In order to provide the right level of care, we are required to hold personal information about you on our computer systems and in paper records to help us to look after your health needs, and your doctor is responsible for their accuracy and safe-keeping. Please help to keep your record up to date by informing us of any changes to your circumstances.

Confidentiality and Personal Information

Doctors and staff in the Practice have access to your medical records to enable them to do their jobs. From time to time information may be shared with others involved in your care if it is necessary. Anyone with access to your record is properly trained in confidentiality issues and is governed by both legal and contractual duty to keep your details private.

All information about you is held securely and appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent accidental loss.

In some circumstances we may be required by law to release your details to statutory or other official bodies, for example if a court order is presented, or in the case of public health issues. In other circumstance you may be required to give written consent before information is released – such as for medical reports for insurance, solicitors etc.

To ensure your privacy, we will not disclose information over the telephone unless we are sure that we are talking to you. Information will not be disclosed to family, friends or spouses unless we have prior written consent, and we do not, leave messages with others.

You have a right to see your records if you wish. Please ask at Reception if you would like further details about our patient information leaflet. An appointment may be required. In some circumstances a fee may be payable.

Privacy Notice Summary – Your Information

Below is a summary of the information that we hold but for more information about who we share information with, the purpose of information sharing, our lawful basis for processing data, and information about your rights as a data subject, please see the full Privacy Notice here.  Our Reception Team can also provide you with a paper copy. Details around national data opt out can be found at https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/ 

What type of information do we hold about our patients?

 We collect and process the following information about our patients:

• identity details – name, gender, sexual orientation, date of birth, NHS Number;
• contact details – address, telephone, email address;
• ‘Next of Kin’ details – the contact details of a close relative or friend;
• details of any carer you may have, or anyone you care for;
• details of any appointments with the GPs and nursing staff;
• reports from secondary care of any A&E visits, inpatient stays or clinic appointments;
• results of any scans, X-rays and pathology tests requested;
• details of any diagnosis and treatments given;
• details of any longstanding health concerns and conditions;
• details about your health, treatment and care and other relevant information from health professionals, care providers or relatives who care for you;
• information about any allergies;
• information about any DNAR decisions and any living wills that we know of;
• correspondence from other Health and Social Care providers that provide you with services.

We work with a number of Health and Social care organisations and independent treatment centres in order to provide you with the best possible care and options for treatment.  Your information may therefore be shared securely to provide continuity of care.

Sharing patient information

We know that good communication with other healthcare professionals involved in your care is beneficial to you, and so we work closely with many organisations in order to provide you with the best possible care.  This means that if another healthcare professional or service is involved in your care, it might be appropriate to share information with them in order for you to receive the necessary care.

Your information will be shared between those involved in providing health care services and treatments to you.  This includes doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, but may also include administrative staff who deal with booking appointments or typing clinic letters.

Access to information is strictly controlled and restricted to those who need it in order to do their jobs.  All staff receive annual mandatory training on confidentiality and data security and also have strict contractual clauses within their employment contracts which oblige them to respect data protection and confidentiality.

The following IT systems are in use at the Practice:

• Referral Management (using NHS numbers in referrals)
• Electronic Appointment Booking (the facility to book routine appointments online and, similarly, to cancel appointments)
• Online booking of repeat prescriptions
• Summary Care Record (uploading details of your current medication and allergies to the national “spine” so that these are available for healthcare professionals involved in your care elsewhere)
• GP to GP transfers (the electronic transfer of records from practice to practice when you re-register)
• Patient Access to records (the facility to view your medical records online). If you are not already registered for online access and would like to be please complete our online form.

This Practice handles medical records according to the laws on data protection and confidentiality. 

• • We share medical records with health professionals who are involved in providing you with care and treatment. This is on a need to know basis and event by event.
  • We may share some of your data with local out of hours / urgent emergency care service.
  • Data about you is used to manage national screening campaigns such as flu, cervical cytology and diabetes prevention.
  • Data about you, usually de-identified is used to manage the NHS and make payments.
  • We share information when the law requires us to do so, for instance when we are inspected or reporting certain illnesses or safeguarding vulnerable people.
  • Your data is used to check the quality of care provided by the NHS.
  • We may also share medical records for medical research.

If you would like access to your medical records enabled or would like to opt out of the local or national summary care record, please contact Reception.