Scottish Information Commissioner.www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk This is the web site of the Information Commissioner. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/?pageID=198 This is the Scottish Executive Freedom of Information web site. http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/confidenti ality/information_commissioner.htm This is the NHS Scotland Confidentiality and Data Protection web site. Publications
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. Some material we include in our scheme may be the copyright of a third party. Our rights to hold and use such material do not extend to others. You must obtain authorisation from the copyright holder(s) concerned if you wish to copy or reproduce such material. The Queen's Printer for Scotland has prepared guidance for public authorities on copyright. The guidance is aimed at Crown bodies but also covers other types of authorities. It is available at: www.oqps.gov.u k/foi/guidance.htm For HMSO Guidance Notes see www. hmso.gov.uk/guides.htm or alternatively these may be accessed via www.tso.co.uk |
Practice Information
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