Are practices required to forward information to NHS Boards in order to fulfil requests made to NHS Boards under the Freedom of Information Act?
On receiving a request for information any public authority must first ask whether or not it holds that information. If the authority has reason to believe that it does not hold the information, but that it is held by another public authority (eg the practice) then it is not obliged to obtain the information from the practice for the applicant. The NHS Board should forward contact details to the applicant for the relevant authority. In some cases the authority may consider it appropriate to transfer the request to the relevant public authority. For further information please refer to Paragraph 30, Part II of the Code of Practice on discharge of functions(see question 24).If this is the case, then the receiving authority has another 20 working days from receipt to respond to the request.
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