You can be assured that anything you discuss with any member of the surgery staff, whether doctor, nurse or receptionist, will remain confidential. Even if you are under 16, nothing will be said to anyone, including parents, other family members, care workers or teachers, without your permission. The only reason why we might want to consider passing on confidential information without your permission would be to protect either you or someone else from serious harm. In this situation, we would always try to discuss this with you first.

If you have any worries or queries about confidentiality, please ask a member of staff.

If you would like to discuss matters of a confidential nature, either with our receptionists or a member of the dispensary team, we have a side room available in reception for this purpose.

Confidentiality & Medical Records

How We Use Your Information

Updated for the GDPR 2016 and Data Protection Act 2018

In the Practice we aim to provide you with the highest quality of health care.  To do this, we must keep records about you, your health and the care we have provided or plant to provide to you.

These records may include:

• Basic details about you, such as address, date of birth, next of kin.
• Contact we have had with you, such as clinical visits.
• Details and records about your treatment and care.
• Results of x-rays, laboratory tests etc.
• Relevant information from people who care for you and who know you well, such as health professionals and relatives.

It is good practice for people in the NHS, who provide care, to:

• Discuss and agree with you what they are going to record about you.
• Give you a copy of letters they are writing about you, and
• Show you what they have recorded about you, if you ask.

We will only store your information in identifiable form for as long as is necessary and in accordance with NHS England Rules found here.

How Your Records are Used

The people who care for you use your records to:

• Provide a good basis for all health decisions made by you and care professionals.
• Allow you to work with those providing care.
• Make sure you care is safe and effective, and
• Work effectively with others providing you with care.

Others may also need to use records about you to:

• Check the quality of care (such as clinical audit).
• Protect the health of the public.
• Keep track of NHS spending.
• Manage the Health Service.
• Help investigate any concerns or complaints you or your family have about your health care.
• Teach health workers, and
• Help with research.

Some information will be held centrally to be used for statistical purposes.  In these instances, we take strict measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.

We use anonymous information, wherever possible, but on occasions, we may use personal confidential information for essential NHS purposes, such as research and auditing.  However, this information will only be used with your consent, unless the law requires us to pass on the information.

The Legal Part

You have a right to privacy under the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act.  The Practice needs your personal, sensitive and confidential data in order to perform our statutory health duties, in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller, in compliance with Article 6 (e) of the GDPR and for the purposes of preventative or occupational medicine, for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services, in compliance with Article 9 (h) of the GDPR.

You have the right to ask for a copy of all records about you.

• Your request should be made in writing to the practice holding your information.
• We are required to respond to you within one month.
• You will need to give adequate information (for example, full name, address, date of birth, NHS number, etc).

To access your record, contact a member of the reception team, who will provide you with an application form, which you must complete.  We will also ask for your ID for verification when you return the application form.

If you think anything is inaccurate or incorrect, please inform the Practice, as soon as possible. 

The Practice Data Protection Officer is Paul Couldrey, PCIG Consulting Ltd and is available via e-mail: Couldrey@me.com  Tel: 07525 623939

How We Keep Your Records Confidential

Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential.

We have a duty to:

• Maintain full and accurate records of the care we provide to you.
• Keep records about you confidential, secure and accurate.
• Provide information in a format that is accessible to you (ie, in large type if you are partially sighted.)

We will not share information that identifies you for any reason, unless:

• You ask us to do so.
• We ask, and you give us specific permission.
• We must do this by law.
• We have special permission for health or research purposes, or
• We have special permission because the interests of the public are thought to be of greater importance than your confidentiality.

Our guiding principle is that we are holding your records in STRICT CONFIDENCE

Who Are Our Partner Organisations?

We may share information with the following main partner organisations:

• NHS England
• Our Commissioners
• NHS Trusts / Organisations (hospitals, CCGs etc)
• Ambulance Service
• Social Services

We may also share your information, with your consent and subject to strict sharing protocols about how it will be used with:

• Education services.
• Local authorities.
• Voluntary sector providers
• Private sector.

Anyone who receives information from us also has a legal duty to KEEP IT CONFIDENTIAL!!

If you believe the Trust has breached any of your Data Protection rights, you have a right to complain to the UK Supervisory Authority, as below:

Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.  Tel 01625 545745