Freedom of Information

Welcome to the Chilcote Surgery publication scheme. This scheme is produced in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2009.

Introduction

This Publication Scheme is a complete guide to the information routinely made available to the public by Chilcote Surgery (Dewerstone and Chatto Road Practices) Hampton Avenue, St Marychurch, Torquay, TQ1 3LA. 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.

How much does it cost?

Some information is available free, but there may be a nominal charge to cover costs if you require a printed copy of information.  These charges will vary according to how the information is available.

Although individual copies of single items covering a single page will be provided free, a charge will be made to cover the costs of supplying information.

1. Website

a.)  Free of charge – You may download any publication that we post on the website using your own computer.  Charges for the Internet Service Provider and personal printing costs would be your responsibility.
b.)  If you do not have access to the  Internet:

i)    The Public Library has a service you can use.
ii)    Printouts are available from the practice by writing to the Practice Director and enclosing a stamped addressed envelope:

(1)    A single printout from the website will attract a charge of 50p per sheet.
(2)    Requests for multiple printouts or for archived copies of documents that are no longer accessible or available on the website will attract a charge for retrieval, photocopy and postage etc.  We will let you know the cost and charges that will have to be paid in advance.
(3)    We are not able to provide printouts of other organisations’ websites.

iii)    Copying onto electronic media from our own website only will incur a charge of £10.00 (appropriate electronic media to be supplied by patient).

2.    Leaflets and brochures about our practice are available at the reception desk, free of charge.

3.    Glossy, laminated or other bound paper copies or in some cases a CD ROM, video or other media will be charged for.  We will let you know the cost and charges that will have to be paid in advance.

4.    E-mail will be free of charge unless otherwise specified in advance.

Any cost incurred for postage will be charged for and you are requested to submit a stamped self-addressed envelope with any request for copies to be sent by post.

The charges will be reviewed regularly.  Any enquiries regarding information management in this practice should be referred to the Practice Director.

How the information is made available

The information within each class is available by downloading from our practice website at www.chilcotesurgery.co.uk or available in paper form from reception or by writing to the Practice Director at the surgery or by email to chilcote.surgery@nhs.net.  Written requests for our publications will be responded to within 20 working days.  Please include a stamped self addressed envelope with written requests.

Your rights to information

• In addition to accessing the information identified in the Publication Scheme, you are entitled to request information about our practice under the NHS Openness Code 1995.
• The Freedom of Information Act 2000 recognizes that members of the public have the right to know how public services are organized and run, how much they cost and how decisions are made.
• From 1st January 2005 the Freedom of Information Act will oblige all General Practices to respond to requests about information that they hold and record in any format.  The Act will create a right to access to that information. These rights are subject to some exemptions which have to be taken into consideration before deciding what information can be released.
• Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you are also entitled to access your clinical records or any other personal information held about you by our practice. You can request to see your own medical record by writing to the Practice Director at the surgery.

Feedback:

We welcome suggestions about how this publication scheme and the presentation of the information itself might be improved.  If you have any comments, or if you have any difficulty accessing any information please write to the Practice Director.

Classes of information

All information at Chilcote Surgery is held, retained and destroyed in accordance with NHS guidelines and our Practice Records Management Policy.

Our commitment to publish or supply information excludes any information which can be legitimately withheld under the exemptions set out in the NHS Openness Code or Freedom of Information Act 2000 or any information which has been destroyed or updated in accordance with NHS guidelines and our Practice Records Management Policy.

Where individual classes are subject to exemptions, the main reasons are for example the protection of commercial interests and personal information under the Data Protection Act 1998. This applies to all classes within the publication scheme.

The information available under this scheme is grouped into the following broad categories:

Class 1    Who we are and what we do.

This NHS practice is part of Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust and provides medical services for patients living within the boundaries of Torquay, east side of Paignton to Preston Down Road, to Aller Vale Garage at Kingskerswell, to Rocombe, Stokeinteignhead and Mackerel cove. A map of our practice area is available at reception and is included in our leaflet and on our website.

A full list of the General Practices in this area and further details about how the Primary Care Trust fits into the NHS, a major part of the public sector, can be found on the Care Trust website  www.torbaycaretrust.nhs.uk or by writing to them at:

Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust
Bay House
Nicholson Road
Torquay TQ2 7TD  Tel: 01803 210500

Our practice is contracted to provide Medical Services for our registered patients under contract to Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust in accordance with our Personal Medical Services contract.

Some information about our practice will be withheld, including personal, confidential information about individuals which is protected by the Data Protection Act 1998.

The current Partners are:

The following key personnel work within the practice and are employed by the practice.

The Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust employs a team of Health and Social Care Workers to look after the needs of our patients. They work as a team from Cavanna House, Nicholson Road, Torquay, TQ2 7TD as the Torquay North Zone Team.

The following people provide services to our patients but are employed by Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust:

The following people provide services to our patients but are employed by other NHS Agencies.

A wide range of services use our facilities to provide patient care.  Further information can be obtained from our reception.

An outline of the services we provide can be found in our practice leaflet in which we include:

• details of the sites we operate from
• our opening hours

Copies of the practice leaflet can be obtained from reception or through our website.

Our Doctors’ clinical interests outside of family medicine are as follows:

The surgery operates from two sites at:

Dewerstone Practice, Hampton Avenue, Torquay, TQ1 3LA and
Chatto Practice, 104 Chatto Road, Torquay, TQ1 4HY

The majority of our administration work is carried out at Dewerstone Practice.

Details of our opening hours are displayed on our entrance doors and contained in the leaflets available in reception:

Dewerstone Practice Opening Hours:

Chatto Practice Opening Hours:

We provide an Out of Hours service through Devon Doctors .  Further information about this service can be obtained from Devon Doctors, Unit 10, Manaton Court, Manaton Close, Matford Business Park, Exeter EX2 8PF.

We share information with other service providers in accordance with the policies agreed with the Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust and by reference to the Data Protection Act.

Class 2  What we spend and how we spend it.

We receive fees for providing medical services to our registered patients from the Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust through the mechanism of our Personal Medical Services contract.

Total Income received from the NHS before expenses in the last financial year to 2013/14 was £1,479,253.

From these fees the practice has to meet the costs of running the practice this includes the following main expenses:

• Running costs and maintenance of the premises and equipment
• Administrative costs including wages of our staff and training
• IT support and maintenance
• Communications support, maintenance and running costs
• Infrastructure investment such as clinical equipment
• The cost of buying our premises
• The cost of drugs that we personally administer to our patients

We receive a drug budget that is set by the Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust on a yearly basis to provide prescriptions for our registered patients.  Total sum spent on drugs prescribed by our practice in the last financial year 2013/14 was £2,004,940.  The budgets received vary from year to year and can be obtained by writing to the Practice Director.

We have a scale of fees for work that comes outside of the contract we hold with the Care Trust.  Details are displayed on notices in reception.

There may be circumstances where material cannot be released because it is

• confidential or
• commercial information or
• the appropriate officer designated for these purposes under the Act has taken the view that it may be prejudicial to the conduct of the practice’s affairs or
• no longer available under NHS guidelines and our Practice Records Management Policy.

Class 3  What are our priorities and how are we doing?

We hold regular practice meetings to discuss the business and future plans of the practice and plan our work. Relevant information from these minutes can be made available.

We hold clinical governance meetings to audit our performance.

A large part of our income is driven by performance indicators which are in the public domain and can be accessed through NHS Choices at www.nhs.uk or other Department of Health websites, such as http://www.qof.ic.nhs.uk/search.asp which shows QOF performance.

Class 4 How we make decisions.

All decisions regarding our practice and the services we provide are documented in the minutes of our practice meetings which are held at least monthly.  Multi-disciplinary meetings are held monthly.  Regular meetings are also held for the nursing and administration staff.

Class 5 Our policies and procedures

We keep policies in the following areas:

1. Patient Privacy and Confidentiality
2. Clinical Procedures
3. Administrative Procedures
4. Complaints
5. Records Management, Information Sharing and Data Protection
6. Drugs, Prescribing and Prescriptions
7. Health and Safety
8. Employment and equality and diversity
9. Risk Management
10. Audit and Controls Assurance

These policies are subject to regular review and can be obtained by writing to the Practice Director.  There may be circumstances where material cannot be released because it is:

• confidential or
• security based or
• commercial information or
• the appropriate officer designated for these purposes under the Act has taken the view that it may be prejudicial to the conduct of the practice’s affairs or
• no longer available under NHS guidelines and our Practice Records Management Policy or
• no longer current and has been replaced.

Class 6 Lists and registers

We hold no publicly available lists or registers.  We maintain our list of registered patients using the EMIS clinical system which is fully computerised and paperless.  At the present time, we have approximately 10,500 patients registered with the practice.  The list is confidential.

In accordance with the requirements of the New General Medical Services Contract we also hold a Register of Gifts to the Practice.

Class 7  The services we offer

Our services are listed on our website and in our practice leaflet.  Some of these involve information sharing with other agencies, e.g. referral to hospitals.

1. We keep a range of leaflets on medical problems that can be accessed by
   1. Asking our Practice Nurses or the Doctors
   2. Looking in the leaflet folders in the waiting rooms
   3. Accessing our website
2. We keep you informed of temporary alterations in our opening hours by
   1. Prominent notices at reception
   2. Notices on the entrance doors
3. We publish a newsletter for our patients from time to time.  It is available in the waiting room or by accessing our website.
4. We publish a practice leaflet which is updated regularly.  It is available from reception or by accessing our website.  Once an update is produced, previous copies are destroyed and are no longer available for publication.
5. We keep some leaflets and information produced by other organizations. These can be accessed from:
   1. Leaflet folder in our waiting rooms
   2. Our Website
6. A list of the charges for services that are not covered by our NHS contract is held at reception.
7. The arrangements for out of hours are in our practice leaflet, displayed on our outer door and as a message on our telephone.

Leaflets may from time to time become unavailable due to replacement by an alternative or because they have been updated.

Charges for Services made by the Practice

No charge is made for all the services we provide under contract to the NHS.

For the services we provide which are outside our contract to the NHS, there is a charge, which we keep in line with those recommended by the British Medical Association (BMA).

Examples of non-NHS services for which GPs can charge their NHS patients are:

• Certain travel vaccinations
• Private medical insurance reports
• Holiday cancellation claim forms
• Referral for private care forms
• Letters requested by, or on behalf of, the patient

Examples of non-NHS services for which GPs can charge other institutions are:

• Medical reports for an insurance company
• Some reports for the DSS / Benefits Agency
• Examinations of local authority employees

We produce and publish a list of these services and their associated charges.

Useful Resources

Websites:

Department of Health – www.doh.gov.uk

Information Commissioner – https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/information-commissioner-s-office

The Justice Department – www.justice.gov.uk

NHS Freedom of Information – https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/freedom-of-information-policy-2018.pdf

Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust – https://www.torbayandsouthdevon.nhs.uk/services/carers-service/

NHS Choices – www.nhs.uk

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) – http://www.nice.org.uk/

Publications

FOI Act 2000 – www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/contents

National Service Frameworks – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/quality-standards-for-supporting-people-with-long-term-conditions

Copyright

Material available through the publications scheme is subject to this 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 that will not mislead. Where items are republished 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.

For HMSO Guidance Notes see: www.hmso.gov.uk/guides.htm