Publication Scheme

What is the Publication Scheme?

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust has a legal duty to adopt and maintain a Publication Scheme for the publication of Trust information.

The Publication Scheme is a complete guide to the information routinely published by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. It is a description of the information about our Trust which we make publicly available. We shall review the Scheme at regular intervals and monitor how it is operating.

It is important to us that this Scheme meets your needs and we have designed it to be a route map so that you can find information about County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust easily. Under Section 19 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Trust has a legal duty to adopt and maintain a Publication Scheme for the publication of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust information. The purpose of the Act is to promote greater openness by public authorities (of which this Trust is one).

The Publication Scheme will help you to find all the information, which the Trust publishes. The Freedom of Information Act does not change the right of patients to protection of their patient confidentiality in accordance with Article 8 of the Human Rights Convention, the Data Protection Act and at common law. Maintaining the legal right to patient confidentiality continues to be an important commitment on our part.

Caldicott Guardian

To help with this, we have appointed someone who is called a Caldicott Guardian, and who has responsibility to ensure the protection of patient confidentiality throughout the Trust in accordance with your legal rights. In County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, our Caldicott Guardian is:

Executive Medical Director

Jeremy Cundall

Executive Corridor

Darlington Memorial Hospital

Hollyhurst Road

Darlington

County Durham

DL3 6HX

Publication Scheme

1. Who we are and what we do

1a. How we fit into the NHS Structure

1b. Organisational structure

1c. Information relating to organisational partnerships

1d. Senior staff and Board members

1e. Location and contact details for all public facing departments

2. What we spend and how we spend it

2a. Financial statements, budgets and variance reports

2b. Financial audit reports

2c. Capital programme

2d. Staff and Board members allowances and expenses

2e. Funding

2f. Procurement and tendering procedures

2g. Details of contracts currently being tendered

2h. List and value of contracts awarded

3. What our priorities are and how we are doing

3a. Annual Report

3b. Annual Business Plan

3c. Targets, aims and objectives

3d. Strategic direction documentation (5 year plan)

3e. Performance against targets (KPI/Performance Framework)

3f. Performance Framework / Performance Management Information

3g. Reports by regulatory organisations - CQC

3h. Audit reports

3i. Service user surveys

4. How we make decisions

4a. Board papers - agenda, supporting papers and minutes

4b. Patient and public engagement strategy

4c. Public consultations (news)

4d. Internal communications guidance and criteria used for decision making

5. Our policies and procedures

5a. Policies and procedures relating to the conduct of business and provision of service

5b. Recruitment and employment

5c. Standing financial instructions and standing orders

5d. Policies and procedures relating to complaints and customer service

5e. Data Protection, Information Governance and Caldicott Guardian

5f. Estate Management, charging regimes and policies

6. Lists and registers

6a. Main contractors and suppliers list

6b. Asset register and information asset register

6c. Register of Interests

6d. Register of Gifts and Hospitality

6e. Dislosure Log

7. The services we offer

7a. Clinical services provided and / or commissioned

7b. Non-clinical services

7c. Services for which the authority is entitled to recover a fee

7d. patient information leaflets, booklets, newsletters

7e. Patient Advice and Liaison Service

7f. Corporate communications and media releases