Section 1: Introduction to NHS Fife’s guide to information
Section 2: About NHS Fife
Section 3: Accessing information under the guide
Section 4: Information that we may withhold
Section 5: Our Charging Policy
Section 6: Our Copyright Policy
Section 7: Records Management Policy
Section 8: Contact details for enquiries, feedback and complaints
Section 9: How to access information which is not available in the guide to information
Section 10: Classes of information

Section 1: Introduction

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (The Act) requires Scottish public authorities to adopt and maintain a publication scheme which has the approval of the Scottish Information Commissioner, and publish information in accordance with that scheme.
The publication scheme must:

• Publish the classes of information that the authority makes routinely available; and
• Tell the public how to access the information and whether information is available free of charge or on payment

NHS Fife has adopted the Model Publication Scheme (MPS) which has been produced and approved by the Scottish Information Commissioner.

You can see this scheme on our website at nhsfife.org/about-us/freedom-of-information/

It is also available on the Scottish Information Commissioner’s website at: itspublicknowledge.info/MPS

You can also contact us at the address below if you prefer us to provide a different format of the Model Publication Scheme or this Guide to Information.

The purpose of the guide to information is to:

• Allow the public to see what information is available (and what is not available) for NHS Fife in relation to each class in the MPS
• State what charges may be applied;
• Explain how to find the information easily;
• Provide contact details for enquiries and to get help with access to the information; and
• Explain how to request information that has not been published

Alongside the Act, the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (the EIRs) provide a separate right of access to the environmental information that we hold. This guide to information also contains details of the environmental information that we routinely make available.

Section 2: About NHS Fife

NHS Scotland is made up of fourteen territorial / regional Boards, eight special NHS Boards and one public health body.

Each NHS Board is accountable to the Scottish Ministers. Regional NHS Boards are responsible for the protection and the improvement of their population’s health and for the delivery of frontline healthcare services. Special NHS Boards support the regional NHS Boards by providing a range of important specialist and national services.

Introducing NHS Fife

Our Vision: The people of Fife live long and healthy lives

Our Mission: Transforming Health and Care in Fife to be the best

Our Values:

• Care and compassion
• Dignity and respect
• Openness, honesty and responsibility
• Quality and teamwork

NHS Fife is responsible for providing a comprehensive range of high quality health services in both hospital and community facilities. We also have a duty to protect public health throughout Fife.

Health Boards also work with independent contractors – NHS doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and opticians – who are contracted by the Board to provide primary health care services to the local population. These people are known as primary care contractors or, in the case of family doctors, General Practitioners (GPs). Primary care contractors are subject to FOISA in relation to their NHS work but are not covered by this Scheme as they have their own practice-based schemes.

To find out more about NHS Fife, visit: nhsfife.org/about-us/

Section 3: Accessing information under the scheme

Available and formats

The information published through this guide to information is, wherever possible, available on our website, nhsfife.org. We offer alternative arrangements for people who not want to, or cannot, access the information online or by inspection at our premises. For example, we can usually arrange to send information to you in paper copy (although there may be a charge for this – see ‘Section 5: Our Charging Policy’).

Information in our guide to information will normally be available through the routes described below. ‘Section 10: Classes of information provides more details on the information available under the guide, along with additional guidance on how to access the information falling within each ‘class’.

Online

Most information listed in our guide to information is available to download from our website nhsfife.org. In many cases a link within ‘Section 10: Classes of information’ will direct you to the relevant page or document. If you having trouble finding any document listed in our guide, then for further assistance please contact:

Freedom of Information Officer
Digital and Information
Lynebank Hospital
Halbeath Road
Dunfermline
KY11 4UW

Telephone: 01383 565150
Email: fife.foirequestfife@nhs.scot
Website: nhsfife.org

By email

If the information you seek is listed in our guide to information but is not published on our website, we can sent it to you by email, wherever possible.

By telephone

When requesting information from us, please provide a telephone number so that we can telephone you to clarify details, if necessary.

Hard copy

All information in the guide will be available in hard copy form – for example, paper copies. Hard copies of information can be requested from us over the telephone. Please call us to request information available under this scheme.

By post

You can also request hard copies of any information in the guide by post. Please address your request to:

Freedom of Information Officer
Digital and Information
Lynebank Hospital
Halbeath Road
Dunfermline
KY11 4UW

When writing to us to request information, please include your name and address, full details of the information or documents you would like to receive, and any fee applicable (see ‘Section5: Our Charging Policy’ for further information on fees). Please also include a telephone number so we can telephone you to clarify any details, if necessary.

Personal visits

If you prefer to visit us to inspect the information, in limited cases you may be required to make an appointment to view the information. In such cases, this will be set out within ‘Section 10: Classes of Information’, and contact details will be provided within the relevant class. Personal visits to inspect information may be subject to applicable Government and NHS COVID-19 guidance and restrictions.

Advice and assistance

If you have any difficulty identifying the information you want to access, then please contact us to help you.

Exempt information

We will publish all the information we hold that falls within the classes of information in the Model Publication Scheme. We publish this information in Section 10 of this guide. If a document contains information that is exempt under Scotland’s Freedom of Information laws (for example, personal information or commercial interests), we will remove or redact (black out) the information before publication and explain why.

Section 4: Information we may withhold

All information covered by our guide to information can either be accessed through our website, or will be provided promptly following receipt of your request.

Our aim in adopting the Commissioner’s Model Publication Scheme and in maintaining this guide to information is to be as open as possible. You should note, however, that there may be limited circumstances where information will be withheld from one of the classes of information listed in ‘Section 10: Classes of information’. Information will only be withheld, however, where the Act (or, in the case of environmental information, the EIRs) expressly permits it.

Information may be withheld where – for example, its disclosure would breach the law of confidentiality, harm an organisation’s commercial interests, or endanger the protection of the environment.

Information may also be withheld if it is another person’s personal information, and its release would breach Data Protection legislation.

Whenever information is withheld we will inform you of this, and will set out why that information cannot be released. Even where information is withheld it will, in many cases, be possible to provide copies with the withheld information edited out. If you wish to complain about any information which has been withheld from you, please refer to ‘Section 8: Contact details for enquiries, feedback and complaints’.

Section 5: Our Charging Policy

This section explains when we may make a charge for our publications and how any charge will be calculated.
There is no charge to view information on our website, at our premises or where it can be sent to you electronically by email. We may charge you for providing information to you – for example, photocopying and postage – but we will only charge you what it actually costs us.

We will always tell you what the charge is and how it has been calculated before providing the information to you. We will not provide you with the information until payment has been received.

Photocopying charges:

Information provided on CD-ROM will be charged at £1 per computer disc.

Postage costs may be recharged at the rate we paid to send the information to you. Out charge is for sending information by First Class post.

When providing copies of pre-printed publications, we will charge you no more than the cost per copy of the total print run.

We do not pass on any other costs to you in relation to your published information.

Details of any individual charges which differ from the above charging policy are provided in ‘Section 10: Classes of information’.

Section 6: Copyright

NHS Fife holds the copyright for the vast majority of information in this Publication Scheme. All of the information can be copied or reproduced without our formal permission, provided it is copied or reproduced accurately, is not used in a misleading context, is not used for profit and provided that the source of the material is identified.

Providing access to information does not mean that copyright has been waived, nor does it give the recipient the right to re-use information for commercial purposes. If you intend to re-use information obtained from the Scheme, and you are unsure whether you have the right to do so, please contact the Freedom of Information Officer to request to re-use the information (contact details on page 4). Your request will be considered under the Re-use of Public Sector Regulations 2005 which may provide the right to impose a charge. In the event that a charge is payable you will be advised what this is and how it is calculated. If you require more information on the reuse of information go to oqps.gov.uk or contact the Freedom of Information Officer (contact details can be found below).

The Publication Scheme may contain information where the copyright holder is not NHS Fife. In most cases, the copyright holder will be obvious from the documents. In cases where the copyright is unclear it is the responsibility of the person accessing the information to locate and seek the permission of the copyright holder before reproducing the material or in any other way breaching the rights of the copyright holder. This includes Ordnance Survey Maps – for example, which are Crown Copyright.

Section 7: Records Management Policy

NHS Fife regards its records as a major asset of the organisation. It confirms that its records are one of the essential resources which support management in the efficient and effective fulfilment of its governance, business and legal responsibilities. NHS Fife’s Records Management Policy can be found in ‘Section 10: Classes of Information – Class 5’.

Section 8: Contact details for enquiries, feedback and complaints

The Act requires that we review our publication scheme from time to time. As we have adopted the Model Publication Scheme this means we will review our guide to information from time to time. As a result, we welcome feedback on how we can develop our guide further. If you would like to comment on any aspect of this guide to information, then please contact us.

For example you may which to tell us:

• Other information that you would like to see include in the guide;
• Whether you found the guide easy to use;
• Whether you found the guide to information useful;
• Whether our staff were helpful; and
• Other ways in which our guide to information can be improved.

Our aim is to make our guide to information as user-friendly as possible, and we hope that you can access all the information we publish with ease. If you do wish to complain about any aspect of the guide then please contact us and we will try and resolve your complaint as quickly as possible.

We will acknowledge any complaint within three working days of receipt and we will respond in full within twenty working days.

You have legal rights to access information under the Model Publication Scheme (as described in this guide to information) and a right of appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner if you are dissatisfied with our response.

These rights apply only to information requests made in writing or another recordable format. If you are unhappy with our responses to your request you can ask us to review it and if you are still unhappy, you can make an appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner.

The Commissioner’s website has a guide to this three-step process. The Commissioner operates an enquiry service on Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 17:00 and can be contacted at:

Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS

Telephone: 01334 464610
Email: enquiries@itspublicknowledge.info
Website: itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights

All enquiries, feedback and complaints relating to this guide to information, or any other aspect of Freedom of Information, Data Protection and the EIRs should be directed to:

Freedom of Information Officer
Digital and Information
Lynebank Hospital
Halbeath Road
Dunfermline
KY11 4UW

Telephone: 01383 565150
Email: fife.foirequestfife@nhs.scot

Section 9: How to access information which is not available in the guide to information

If the information you are seeking is not available through the Model Publication Scheme (as described in this Guide) then you may wish to request it from us. The Act provides you with a right of access to the information we hold, subject to certain exemptions. The EIRs separately provide a right of access to the environmental information we hold, while the Data Protection legislation provides a right of access to any personal information about you that we hold. Again, these rights are subject to certain exemptions or exceptions. Should you wish to request a copy of any information that we hold that is not available under the Model Publication Scheme (and described in this guide), please write to:

Freedom of Information Officer
Digital and Information
Lynebank Hospital
Halbeath Road
Dunfermline
KY11 4UW

Telephone: 01383 565150
Email: fife.foirequestfife@nhs.scot

Charges for information which is not available under the scheme:

The charges for information which is available under NHS Fife guide to information are set out under ‘Section5: Our Charging Policy’.

If you submit a request to us for information which is not available in this guide the charges will be based on the following calculations:

General information requests:

• There will be no charge for information requests which cost us £100 or less to process
• Where information costs between £100 and £600 you may be asked to pay 10 percent of the cost. That is, if you were to ask for information cost us £600 to provide, you would be asked to pay £50 calculated on the basis of a waiver for the first £100 and 10 % of the remaining £500.
• We are not obliged to respond to requests which will cost us more than £600 to process.
• In calculating any fee, staff time will be calculated at actual cost per staff member’s hourly salary rate to a maximum of £15 per person per hour.
• We do not charge for the time to determine whether we hold the information requested, nor for the time it takes to decide whether the information can be released. Charges may be made for locating, retrieving and providing information to you.
• In the event that we decide to impose a charge we will issue you with notification of the charge (a fees notice) and how it has been calculated. You will have three months from the date of issue of the fees notice in which to decide whether to pay the charge. The information will be provided to you on payment of the charge. If you decide not to proceed with the request there will be no charge to you.

Charges for environmental information

Environmental information is provided under the EIRs rather than the Act. The rules for charging for environmental information are slightly different.

We do not charge for the time to determine whether we hold the environmental information requested, or deciding whether the information can be released.

Charges may be made for locating, retrieving and providing information to you – for example, photocopying and postage. In the event that we decide to impose a charge we will issue you with notification of the charge and how it has been calculated. The information will be provided to you on payment of the charge. If you decide to proceed with the request there will be no charge to you.

Charges are calculated on the basis of the actual cost to NHS Fife of providing the information.

• Photocopying is charged at 10p per A4 sheet for black and white copying, 20p per A4 sheet for colour copying.
• Postage is charged at actual rate for First Class post.
• Staff time is calculated at actual cost per staff member hourly salary rate to a maximum of £15 per person per hour. The first £100 worth of information will be provided to you without charge.

Where information costs between £100 and £600 to provide, you will be asked to pay 10% of the cost. That is, if you were to ask for information that cost us £600 to provide, you would be asked to pay £50, calculated on the basis of a waiver for the first £100 and 10% of the remaining £500.

Where it would cost more than £600 to provide the information to you, however, we will ask you to pay the full cost of providing the information, with no waiver for any portion of the cost.

Charge for request for your own personal data

A copy of your personal data should be provided free. An organisation may charge for additional copies. An organisation can only charge a fee if it thinks the request is ‘manifestly unfounded or excessive’. If so, it may ask for a reasonable fee for administrative costs associated with the request.

NHS Inform has a number of publications that give details of your rights in relation to NHS Healthcare.

Section 10: Classes of information

Class 1: About NHS Fife

Class Description:

Information about NHS Fife, who we are, where to find us, how to contact us, how we are managed and our external relations.

Class 2: How we deliver our functions and services

Class description:

Information about our work, our strategy and policies for delivering functions and services and information for our services users.

Class 3: How we take decisions and what we have decided

Class description:

Information about the decisions we take how we make decisions and how we involve others

Class 4: What we spend and how we spend it

Class description:

Information about our strategy for, and management of, financial resources (in sufficient detail to explain how we plan to spend public money and what has actually been spent)

Class 5: How manage our human, physical and information resources

Class Description:

Information about how we manage the human, physical and information resources of the authority.

Class 6: How we procure goods and services from external providers

Class description:

Information about how we procure goods and services, and our contracts with external provides.

Class 7: How we are performing

Class description:

Information about how we perform as an organisation, and how well we deliver our functions and services.

Class 8: Commercial publications

Class description:

Information packaged and made available for sale on a commercial basis and sold at market value through a retail outlet e/g bookshop, museum or research journal

Class 9: Open Data

Class description:

Open data made available by the authority as described by the Scottish Government’s Open Data Resource Pack19 and available under an open license.