NHS FREEDOM OF INFORMATION PROJECT BOARD/BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION MODEL PUBLICATION SCHEME FOR GENERAL PRACTICES
Welcome to the HEATHVILLE ROAD SURGERY (Branch Surgery - Warwick Avenue) General Practitioner's Publication Scheme, located in the City of Gloucester. This is a guide to the seven General Practitioners'(who practice together) within the partnership /single practice Publication Scheme as required by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Introduction
This Publication Scheme is a complete guide to the information routinely made available to the public by: Drs. Watkins, Gilbert, Seymour, Richards,Khalid, Sumathipala and Amroliwala of 5 HEATHVILLE ROAD Gloucester GL1 3DP. 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 all 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].
How is the information made available?
The information within each Class is either downloadable from the practice website or available in hard copy from our Practice Leaflet
Your rights to information
In addition to accessing the information identified in the Publication Scheme, you are entitled to request information about HEATHVILLE ROAD (Branch Surgery -Warwick Avenue) General Practice under the NHS Openness Code 1995.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 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 it will oblige the General Practice to respond to requests about information that it holds, and is recorded in any format and it will create a right of access to that information. These rights are subject to some exemptions which have to be taken into consideration before deciding what information it can release.
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 and you can contact your registered General Practitioner to do this.
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. R. Watkins & Partners
5 Heathville Road, Gloucester GL1 3DP
CLASSES OF INFORMATION
All information at the HEATHVILLE ROAD (Branch Surgery - Warwick Avenue) General Practice is held, retained and destroyed in accordance with NHS guidelines. Our commitment to publish 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. Where individual Classes are subject to exemptions, the main reasons are e.g. 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 on this Scheme is grouped into the following broad categories:
1. Who we are:
We are a six partner practice named below as:
Dr. Rhys Watkins (male) MBBS DRCOG MRCGP (London 1979) Senior Partner - Full time
Dr. Nicholas Gilbert (male) MBChB DRCOG MRCGP (Birmingham 1985)- Full time
Dr. Andrew Seymour (male) MBBS MRCGP DMJ (London 1987) - Full time
Dr. Sarah Richards (female) MBChB (Sheffield 1988) -Full time
Dr. Rachel Khalid (female) MBBS DRCOG DFFP - Full time (London 1998)
Dr. Sanjeewa Sumathipala (male) MB ChB, DRCOG, MRCGP (Birmingham 1995) - Full Time
Dr. Susan Amroliwala (female) MBChB DRCOG - (Manchester 1980) Part time
Dr. Alyson van den Broek (female) - Part time
Located in the City of Gloucester.
As well as our six partner doctors and two part-time doctors, our team comprises of the following:
1 Registrar - Dr. Anja Henke
4 Practice Nurses
1 Health Visitor
2 Midwives
We also have Secretaries, Administration Assistants and a team of Receptionists.
The NHS is a very large part of the public sector. A full list of local General Practices can be found on West Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust web site. The Heathville Road (Branch Surgery - Warwick Avenue) General Practice provides general medical services for the geographical area of Gloucester/Tuffley.
This practice has a local Personal Medical Services contract with the Primary Care Trust. The practice aims to follow national and local best practice guidelines including NICE guidance and National Service Frameworks.
2. Our Services:
The range of services we provide under contract to the NHS:
· Maternity Services
· Family Planning
· Cervical Smears & Services for Women
· Diabetic Clinic
· Asthma Clinic
· Health Promotion Clinics
· Child Health & Immunisations
· Elderly Screening
· Minor Surgery
· Sigmoidoscopy
· Well Person Clinic
Our surgery opening times can be found on our website or on our practice leaflet.
The practice is open at the following hours:
Weekdays - 8.30 am - 6.30pm
Saturdays-Closed all day
Sundays - Closed all day
Out of hours cover is proved by G-Doc, (Doctors co-operative) between the hours of:
6.30pm - 7.00am on weekdays
Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays - All day
The Out of hours telephone number to arrange emergency medical help from G-Doc is:
0845 220220
3. Financial and funding information:
The GMS contract pays us a certain amount for the various services we provide for our patients; and the quality of care we provide. Extra payments are given for certain secondary care procedures we carry out. We also get paid for any private work we do, such as medicals and Insurance reports.
The Heathville Road (Branch Surgery - Warwick avenue) General Practice receives money from West Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust according to its contract (as per Class 1 above) in exchange for services provided for patients.
The total income received from the NHS before expenses in 2002 was £676,642.86
The sum spent on drugs prescribed by the Heathville Road (Branch Surgery - Warwick Avenue) General Practice in 2001/2002 was £1,284,986
4. Regular publications and information for the public:
Practice Leaflet, Guidance and information leaflets are freely available to pick up from the practice waiting rooms, most of which are free, but exceptionally a charge may be made, if we have to obtain specific leaflets to request.
5. Complaints:
A copy of our practice complaints procedure can be obtained from: The Complaints Administrator/Senior Secretary: Mrs Angela Hopkins - 5 Heathville Road, Gloucester. GL1 3DP
6. Our policies and procedures:
General policies and procedures in use within the practice. These include, but are not restricted to, data protection, prescribing and prescription, health and safety
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 enquires regarding information management generally in the Trust. We will also publish any proposed changes or additions to publications already available.
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 for others 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/Primary Care Trust Web Site - 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 print-out as on the website would be available by post by personal application to the Heathville Road General Practice.
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 the retrieval, photocopy, postage etc. 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-websites.]
b) Leaflets and brochures-free of charge for leaflets or booklets on, for example, services we offer to the public. A list is available from: Mrs Angela Hopkins, 5 Heathville Road, Gloucester
c) "Glossy" or other bound paper copies, or in some cases a CD Rom, video or other mediums, are for charge as in our publication lists available from: Mrs Angela Hopkins, 5 Heathville Road, Gloucester
d) E-mail-will be free of charge unless it says otherwise
The charges will be reviewed regularly.
Useful Resources
Web sites:
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
This is the web site of the Information Commissioner
www.lcd.gov.uk
This is the web site of the Lord Chancellor's Department
www.foi.nhs.uk
This is the NHS Freedom of Information web site
Primary Care Trust web site
www.westglospct.org.uk
This is the West Gloucestershire PCT website
www.heathvillesurgery.co.uk
This is the Practice website
www.gloshospitals.org.uk
This is the website for all Gloucestershire Hospitals
www.gloshealthservices.org.uk
This is the website for Gloucestershire Health Services
www.nice.org.uk
This is the website for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence
Publications
· NHS Openness Code- www.doh.gov.uk/nhsexec/codemain.htm
· FOI Act 2000 www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts2000/2000036.htm
· Code of Practice under Section 45 FOI Act 2000 www.lcd.gov.uk
· Code of Practice under Section 46 FOI Act 2000 www.lcd.gov.uk
· Statement of Fees and Allowances payable for General Medical Practitioners in England
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. For HMSO Guidance Notes see www.hmso.gov.uk/guides.htm
