Freedom of information

What is the Freedom of Information Act? 
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) is a law passed by the Government that gives you the right to request information from public bodies such as hospitals and NHS Trusts. The aim of the Act is to promote confidence in public services by ensuring that they provide clear information on their activities and are open about what they do.

What information can I obtain?
You will be able to obtain information about the business processes and day-to-day workings of the Trust. By law we must produce a Publication Scheme to help members of the public identify and find information that the Trust publishes. Our Publication Scheme contains a guide to the types of corporate information we are expected to make routinely available as a public authority.  To clarify this in more detail we have also produced a Guide to Information specifying the particular information we publish, how it will be published, where to find it if already available and charges (if any) that will be made for supplying copies. The guide is by no means a comprehensive list of what can be accessed via FOIA. It might be that you are seeking information about our Trust that we do not already publish and you are quite entitled to ask for that by making an individual application.

What types of information are being made available?
The Act refers to “classes” of information and a class is the information available on a particular topic. Therefore a class could be a specific document, such as the Trust policy on the Data Protection Act 1998, or it could refer to a particular area, eg planned building works, which is likely to consist of a variety of documents – blue prints, consultation papers, photographs, supplier contracts, etc. Information is not limited to paper documents; it also includes material on our website or answers to questions that interested parties might wish to pose.

What information is already available?
We recognise the importance of the Freedom of Information Act and we have therefore made sure that the majority of corporate information we produce is available through our Publication Scheme and that other information will be readily available on request.

Our Publication Scheme and Guide to Information are jointly a complete guide to the information routinely published by us. It is a description of the information about our Trust which we make publicly available. 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 the Trust easily. However, if you feel there is information that could usefully be added to the scheme that we have missed, please feel free to contact us at the address below.

Can I get access to information about myself or other patients?
The Freedom of Information Act does not change the legal right of service users to the protection of their patient confidentiality. Maintaining this right of confidentiality is an important commitment for all NHS organisations. To help with this, all Trusts have appointed someone called a Caldicott Guardian who is responsible for ensuring the protection of patient confidentiality throughout each Trust in accordance with patient legal rights. The Caldicott Guardian for our Trust is our Medical Director.

You may obtain access to your own health records under the Data Protection Act 1998: see our leaflet on Access to Health Records available from the address below.

Will I be able to get access to all the Trust’s information?
No. The right to obtain information may be limited by some exemptions which are listed within the Act. The effect of the exemptions is that we may not be able to supply all or part of the information requested. For example, information that might affect health and safety within the Trust, such as details of security arrangements, would not be released. If possible we will supply the information requested with the exempt information removed.

Is there a charge for information supplied from the Publication Scheme?
Ordinarily there is no charge for documents contained within our Publication Scheme. However, if the supply of information requires us to carry out very significant amounts of work or photocopying, then we have the right to charge a fee (you would be informed of this in advance) or even to refuse to undertake the research involved. We would expect this to happen only in exceptional circumstances.

How do I get access to information not contained within the Publication Scheme?
You must make your request in writing – this could be by email. The request must include your name and address so that we can contact you. You do not need to tell us why you want the information but you must give us enough detail about the information you require to allow us to correctly identify and find it. Should we require a fee, we shall inform you of this as soon as possible after we have received your request, and then, once we have received your payment, we have 20 working days to send you the information you have requested.

Where can I see the Publication Scheme?
Our scheme can be found on our website or can be obtained from:

Information Governance Manager 
Main Building [Daffodil Corridor]
Springfield University Hospital
61 Glenburnie Road
SW17 7DJ

Complaints and appeals
Any complaints about our handling of your request or about our Publication Scheme should in the first instance be addressed to the Information Governance Manager as above.

You are also free to contact the Government department responsible for ensuring organisations comply with the Freedom of Information Act:

The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF

Fax:    01625 524 510 
Tel:      01625 545 700
Email:  mail@ico.gsi.gov.uk