The Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides a right of access to a wide range of information held by public authorities, including the NHS.

Personal Information

If you want to request personal information, this is not a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

There is a different way to make this request if you want information that an organisation holds about you. This includes things like your medical records.  This is called a Subject Access request.

Our duty to you

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 requires us to:

• provide information to you which is held by Primary Care Sheffield
• provide a guide to this information
• respond appropriately to requests for information.

Before you request information from us

Please check whether the information you seek is already available. We publish information on this website, and you may find the answer to your question is already here.

If you request information from Primary Care Sheffield that is already published, we will refer you to the published source.

Who can request information?

Anyone, anywhere in the world, can make a FOI request to Primary Care Sheffield.

What can I request?

You can seek any recorded information that you think PCS England may hold.

How do I request information?

FOI requests must be in writing and can be either posted or emailed to Primary Care Sheffield.

For postal requests, please send to the following address:

Primary Care Sheffield

28 Kenwood Park Road

Sheffield

 S7 1NF

For Emails contact: pcs.enquiries@nhs.net

What information must I include in my request?

The FOI Act requires certain information to be supplied before we can respond to your request:

• Your real name – we do not have to respond to requests submitted under a pseudonym.
• Your address (this could be your email addresses)
• A description of the information you wish to obtain.
• Any preferences for the format in which you wish to receive the information for example electronic or hard copy. We will endeavour to meet your preferences but cannot guarantee that we will be able to.

What you do not need to do

You do not need to:

• explicitly mention the FOI Act, although it may be helpful
• know whether the information is covered by the FOI Act
• say why you want the information
• specify particular documents; you have a right to information; however, it is recorded.

What happens when my request is received?

We have a legal obligation to reply to your FOI within 20 working days of receipt. We will do one of the following:

• Supply you with the information you requested.
• Inform you that we don’t hold the information and, if we are able, advise you who does.
• Inform you that we hold the information requested but refuse to provide all or part of it and explain why, citing one or more of the exemptions from the FOI Act where relevant.
• Inform you that we need to extend the 20-working day deadline either to allow us to consider the Public Interest Test for FOI requests.

What can I do if I am unhappy with the response I receive or the way my request was handled?

You can ask us for an internal review of your FOI request. When you write to us requesting an internal review, we will acknowledge your request and tell you how long the review will take. We aim to complete internal reviews within 20 working days, although cases that are complex may take longer. Where internal reviews go over 20 working days, we will keep you informed of progress.

If, after an internal review, you are still not satisfied you can then complain to the Information Commissioner. For details of how to do this visit the ICO website.