Request

I am aware the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme conducted by NHS Business Services Authority utilises assessment by General Medical Council Practitioners. For the purpose of assessment and transparency to determine there is no conflict of interest in the decision.

Please provide the details of the doctor responsible for the medical assessment as per regulations for individuals practising medicine with the General Medical Council.

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 20 September 2024.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000, rather than as a Subject Access Request, since your request is for information about an assessor rather than about yourself.

Our response

Names and GMC number

I can confirm that we do hold information on the names/GMC numbers for independent medical assessors. Please note that this response does not relate to a specific claim or claimant. The request is being answered more generally given requests under FOIA are requester-blind, that is to say the identity of the requester is not taken into account when considering a request for information under FOIA.

We consider the name and General Medical Council (GMC) number to be personal data under the Data Protection Act 2018. Disclosure of medical assessors’ names or GMC numbers would result in the identification of the medical assessors when entered into the GMC public register.

Please be aware that I have decided not to release the names and GMC numbers of the medical assessors as this information falls under the exemption in section 40 subsections 2 and 3(A)(a) of the FOIA.

As the requested information would allow a medical assessor to be identified, I consider this information is exempt. 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 would contravene 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 and/or GMC number will identify the medical assessor there is a reasonable expectation that this information will not be disclosed under the FOIA. Disclosing this information would be unfair and as such this 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