Grassington Medical Centre
Practice Publication Scheme 28th August 2003
(Updated 29th May 2007)
This is a combined Publication Scheme for the doctors within this General Practice,
Dr Ian K Kinnish, Dr Andrew J Jackson, Dr Ellyn S McCulloch and Dr Gordon Wallace.
Practicing at:
Grassington Medical Centre (referred to within this document as GMC)
9 Station Road
Grassington
Skipton BD23 5LS
Tel. (01756) 752313
Fax. (01756) 753320
This publication is made up of three parts:
Part One: Introduction
Part Two: Classes of Information held by the Practice
Part Three: An index of the Publication Schemes and other useful resources.
Welcome
This combined Publication Scheme (subsequently referred to as The Scheme) is a completed guide to the information routinely published by Grassington Medical Centre. It is a description of the information, which we make publicly available about our General Practitioners and Practice.
We shall review the Scheme at regular intervals and monitor how it is operating. It is important to us that The Scheme meets your needs and we have designed it to be a route map so that you can find information about GMC easily.
Unless otherwise stated, the information is available free of charge. The Scheme states how the information may be obtained.
Your rights in relation to the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts and the NHS Openness Code
In addition to accessing the information identified in the Scheme, you are entitled to request information about the GMC under the NHS Openness Code of 1995. If you are reading this document on an internet-connected computer, a link to this is available in Part 3 of this document. Hard copies of the Openness Code are available free of charge from the Department of Health.
Sometimes, some or all of the information cannot be provided. When this happens, we will explain the reasons why (for example: when the information is of a sensitive, personal or confidential nature).
We welcome suggestions about how the publication themselves might be improved.
Any questions, comments or complaints about the Scheme should be sent in writing to the Practice Manager at Grassington Medical Centre (address above).
If you have a complaint about the operation of the Scheme, or how we have dealt with your request for information from the Scheme, please write to the Practice Manager at Grassington Medical Centre (address above). If you feel that we have not dealt with your complaint adequately, you may take the complaint further to the Information Commissioner. Details of how to do this are also available from The Practice Manager at Grassington Medical Centre.
All information at the Grassington Medical Centre is held, retained and destroyed in accordance with the NHS guidelines. The information in the Scheme is grouped in to the following broad categories:
• The NHS and how we fit into it
• Who we are
• Our Services
• How we spend public money
• Complaints
• Regular Publications and Information for the Public
• This Publication Scheme
In selecting information which is to be included in each class, we will have to take into account that some of the material included in the contents may have to be exempted from disclosure under the NHS Openness Code or the Freedom of Information Act. This means that sometimes not all of the material can be made available for publication or the material may be edited.
The NHS Plan explains how the NHS is changing and sets out how all the different parts function and work together. A copy is available on the Department of Health web site; the address is at Part 3 of this Scheme.
The practice aims to follow NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) and National Service Framework guidelines. These can also be found on the Department of Health web site.
The NHS is a very large part of the public sector. A full list of the local General practices can be found on the North Yorkshire Family Health Services website.
The Grassington Medical Centre provides general medical services for the area shown within the practice leaflet, copies of which are available from the reception desk. A full list of our services appears below in Class 3 of the Publication Scheme.
Details of the General Practice organisational structure and key personnel are outlined in the practice leaflet, copies of which are available free of charge from the reception desk at Grassington Medical Centre.
This includes a full listing of the partners and their practice commitment, senior managers, health professionals and staff employed by the practice. The practice information leaflet also contains details of those staff employed by the North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (NY&Y PCT) who are attached to this practice (The Health Visitor and District Nursing Team). For further details of these staff please consult the NY&Y PCT's Publication Scheme.
This practice adheres to the national General Medical Services contract and the Partners are independent contractors who have an individual contract with the NY&Y PCT to provide Primary Care Services for registered patients of the practice.
Some information will be withheld, including personal, confidential information about individuals, which is protected by the Data Protection Act.
Our services are outlined in the practice leaflet, available from reception at Grassington Medical Centre. This explains the range of services that we offer, together with other agencies.
Some services may involve Information-sharing (for example Child Protection Conferences) with other agencies, and our policy on data protection and the protocols we have agreed with other agencies about information sharing arrangements are available from the Practice Manager at Grassington Medical Centre (free of charge).
Practice Premises and Hours of opening and Surgery times are set out in the practice leaflet and also within a separate sheet, both available from the reception desk at Grassington Medical Centre.
The practice leaflet explains arrangements for out of hours cover and emergencies and details are also posted to the left of the front entrance door when the surgery is closed.
The partners consult in English; Interpreters may be arranged and booked in advance via NY&Y PCT or by contacting reception at Grassington Medical Centre.
All doctors can be consulted about any problem that lies within the practice remit. For particular problems you may be advised to see a particular doctor after the initial consultation.
This class sets out how we currently obtain our NHS funding.
See Part 3 for a link to “Statement of Fees and Allowances payable for General Medical Practitioners in England ”
Grassington Medical Centre receives its funding from the NY&Y PCT according to its contract (as per Class 2 above) in exchange for NHS services provided to its patients.
The total income received from the NHS before expenses and including staff costs for 2002/2003 was £441,000. The sum identified for spending on NHS drugs prescribed by the practice for 2002/03 was £621,000 .
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.
A copy of the practice complaints procedure is available from the reception desk at Grassington Medical Centre. Complaints may be addressed either to the Practice Manager, one of the Doctors or to a member of the Patient Participation Group, details of whom are listed in the practice leaflet available from the reception desk at Grassington Medical Centre.
Regular Publications and Information for the Public
Our policies concerning confidentiality and data protection are available from the reception desk at Grassington Medical Centre, free of charge.
Information leaflets relating to the clinical services and health services provided to patients and our range of regular practice publications are freely available in the reception area and from the reception desk at Grassington Medical Centre.
Some of this information is of a personal and confidential nature and will be excluded as will any other confidential material. Material relating to the health and safety of specific individuals, as to law enforcement or criminal or regulatory enforcement issues may also be excluded from publication. There may be circumstances where material cannot be released because the appropriate officer designated for these purposes under the Act has taken the view that it may be prejudicial to the conduct of public affairs.
The Freedom of Information Act does not change the right of patients to protection of their patient confidentiality in accordance with Article 8 of the law Human Rights Convention, the Data Protection Act and at common law. Maintaining the right to patient confidentiality continues to be an important commitment on our part. To help with this, the NY&Y PCT has appointed someone who is called a Caldicott Guardian, and who has responsibility to ensure the protection of patient confidentiality. The Caldicott Guardian responsible for Grassington Medical Centre is
Name Dr Andrew Clarke
Address The Hamlet, Hornbeam Park , Harrogate HG2 8RE
The Caldicott Guardian oversees the governance of access to patient identifiable information for all the General Practices in the NY&Y PCT.
Under Section 19 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (there is a link to the Act in Part 3 below), each General Practice has a legal duty to adopt and maintain a Publication Scheme for the publication of the information held. The purpose of the Act is to promote greater openness by public authorities, including General Practitioners. From 2005 it will also oblige the General Practice to respond to requests about information, which they hold which is recorded in any form and it will create a right of access to that information. These rights are subject to exemptions that the General Practice has to take into account before deciding what information can be released. This combined Publication Scheme will help you to find all the information that the General Practitioners at Grassington Medical Centre publish.
This combined Publication Scheme aims to make as much information about Grassington Medical Centre as is possible, available on a continuous basis. We will continue to add to the information here proactively and regularly. Whenever we make any changes to any of the information above, we will ensure that the Publication Scheme reflects these changes.
For the most part, we will charge you only for hard copies or copying onto media (eg. 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:
All charges made by Grassington Medical Centre are reviewed regularly.
Web Sites and Addresses
Department of Health,
PO Box 777
London SE1 6XH
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
Information Commissioner,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
Department Correspondence Unit,
Lord Chancellor's Department,
Selborne House,
54-60 Victoria Street ,
London SW1E 6QW
Public Partners
Chesham House,
The Friary,
Old Windsor,
Berks SL4 2NR
Enquiries, HMSO
St. Clements House,
2-16 Colegate,
Norwich NR3 1BQ
See Information Commissioner above
North Yorkshire & York Primary Care Trust
The Hamlet,
Hornbeam Park ,
Harrogate HG2 8RE
Department of Health, Department of Health,
Quarry House, Richmond House,
Quarry Hill, 79 Whitehall,
Leeds LS2 7UE London SW1A 2NS
North Yorkshire Family Health Service,
4 th Floor,
Ryedale Building,
60 Piccadilly,
York YO1 9PE
The General Medical Council,
178 Great Portland Street,
London W1S 5JE
NHS Openness Code www.doh.gov/nhsexec/codemain/htm
FOI Act 2000 www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/2000.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 www.doh.gov.uk/pricare/fees.htm
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