Our patients matter
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust has a legal duty to adopt and maintain a Publication Scheme for the publication of Trust information.
The Publication Scheme is a complete guide to the information routinely published by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. It is a description of the information about our Trust which we make publicly available. We review the Scheme at regular intervals and monitor how it is operating.
It is important to us that this Scheme meets your needs and we have designed it to be a route map so that you can find information about County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust easily. Under Section 19 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Trust has a legal duty to adopt and maintain a Publication Scheme for the publication of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust information. The purpose of the Act is to promote greater openness by public authorities (of which this Trust is one).
The Publication Scheme will help you to find all the information, which the Trust publishes. The Freedom of Information Act does not change the right of patients to protection of their patient confidentiality in accordance with Article 8 of the Human Rights Convention, the Data Protection Act and at common law. Maintaining the legal right to patient confidentiality continues to be an important commitment on our part.
To ensure the protection of patient confidentiality throughout the Trust in accordance with your legal rights, we have appointed a 'Caldicott Guardian'. Our Caldicott Guardian is Jeremy Cundall, Executive Medical Director.
Address: Executive Corridor, Darlington Memorial Hospital, Hollyhurst Road, Darlington, County Durham, DL3 6HX
1. Who we are and what we do
1a. How we fit into the NHS Structure
1b. Organisational structure
1c. Information relating to organisational partnerships
1d. Senior staff and Board members
1e. Location and contact details for all public facing departments
2. What we spend and how we spend it
2a. Financial statements, budgets and variance reports
2b. Financial audit reports
2c. Capital programme
2d. Staff and Board members allowances and expenses
2e. Funding
2f. Procurement and tendering procedures
2g. Details of contracts currently being tendered
2h. List and value of contracts awarded
3. What our priorities are and how we are doing
3a. Annual Report
3b. Annual Business Plan
3c. Targets, aims and objectives
3d. Strategic direction documentation (5 year plan)
3e. Performance against targets (KPI/Performance Framework)
3f. Performance Framework / Performance Management Information
3g. Reports by regulatory organisations - CQC
3h. Audit reports
3i. Service user surveys
4. How we make decisions
4a. Board papers - agenda, supporting papers and minutes
4b. Patient and public engagement strategy
4c. Public consultations (news)
4d. Internal communications guidance and criteria used for decision making
5. Our policies and procedures
5a. Policies and procedures relating to the conduct of business and provision of service
5b. Recruitment and employment
5c. Standing financial instructions and standing orders
5d. Policies and procedures relating to complaints and customer service
5e. Data Protection, Information Governance and Caldicott Guardian
5f. Estate Management, charging regimes and policies
6. Lists and registers
6a. Main contractors and suppliers list
6b. Asset register and information asset register
6c. Register of Interests
6d. Register of Gifts and Hospitality
6e. Disclosure Log
7. The services we offer
7a. Clinical services provided and / or commissioned
7b. Non-clinical services
7c. Services for which the authority is entitled to recover a fee
7d. patient information leaflets, booklets, newsletters
7e. Patient Advice and Liaison Service
7f. Corporate communications and media releases
Monthly reporting of Workforce metrics are available below, these include:
- Staff figures (broken down by staff group, ethnic group, gender, age, disability status)
- sickness figures
The Trust Currently Utilises Master Vendor Arrangements for the following staff groups only:
- Doctors - Master Vendor with ID Medical, contract ends 2nd April 2025
- Nurses - Master Vendor with Medacs Healthcare contract ends 16th October 2024
The Trust source exclusively via these arrangements. Any agencies that the Master Vendor sub contracts to is at the discretion of the master vendor. The Trust does not require and does not keep a record of these sub contracted agencies.
The Trust has an in house staff bank which covers all staff groups.
The Trust is a current and founding member of the North East Region Collaborative Medical Bank. The Collaborative bank is administered by the Lead Employer Trust for Northern Deanery (LET) which is hosted by Northumbria Healthcare. Any information requests relating to the collaborative medical bank should be directed to that Trust.
The Trust does not utilise off framework agencies for any staff groups and has not done so since 2016.
