Selected Medical Practitioner Costs

The request was partially successful.

Dear Northumbria Police,

You employ a Selected Medical Practitioner (SMP) to deal with matters under the Police Pension Regulations and the Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations.

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act I would like to know the following cost for a SMP for the following;

1. The initial ill health retirement appointment
2. Writing an appeal report.
3. Responding to an appellant’s submissions to a Police Medical Appeal Board.
4. Attending a Police Medical Appeals Board.
5. The initial injury award appointment.
6. An injury award review appointment.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Mark Botham

Freedom of Information Mailbox,

Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)
 
Thank you for your email received today in which you make a request for
information that Northumbria Police may hold in accordance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.
 
We are in the process of dealing with your request and a response should
be provided to you by 25 May 2022 which is in accordance with the
legislation.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Information Management Unit
[1]www.northumbria.police.uk | [2]www.northumbria-pcc.gov.uk

'Our vision is to deliver an outstanding police service; working with
communities to prevent crime and disorder and protect the most vulnerable
people from harm.'
 
 

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information Mailbox,

1 Attachment

Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) Request 646/22 - SMP Costs

Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')

 

Thank you for your email received on the 26 April 2022 in which you made a
request for access to certain information which may be held by Northumbria
Police.

 

As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of
access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority
(including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

 

You asked:

 

You employ a Selected Medical Practitioner (SMP) to deal with matters
under the Police Pension Regulations and the Police (Injury Benefit)
Regulations.

 

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act I would like to know the
following cost for a SMP for the following;

 

1.     The initial ill health retirement appointment

 

2.     Writing an appeal report.

 

3.     Responding to an appellant’s submissions to a Police Medical Appeal
Board.

 

4.     Attending a Police Medical Appeals Board.

 

5.     The initial injury award appointment.

 

6.     An injury award review appointment.

 

We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I
provide a response for your attention.

 

Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Legal
Department of Northumbria Police.  I can confirm that the information you
have requested is not held by Northumbria Police.

 

The doctors do not break their costs down into individual categories as
set out in the above request.  They charge an hourly rate because the
medical and legal complexity of the case being assessed will dictate how
long it takes to conduct consultations, doing research, analysing medical
records, writing reports etc.

                                                                                            

However, outside of the act we can advise that the doctors utilise a
variety of charging methods i.e. a fixed fee of £750 for permanent
disablement assessments, a general hourly rate that varies between £150 to
£250 per hour and a daily rate for attending Police Medical Appeal Board’s
(PMAB’s) between £1200 and £1500.

 

If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you
to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as
to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent
the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.

 

Due to the different methods of recording information across 43 forces, a
specific response from one constabulary should not be seen as an
indication of what information could be supplied (within cost) by another.
Systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the
procedures used locally in capturing the data. For this reason responses
between forces may differ, and should not be used for comparative
purposes.

 

The information we have supplied to you is likely to contain intellectual
property rights of Northumbria Police. Your use of the information must be
strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as
amended) or such other applicable legislation. In particular, you must not
re-use this information for any commercial purpose.

 

You may be interested to know that Northumbria Police routinely publish
information via the Disclosure Log. The aim of the Disclosure Log is to
promote openness and transparency by voluntarily placing information into
the public arena.

 

The Disclosure Log contains copies of some of the information that has
been disclosed by Northumbria Police in response to requests made under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

Whilst it is not possible to publish all responses we will endeavour to
publish those where we feel that the information disclosed is in the wider
public interest.

 

The Disclosure Log will be updated once responses have been sent to the
requester.

 

I have provided the relevant link below.

 

[1]https://beta.northumbria.police.uk/about...

 

How to complain

 

If you are unhappy with our decision or do not consider that we have
handled your request properly and we are unable to resolve this issue
informally, you are entitled to make a formal complaint to us under our
complaints procedure, attached.

 

If you are still unhappy after we have investigated your complaint and
reported to you the outcome, you may complain directly to the Information
Commissioner’s Office and request that they investigate to ascertain
whether we have dealt with your request in accordance with the Act.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Data Protection and Disclosure Adviser

Information Management Unit

 

[NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED]

 

'Our vision is to deliver an outstanding police service; working with
communities to prevent crime and disorder and protect the most vulnerable
people from harm.'

 

References

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1. https://beta.northumbria.police.uk/about...