FOI-02836

#Request

_‘I be provided with the names, qualifications, and declarations of interest for any medical assessors who have provided opinions on my case to date.’_

#Our response

__Qualifications or Declarations of Interest__

The NHSBSA does not hold information on the medical assessors' qualifications or declarations of interest. This is because their medical qualifications and experience are the responsibility of the third-party medical assessment supplier.

I hope, however, that the following information provides reassurance on this point:

Each case is considered on its own merits by an experienced medical assessor.

The contract with our supplier does not require them to tell us details of the medical assessors’ qualifications or experience.

The contract requires that all assessments carried out are undertaken by suitably qualified and experienced Registered Medical Practitioners. This includes being registered on the UK General Medical Council register, with a licence to practise and meet or exceed the following requirements:

* they are a Registered Medical Practitioner with at least five years’ post graduate experience; and
* they have experience of the performance of medical and/ or disability assessment, addressing questions of causation and impact in the context of legislative or policy requirements to assist the decision maker

__Name(s)__

Regarding the name of the assessor(s), I can confirm that this information is held by the NHSBSA as it is included in the medical report received from the medical assessment supplier. All medical assessors are UK based. The name and location of the medical assessor is redacted before this report is disclosed to the claimant or their representative.

Given this will allow the medical assessor to be identified, this information would not be disclosed under the exemption in section 40 subsections 2 and 3A (a) of the Freedom of Information Act.

The expectation of the medical assessors is that they will remain anonymous and will therefore not be subject to contact or pressure from claimants or campaigning groups. Given the likelihood their name and location will identify the medical assessor, there is a reasonable expectation that this information will not be disclosed under FOI.

Disclosing this information would be unfair and as such, this would breach the UK GDPR first data protection principle.

Disclosure of the name and location is likely to result in considerable distress to the medical assessor. Therefore, this information falls under the exemption in section 40 subsections 2 and 3A (a) of the Freedom of Information Act.

This is because it would breach the first data protection principle as:

a. it is not fair to disclose medical assessors’ personal details to the world and is likely to cause damage or distress
b. these details are not of sufficient interest to the public to warrant an intrusion into the privacy of the medical assessor

The requested information is exempt if disclosure contravenes any of the data protection principles. For disclosure to comply with the lawfulness, fairness, and transparency principle, we either need the consent of the data subject(s) or there must be a legitimate interest in disclosure. In addition, the disclosure must be necessary to meet the legitimate interest and finally, the disclosure must not cause unwarranted harm.

This means that the NHSBSA is therefore required to conduct a balancing exercise between the legitimate interest of the applicant in disclosure against the rights and freedoms of the medical assessor.

While I acknowledge that you have a legitimate interest in disclosure of the information, the disclosure of the requested information would cause unwarranted harm.

Disclosure under FOIA is to the world and therefore the NHSBSA has to consider the overall impact of the disclosure and its duty of care. The expectation of the medical assessors is that they will remain anonymous and will therefore not be subject to contact or pressure from claimants or campaigning groups.

Given the certainty that the name will identify them, there is a reasonable expectation that this information will not be disclosed under the FOIA. Disclosing this information would be unfair and as such would breach the UK General Data Protection Regulation first data protection principle.

Please see the following link to view the section 40 exemption in full:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40

In addition, the medical assessor has not consented to this disclosure.

Tags: VDPS, Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log