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189 Administration NMH Annual Rep t | 2020 T he Patient Services Department is a source of information and channels patient queries in relation to Hospital services to the relevant areas. Service Users needs are constantly changing and we are determined to meet these challenges. The Patient Services function aims to support the hospital's care systems by providing professional and effective support to both clinical and non-clinical areas within the hospital. In 2020 the department continued to provide administrative services across the hospital in the following frontline areas: Admissions, Antenatal Education, Baby Clinic, Bereavement, Birth Notification, Central Booking, Central Dictation, Chart Retrieval, Colposcopy, Community Midwives, Diabetics & Dietetics, Early Transfer Home, Fetal Medicine Unit, Gynaecology Clinic, Medical Records, Neonatal Unit, Outpatients Clinics, Physiotherapy, Radiology, Satellite Clinics, Social Work Department, Wards. In April 2020, the Hospital introduced some virtual clinics for our patients in line with social distancing restrictions during the pandemic. This saw many changes for the Patient Services Department and patient care. The new clinics have been a great success and we are looking at expanding them further in 2021 in line with our service user needs. Freedom of Information and Access Requests In 2020 there were over 1,400 written requests: 214 were received under the Freedom of Information Act as well as 1,131 Routine Access and 84 Subject Access Data Protection requests. 85% of the Administrative Access requests were for copies of medical records. I would like to thank the staff for their dedication and hard work during a difficult 2020. I would also like to thank the Executive Management Team for their continued support and we look forward to another challenging and rewarding year ahead. Patient Services