As the Information Commissioner’s office suggest
“The Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides public access to information held by public authorities.
It does this in two ways:

• public authorities are obliged to publish certain information about their activities (publication scheme) and
• members of the public are entitled to request information from public authorities.

The Act does not give people access to their own personal data (information about themselves) such as their health records. If a member of the public wants to see information that a public authority holds about them, they should make a data protection subject access request. “What is the Freedom of Information Act? | ICO

We explain about a subject access request (SAR) as a separate policy.

Publication scheme

The publication scheme commits an authority to proactively publish or otherwise make available as a matter of routine, information which is held by the authority and falls within the classifications below.

• Who we are and what we do
• What we spend and how we spend it
• What our priorities are and how we are doing
• How we make decisions
• Our policies and procedures
• Lists and Registers
• The services we offer

You can request our publication scheme leaflet at the surgery. We have brought together some of the information from our publication scheme which is on this website see under “regulation, oversight and support” in the “about us” section.

Request information from a public body including our surgery

The Information Commissioner’s Office have a detailed and well set out description how to make a freedom of information request from any public body, including our surgery.

From the Information Commissioner’s Office
How to access information from a public body How to access information from a public body | ICO
This includes

• What should I do before I make a request?
• What are the legal requirements for a request?
• Can a public authority charge for a request?
• Information request dos and don’ts
• What happens after I make my request? (Includes timescales)
• How to complain if a public authority refuses your request or you are dissatisfied with the way it has been dealt with.