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Freedom of Information

BIDEFORD MEDICAL CENTRE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 PUBLICATION SCHEME

• Abbotsham Road
• Bideford
• Devon EX39 3AF
• Tel: 01237 476363
• Fax: 01237 423351

Doctor’s Appointment: 01237 426300

Treatment Room Appointment: 01237 426320

Website: www.bidefordmc.com

Welcome to the Bideford Medical Centre’s publication scheme. This scheme is produced in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

INTRODUCTION

This Publication Scheme is a complete guide to the information routinely made available to the public by doctors Brown, Knight, Clayton, Loka, Spencer, Bardner, Stapley, Chan, Down, Bond and Davies at Bideford Medical 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.

How much does it cost?

The publications are free unless otherwise indicated within each class. Where information is provided at a cost the charges will be calculated as set out in Class 7 of this publication.

How the information is made available

The information within each class is available by downloading from our practice website at www.bidefordmc.com or available in paper form from the leaflet racks in reception or by writing to the Practice Manager at the surgery. 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 Practice 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.

New environmental information regulations may be introduced as early as 2003. These will enable similar access to environmental information as under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

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 discussing it with your own GP in the first instance and then in writing to the Practice Manager 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 contact or write to the Practice Manager.

CLASSES OF INFORMATION

All information at Bideford Medical Centre is held, retained and destroyed in accordance with NHS guidelines.

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 formation which has been destroyed or updated in accordance with NHS guidelines.

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

This NHS practice is part of North Devon Primary Care Trust and provides medical services for patients living within the boundaries of 9 miles radius from our Practice address. A map of our practice area is available from our reception on request.

A full list of the General Practices in this area and further details about how NHS Devon fits into the NHS, a major part of the public sector, can be found on the Primary Care Trust website www.northdevonhealth.nhs.uk or by writing to North Devon PCT, Crown Yealm House, Pathfield Business Park, South Molton EX36 3LH - telephone 01769 575100).

Our practice is contracted to provide General Medical Services for our registered patients under contract to NHS Devon in accordance with the National Statement of Financial Entitlement.

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, a full up to date list as per our organisation chart is available free of charge on request from reception and on our Practice website.

The following key personnel provide services to our patients but are employed by NHS Devon

Class 2 Our Services

A full list of the services we provide can be found in our practice leaflet in which we include:

• our opening hours
• our contact telephone numbers
• how to access the out of hours service

Our Patients’ Charter can be obtained free of charge through our website. It is also stated as below:

Our Mission Statement:

To Deliver Consistent Quality Health Care To Our Patients Within Available Resources.

In order to achieve this the Practice will work through its Staff, the Community Nurses, Health Visitors, Midwives and Community Psychiatric Nurses and other agencies to :

• provide a friendly and welcoming environment
• ensure the delivery of efficient and effective assessment, treatment, advice and care
• assess the health care needs of our community and develop plans to meet those ends
• make the best use of our resources for better patient care

We will not offer medical care to patients who use threatening behaviour, are verbally or physically abusive towards our Doctors and Staff.

Patients’ Responsibilities:

We treat our patients courteously and with respect. Our Doctors and Staff expect to be treated the same by our patients. We expect our patients to cancel their booked appointments when they do not need them.

We treat our patients courteously and with respect. Our Doctors and Staff expect to be treated the same by our patients.

We expect our patients to cancel their booked appointments when they do not need them.

Our Doctors’ clinical interests are as follows:

The main surgery with the administration staff is at:

Bideford Medical Centre, Abbotsham Road , Bideford, Devon EX39 3AF.

Details of our opening hours and services are detailed in our Practice leaflet available in reception:

The Out of Hours service through Devon Doctors on Call. Further information about this service can be obtained from Devon Doctors on Call, Unit 10, Manaton Court, Manaton Close, Matford Business Park, Exeter EX2 8PF. There is also a leaflet about this service available in reception.

We share information with other service providers in accordance with the policies agreed with the North Devon Primary Care Trust and by reference to the Data Protection Act.

We offer translation in Mandarin and Cantonese for medical treatment and consultation.

Class 3 Financial and funding information.

We receive fees for providing medical services to our registered patients from the North Devon Primary Care Trust through the mechanism of the National Statement of Financial Entitlement.

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 pay
• IT support and maintenance
• Communications support, maintenance and running costs
• Infrastructure investment such as clinical equipment
• Dispensing drug costs

We receive a drug budget that is set by NHS Devon on a yearly basis to provide prescriptions for our registered patients. Total sum spent on drugs prescribed by our Practice in last financial year was over £2m

We have a scale of fees for work that comes outside of the Statement of Financial Entitlement for the General Medical Services. Please telephone our receptionists for details.

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.

Class 4 Regular Publications and information for the public

We keep a range of leaflets on medical problems that can be accessed by:

1. Asking our practice nurses, the doctors, health visitors and midwives
2. Looking on the leaflet racks in the waiting room

We keep you informed of temporary alterations in our opening hours by:

1. Prominent notices on the waiting room notice board
2. Notices on the entrance doors
3. Handouts available at Reception
4. Accessing our website

We publish a practice leaflet which is updated regularly from time to time. It is available from reception. Once an update is produced, previous copies are destroyed and are no longer available for publication. We keep some leaflets and information produced by other organisations. These can be accessed from:

1. Leaflet racks
2. At Reception Counters
3. In Health Education Room, they can be obtained from the Health Visitors.

The leaflets available under Class 4 are free of charge.

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

Class 5 Complaints.

We have a practice complaints procedure which has been agreed with Devon Local Medical Committees for Devon Practices and NHS for all local practices. A copy may be obtained from reception. If you wish to make a complaint please write or ask to speak to the Deputy Practice Manager.

There may be circumstances where material cannot be released because it is confidential to a third party as regulated by the Data Protection Act 1998 or is no longer available under NHS guidelines.

Class 6 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, Dispensing, Prescribing and Prescriptions
7. Health and Safety
8. Employment
9. Risk Management
10. Audit and Controls Assurance

These policies are subject to regular review. They are available by writing to the Practice Manager. 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 or
• no longer current and has been replaced

There is a charge for producing a hard copy of this information as detailed in class 7 below.

Class 7 This Publication Scheme.

In this class we will publish any changes we make to this Publication Scheme, the criteria on which our information management policies are made and a referral point for all enquiries regarding information management generally in our Practice. We will also publish any proposed changes or additions to publications already available.

Some information is available free, but there may be a nominal charge to cover costs if you require a hard 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.

Charges.

1. Website

   Free of charge - You may download any publication that we post on the web site using your own computer. Charges for the Internet Service provider and personal printing costs would have to be met by you.

• The Public Libraries have a service you can use.
• Printouts are available from the practice by writing to the Practice Manager and enclosing a stamped addressed envelope.
1. A single print out from the website will attract a charge of 35p 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.
• Copying onto electronic media from our own website only will incur a minimum charge of £10 depending on the type of electronic media requested.
2. Leaflets and brochures about our practice are available at the reception desk free of charge for single copies.
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 hardcopies 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 Manager.

Useful Resources

Websites

Accessability | Freedom of Information | Patient's Charter

Services Provided:

The Doctors at the Medical Centre provide general medical services, health promotion advice and non general medical services.

Mission Statement:

"We aim to deliver consistent quality healthcare to our patients within available resources."

The Practice Manager, the Reception Manager, Practice Nurses, Health Care Assistants, Receptionists, secretary, together with a team of Community Nurses, Health Visitors, Community Midwives, Community Psychiatric Nurses and a Hospice Nurse work with the Doctors to offer you a consistent quality service within available resources.

Quality Practice Award RCGP 2001 - 2006 | 2006 - 2011

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