Information Commissioner's Office

Dr Vasserman and the Neaman Practice

16 August 2016, Health (Doctors)

The complainant has requested information relating to his own medical history, together with the contact details of the bodies that supervise General Practitioners and any information held about operation “Foreigner”. The Practice dealt with the complainant’s right of access to information about his own medical treatment under the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). It also provided the details of a number of bodies responsible for regulating different aspects a GP’s work. It confirmed that it did not hold any information relating to operation “Foreigner”. This information was requested in January 2016 but the practice only provided a substantive response in August. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Practice breached sections 10 and 17(1) of the FOIA which, collectively, require a public authority to confirm whether the requested information is held and, if so, to either provide that information or inform the applicant why the information is exempt from disclosure, within twenty working days. However as the public authority has now responded to the request for the purposes of this decision notice the Commissioner does not require it to take any further action in this matter. This decision notice is currently under appeal to the Tribunal.

FOI 10: Upheld FOI 17: Upheld