Data Protection/GDPR

How we use your personal information

The health care professionals who provide you with care maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously (e.g. Hospital, GP Surgery, Walk-in clinic, etc.). These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare.

NHS health records may be electronic, on paper or a mixture of both, and we use a combination of working practices and technology to ensure that your information is kept confidential and secure. Records which this GP Practice hold about you may include the following information;

• Details about you, such as your address, legal representative, emergency contact details
• Any contact the surgery has had with you, such as appointments, clinic visits, emergency appointments, etc.
• Notes and reports about your health
• Details about your treatment and care
• Results of investigations such as laboratory tests, x-rays etc
• Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care for you

Your records will be retained in accordance with the NHS Code of Practice for Records Management

To ensure you receive the best possible care, your records are used to facilitate the care you receive. Information held about you may be used to help protect the health of the public and to help us manage the NHS. Information may be used within the GP practice for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service provided.

Some of this information will be held centrally and used for statistical purposes. Where we do this, we take strict measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.

Sometimes your information may be requested to be used for research purposes – the surgery will always gain your consent before releasing the information for this purpose.

How do we maintain the confidentiality of your records?

We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with:

• Data Protection Act 2018
• Human Rights Act 1998
• Common Law Duty of Confidentiality
• Health and Social Care Act 2012
• NHS Codes of Confidentiality and Information Security

Every member of staff who works for the Practice or another NHS organisation has a legal obligation to keep information about you confidential.

We will only ever use or pass on information about you if others involved in your care have a genuine need for it. We will not disclose your information to any 3^rd party without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances (i.e. life or death situations), where the law requires information to be passed on for example Child/Adult Protection and Serious Criminal Activity.

Who are our partner organisations?

We may also have to share your information, subject to strict agreements on how it will be used, with the following organisations or receive information from the following organisations:-

• NHS Trusts / Foundation Trusts
• GP’s
• NHS Commissioning Support Units
• Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
• Private Sector Providers
• Voluntary Sector Providers
• Ambulance Trusts
• Clinical Commissioning Groups
• Social Care Services
• NHS Digital
• Local Authorities
• Education Services
• Fire and Rescue Services
• Police & Judicial Services
• Other ‘data processors’ which you will be informed of

You will be informed who your data will be shared with and in some cases asked for explicit consent for this happen when this is required.

We may also use external companies to process personal information, such as for archiving purposes.  These companies are bound by contractual agreements to ensure information is kept confidential and secure.

Third Party Processors

In order to deliver the best possible service, the practice will share data (where required) with other NHS bodies such as other GP practices and hospitals. In addition the practice will use carefully selected third party service providers. When we use a third party service provider to process data on our behalf then we will always have an appropriate agreement in place to ensure that they keep the data secure, that they do not use or share information other than in accordance with our instructions and that they are operating appropriately. Examples of functions that may be carried out by third parties includes:

• Companies that provide IT services & support, including our core clinical systems; systems which manage patient facing services (such as our website and service accessible through the same); data hosting service providers; systems which facilitate appointment bookings or electronic prescription services; document management services etc.
• Delivery services (for example if we were to arrange for delivery of any medicines to you).
• Payment providers (if for example you were paying for a prescription or a service such as travel vaccinations).

Further details regarding specific third party processors can be found below.

The safety and availability of your data is our utmost concern and we are confident that this approach will improve data security, integrity and performance.

Access to personal information

You have a right under the Data Protection Act to request access to view or to obtain copies of what information the surgery holds about you and to have it amended should it be inaccurate.  In order to request this, you need to do the following:

• Your request must be made in writing to the GP – for information from the hospital you should write direct to them
• There may be a charge to have a printed copy of the information held about you
• We are required to respond to you within 40 days
• You will need to give adequate information (for example full name, address, date of birth, NHS number and details of your request) so that your identity can be verified and your records located

Objections / Complaints

Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed at the GP, please contact the Practice Manager.  If you are still unhappy following a review by the GP practice, you can then complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) via their website (www.ico.org.uk).

Change of Details 

It is important that you tell the person treating you if any of your details such as your name or address have changed or if any of your details such as date of birth is incorrect in order for this to be amended.  You have a responsibility to inform us of any changes so our records are accurate and up to date for you.

Notification

The Data Protection Act requires organisations to register a notification with the Information Commissioner to describe the purposes for which they process personal and sensitive information.

This information is publicly available on the Information Commissioners Office website www.ico.org.uk

The practice is registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).

Who is the Data Controller?

The Data Controller, responsible for keeping your information secure and confidential is:

Robert Johnson, Practice Manager

Who are our partner software suppliers / businesses?

We use various software and organisations outside of the NHS to facilitate your healthcare. These are as follows: