Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

GPs provide primary medical services under contract. This means that, under Schedule 1 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the contracted person(s) at the practice must respond to requests for information, and must make some information available proactively.

The ICO has stipulated that we must respond to requests for information from anyone, not just patients. For example the FOIA is often used by researchers, journalists and interested parties.

The legal time limit to respond to a request is usually 20 working days.

You must respond to requests, although there are exemptions under FOIA that mean you might not have to provide the information that’s been asked for.

You should also consider whether the requester has a right of access under other legislation, such as the UK GDPR, or the Access to Health Records Act 1990 (AHRA) (or the Access to Health Records (Northern Ireland) Order 1993).

The ICO website has examples of the types of requests you may receive and how best to respond to them: Freedom of information guidance and resources | ICO

This is a considerable amount of help available on the ICO website as well as a business advice team and helpline that you can use.