Requesting information from a public body: freedom of information guidance for patients and service users

You have a right to request recorded information held by public authorities.

Some examples of the types of information you can request in health and care include:

• printed information - for example, paper copies of policies, letters or minutes of meetings
• electronic documents - for example, spreadsheets that record staffing information such as numbers of nurses employed by a hospital or an email about setting up a new clinic
• sound or video recordings - for example, a recording of a staff meeting at a local hospital
• photographs - for example, of a hospital before it was renovated

In health and care, you can request information from organisations that are publicly funded, including but not limited to:

• NHS England
• NHS trusts and foundation trusts
• integrated care boards (ICBs)

local authorities and providers of community health services, for example:

• child health services
• community paediatric clinics
• intermediate care services
• school health services
• sexual health services
• community end of life and palliative care services
• mental health services

Providers of NHS services including but not limited to:

• GPs
• hospitals
• dentists
• pharmacies
• opticians

Professionals or other organisations providing services on behalf of the NHS, for example include but are not limited to:

• dieticians
• occupational therapists
• osteopaths
• physiotherapists
• podiatrists
• prosthetists and orthotists
• radiographers
• speech and language therapists

Some of the organisations and professions in this list, such as dentists and opticians, may provide NHS services as well as private services. For example, a dental practice may have both NHS patients and private patients, or an optician may offer NHS funded eye tests as well as private eye tests. Where this is the case, the provider would only have to release information about their NHS work, and not about their private work, under an FOI request.

Professionals or hospitals, dentists, pharmacies and opticians which only provide private services would not have to provide any information under an FOI request.

Before submitting an FOI request, it is worth checking whether the information you are looking for is already available on the organisation’s website. Many public authorities publish lots of information online, which may be quicker to find than making a request.

You can also check for previous FOI responses on the website What do they know?

FOI requests must be made in writing. Guidance on how to write an effective FOI request can be found on the Information Commissioner’s (ICO) website.

Requests may be submitted in different ways, for example by:

• letter
• email
• fax
• text message
• online form
• social media

Large organisations may express a preferred method of receiving FOI requests, for example by online form, but you do not have to use that method. Organisations may not restrict or limit the ways requests may be submitted.

FOI requests are free to make, although the organisation may charge a fee to cover the cost of photocopying or postage. Where this applies, the organisation must let you know about the fee before completing the request.

Where the cost of an FOI request would exceed £450, organisations may refuse the request. If this is the case, they should provide you with information about how to simplify your request so that it does not meet this limit.

The FOI team in the organisation you submit your request to will not tell other parts of the organisation who you are when dealing with your request. The only exceptions to this are requests the organisation considers to be deliberate attempts to disrupt its work or waste its time. For example, when someone sends many similar requests to the organisation within a short space of time.

In most cases, organisations must respond to the request, either providing the requested information or telling you why they will not provide it, within 20 working days of receipt. However, in some circumstances, organisations may extend the response time. If they are going to do that, they will inform you first. The response time may also be paused if the organisation needs to contact you to clarify the request, or to request payment of a fee.

Organisations should provide the requested information unless there is a reason not to. If they are not going to provide the information, they will let you know why.

Examples of reasons why a health and care organisation will not provide information include:

• they do not hold the information
• the information has already been published
• the information is about to be published in the near future
• the information could cause serious physical or mental harm to a person
• the information is legal advice
• the information would pose a security risk if shared

Further guidance about withheld information and what to expect after making a request is available on the ICO website.

In some cases, the organisation may respond by not confirming or denying if they hold the information requested. This is to protect information that should not be shared.

If you are not happy with the response to your FOI request, you can submit a complaint to the organisation. Organisations are required to conduct internal reviews and respond to all complaints.

Each organisation should provide information on their website about how to complain. If you are still unhappy with the response to your complaint, you can contact the ICO.

A SAR is a way for you to request copies of your own personal information (information that is about you) while an FOI is a way to request other information held by a public authority, usually relating to its operations.

You can read more in our SARS guidance.