Dr Jane Barton

The request was refused by General Medical Council.

Dear General Medical Council,

Request under the FOIA
Under the FOIA please respond relating to Dr Jane Barton’s conditions and general enquiries.

1a. She must notify the GMC promptly of any post she accepts for which registration with the GMC is required and provide the GMC with the contact details of her employer and the PCT on whose Medical Performers List she is included.

1b. Have there been any notifications?

2a. At any time that she is providing medical services, which require her to be registered with the GMC, she must agree to the appointment of a workplace reporter nominated by her employer, or contracting body, and approved by the GMC.
2b Has this taken place at any time since the hearing?

3a.She must allow the GMC to exchange information with her employer or any contracting body for which she provides medical services.
3b Has the GMC exchanged any information with regards to this clause?

4a.She must inform the GMC of any formal disciplinary proceedings taken against her, from the date of this determination.

4b Have their been any formal disciplinary proceedings?

5a. She must inform the GMC if she applies for medical employment outside the UK.

5b Has she applied for employment outside of the UK?

6a. She must not prescribe or administer opiates by injection. If she prescribes opiates for administration by any other route she must maintain a log of all her prescriptions for opiates including clear written justification for her drug treatment. Her prescriptions must comply with the BNF guidelines for such drugs.

6b Has Dr Barton complied? She never complied for 12 years and now she wants to opt out by taking voluntary erasure, she can then practice anywhere in the world with no sanctions of mark against her name. She can even re-register with the GMC and the sanctions that were imposed would be cancelled as that is your protocol.

7a. She must provide a copy of this log to the GMC on a six monthly basis or, alternatively, confirm that there have been no such cases.

7b Has this log been maintained?

8a. She must confine her medical practice to general practice posts in a group practice of at least four members (including herself).
8b Has she done so?

9a. She must obtain the approval of the GMC before accepting any post for which registration with the GMC is required.
9b Has she?

10a. She must attend at least one CPD validated course on the use of prescribing guidelines within three months of the date from which these conditions become effective and forward evidence of her attendance to the GMC within one week of completion.

10b What course/s has she attended and on what date was it completed?

11a. She must not undertake Palliative Care.

11b Has she?

12. She must inform the following parties that her registration is subject to the conditions, listed at (1) to (10), above: 61 a. Any organisation or person employing or contracting with her to undertake medical work
a. Any locum agency or out-of-hours service she is registered with or apply to be registered with (at the time of application)
b. Any prospective employer or contracting body (at the time of application).
c. The PCT in whose Medical Performers List she is included, or seeking inclusion (at the time of application).
d. Her Regional Director of Public Health.

Has she?

I point out to you that I fully understand Dr Barton's retired however, this action does not stop her working, as with previous doctors.

In addition:
1. Who were the case review team involved in reviewing the Panel’s decision in 2010? You stated that it was to be reviewed? Was it? Who by? Please release the minutes as this is in the public interest.
2. Who are the case review team involved in reviewing Dr Jane Barton’s application for voluntary erasure?
3. Release of Dr Barton’s application as to why she now wants to take voluntary erasure along with accompanying documents into the public domain as this data is surely in the public’s interest?
4. Has the GMC had sight of Professor Richard Baker's report commissioned by Sir Liam Donaldson?
5. Has Dr Barton signed any death certificates since year 2000?
6. If the answer is yes, how many?

I look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully,

Ann Reeves

FOI, General Medical Council

Dear Ms Reeves

Information request - F11/3626/LG

Thank you for your e-mail of 27 February 2011 in which you request
information in accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

We will consider your request and you will normally receive the
information you seek within the 20 working day limit set by the FOIA.

The FOIA lists a number of exemptions that may prevent the release of
part, or all, of the information that you have requested. We will make
an assessment of the requested information and if it is subject to an
exemption you will be informed of this, together with details of your
right of appeal.

Your request has been allocated to Louise Gormley. If you have any
queries concerning your request you can contact Ms Gormley on 0161 923
6311 or email [email address].

Yours sincerely

Sarah Leigh
Information Access Team Administrator
0161 923 6398
[email address]

General Medical Council
3 Hardman Street
Manchester
M3 3AW

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Dear FOI,
Please can you respond to my FOI request, you have yet again delayed. By law you should have responded.

Yours sincerely,

Ann Reeves

Louise Gormley \(0161 923 6311\), General Medical Council

Our reference: F11/3626/LG

Dear Ms Reeves

Thank you for your email dated 27 February 2011, in which you request
information regarding Dr Jane Barton.

I write to inform you that we consider the information you have requested
relating to the conditions imposed on Dr Barton to be her personal data
and subject to an exemption from disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA). To explain, section 40(5)(b)(i) of the FOIA
states that the duty to confirm or deny whether information is held does
not arise if the act of confirmation or denial would breach any of the
principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). In this case we believe
that it would.

In respect of your remaining requests, below are responses to each of
them:

1. Who were the case review team involved in reviewing the Panel's
decision in 2010? You stated that it was to be reviewed? Was it? Who by?
Please release the minutes as this is in the public interest.

No review took place by the Case Review Team in 2010. Dr Barton's review
hearing was scheduled for 2013 and has now been cancelled following her
erasure from the register.

2. Who are the case review team involved in reviewing Dr Jane Barton's
application for voluntary erasure?

The Case Review Team are responsible for monitoring a doctor's compliance
with the restrictions on their registration. The Case Review Team were
allocated Dr Barton's case following the conclusion of her Fitness to
Practise Panel hearing in January 2010 in order to monitor her compliance
with the conditions. The Case Review Team did not review Dr Barton's
application for voluntary erasure, they facilitated the process for the
Case Examiners who made the decision.

3. Release of Dr Barton's application as to why she now wants to take
voluntary erasure along with accompanying documents into the public domain
as this data is surely in the public's interest?

As we have previously advised you, we believe Dr Barton's application for
voluntary erasure is exempt from the access provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. The exemption that we believe would apply is:

Section 40(2) by virtue of Section 40(3)(a)(i) - Personal Information -
This relates to information requested which is about a third party, and
the disclosure of which would be in breach of the Principles of the Data
Protection Act 1998 (DPA). In this instance we consider that the
disclosure of this type of information would breach the First Principle,
which requires that the processing of data is fair and lawful. We consider
that the conditions in Schedule 2 of the DPA, relating to the processing
of personal data, are not met and that, therefore, the release of this
information would be unlawful.

4. Has the GMC had sight of Professor Richard Baker's report commissioned
by Sir Liam Donaldson?

Yes, the GMC has had sight of Professor Baker's report.

5. Has Dr Barton signed any death certificates since year 2000? 6. If the
answer is yes, how many?

As per section 1(1)(a) of FOIA we do not hold the information you have
requested.

Should you have any further queries relating to this matter please do not
hesitate to contact me.

You have the right to appeal against the refusal aspects of the above
decision. If you wish to appeal please set out in writing your grounds of
appeal and send to Julian Graves, Information Access Manager, at the
address below, or email: [1][email address]

You also have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner, the
regulator of the FOIA, whose contact details you already hold.

Kind regards

Louise Gormley

Information Access Officer
Registration Directorate

Direct Line: 0161 923 6311
Email: [email address]
Website: www.gmc-uk.org
Address: Information Access Team
General Medical Council
3 Hardman Street

Manchester

M3 3AW

Unless otherwise expressly agreed by the sender of this email, this
communication may contain privileged or confidential information which is
exempt from disclosure under UK law. This email and its attachments may
not be used or disclosed except for the purpose for which it has been
sent.

If you are not the addressee or have received this email in error, please
do not read, print, re-transmit, store or act in reliance on it or any
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General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street, Manchester, M3 3AW

Regents Place, 350 Euston Road, London, NW1 3JN

The Tun, 4 Jacksons Entry, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, EH8 8AE

Regus House, Falcon Drive, Cardiff Bay, CF10 4RU

9th Floor, Bedford House, 16-22 Bedford Street, Belfast, BT2 7FD

The GMC is a charity registered in England and Wales (1089278) and
Scotland (SC037750)

References

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Dear Louise Gormley (0161 923 6311),

S. 35 of the Data Protection Act states that the confidentiality
clause 'can be ignored' under the following circumstances:

"35 Disclosures required by law or made in connection with legal
proceedings etc.
(1)Personal data are exempt from the non-disclosure provisions where
the disclosure is required by or under any enactment, by any rule of
law or by the order of a court..
(2)Personal data are exempt from the non-disclosure provisions where
the disclosure is necessary—.
(a)for the purpose of, or in connection with, any legal proceedings
(including prospective legal proceedings), or.
(b)for the purpose of obtaining legal advice,.
or is otherwise necessary for the purposes of establishing, exercising
or defending legal rights.

As this data is needed in order to make a balanced assessment of legal proceedings would you be so kind as review your decision?

Yours sincerely,

Ann Reeves

Julian Graves (0161 923 6351), General Medical Council

Dear Mrs Reeves

Thank you for your email below. This will receive my attention in line
with our comments and complaints procedure for information requests.
This sets a target response time of 20 working days. I will endeavour to
respond to you within this timeframe.

If you have any further queries in the meantime, please do not hesitate
to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Julian Graves

Julian Graves
Information Access Manager
General Medical Council
3 Hardman Street
Manchester
M3 3AW

Tel. no: 0161 923 6351
Email: [email address]

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Julian Graves (0161 923 6351), General Medical Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mrs Reeves

Please find attached our response to your appeal.

Yours sincerely

Julian Graves

Julian Graves
Information Access Manager
General Medical Council
3 Hardman Street
Manchester
M3 3AW

Tel. no: 0161 923 6351
Email: [email address]

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