Ryalls Park Medical Centre
How your information is used to help you
As part of your treatment, health professionals are required to record details of your condition and the care you receive.
This is to ensure that:
Your information also helps us to plan services for the future and allows us to monitor the way public money is spent.
If you do not want certain information recorded, please talk to the person in charge of your care. If you feel that you are unable to do this, or you are not happy with the outcome, you should contact the Operations Manager at the surgery.
Keeping your information confidential
Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to maintain the highest level of confidentiality. The Practice has a Staff Code of Confidentiality, which means that relevant information is only shared with people involved in your care, who may come from more than one organisation, e.g.:
With your consent, information can also be shared with relatives, partners or friends who act as a carer for you. Consent can only be over-ridden if justified through risk or if the law requires it.
When information needs to be shared with different organisations, it is passed securely and kept confidential by the people who receive it. We only use or pass on information about you which is necessary for your care and treatment.
Access to your health records
The Data Protection Act 1998 gives you the right to see, or have a copy of, any personal information held in your health records. This is known as the right of ‘Subject Access’. If you would like to view or receive copies of your health records, please contact the Operaions Manager at the surgery.
Sharing your information without consent
The guiding principle is that your information is held in strict confidence. However, while we would normally seek your consent to share the information held about you, there are some circumstances where this does not apply. For example:
Information for managing and planning
Where necessary patient data is shared with other NHS organisations, such as the Department of Health, the local Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS England. This enables the NHS to monitor and plan services according to local population. Information shared for this purpose is in anonymised format and does not include information from the patient written notes.
The NHS Register for England and Wales contains basic personal demographic details, such as name, address and date of birth, of all patients registered with a General Practitioner (GP).
Data held centrally is not used to make any decisions about the treatment or care you receive from your healthcare provider.
Education and research
Whilst always safeguarding confidentiality, your information can also help us in:
This leaflet can be supplied in large print, or can be translated. For more details contact the Practice surgery.
Further information
If at any time you would like to know more about how we use your information you can write to the Practice Manager or email Daniel on danielvincent@nhs.net.
Or for further information:
Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
01625 545745
Further information can be found by reference to the Health and Social Care Information Centre website.
Ryalls Park Medical Centre – Your information, what you need to know
(If you want to speak to us about your data, please see our ‘contact’ page)
This notice describes why we collect information about you, how your information will be used and your rights in respect of your data.
Why we collect information about you
Your records are used to ensure you get the best possible care. Your information helps them to make the best decisions about your care and helps provide you with proactive advice and guidance. Important information is also collected to help us to remind you about specific treatment which you might need, such as health checks, immunisations for children and reminders for screening appointments. We work with other NHS services to co-ordinate these.
Information held about you may be used to help protect the health of the public and to help us to improve NHS services. Information may be used within the GP practice to monitor the quality of the service provided (known as ‘clinical audit’).
What data do we collect and receive about you?
Records are stored electronically and on paper and include personal details about you such as your address, carers, legal representatives, emergency contact details, as well as:
Any appointments, visits, emergency appointments
Notes and reports about your health
Details about your diagnosis, treatment and care
Details about any medication you are taking
Results of investigations such as laboratory tests, x-rays
Relevant information from health and care professionals, relatives or carers
We also receive information from other organisations that are caring for you that we hold in your record. This will include letters and test results.
How we use your information: For providing your care
Prescriptions
Where you have agreed we will send information on your prescriptions to pharmacies, either by electronic systems or by paper.
Test requests and results
Where we undertake tests on you, such as blood tests, we will send the sample and details of the tests we are requesting to the most appropriate pathology laboratory. The data shared with the laboratory will include your NHS number, name, the type of test requested and any health information relevant to doing the test and producing the result or report. We will receive the test results back from the laboratory electronically and these will be stored in your patient record.
Extended services and out of hours
We work closely with neighbouring practices and ‘out of hours’ providers including NHS 111 to ensure that if you need care from a doctor outside of normal hours that they have access to your records when needed to give you the best possible care. This may be delivered over the phone or via video consultation as appropriate. Services may be run by ‘GP Federations’ and ‘Primary Care Networks’.
Patient referrals
With your agreement, your GP or Nurse may refer you to other services not provided by the practice, or they may work with other services to provide your care in the practice. Information will be shared by letters, emails and shared record systems.
Once you have been seen, the other care agency will tell us about the treatment they have provided for you and any support which your GP needs to provide. This information is then included in your record. Referrals can be to lots of different services, such as smoking cessation services, social prescribers, voluntary services and other health and care agencies, as appropriate, for your care.
Hospital, Community or Social Care Services
Sometimes the staff caring for you need to share some of your information with others who are also supporting you. This could include hospital or community based specialists, nurses, health visitors, therapists or social care services. Information will be shared to organisations where you receive care, whether that is local or further away, if you need specialist care or emergency care in another.
Shared computer systems
Health and Social care services are developing shared systems to share data efficiently and quickly. It is important for anyone treating you to be able to access your shared record so that they have all the information they need to care for you. This will be during your routine appointments and also in urgent situations such as going to A&E, calling 111 or going to an Out of hours appointment. It is also quicker for staff to access a shared record than to try to contact other staff by phone or email.
Only authorised staff can access the systems and the information they see is carefully checked so that it relates to their job. Systems do not share all your data, just data which services have agreed is necessary to include.
For more information about shared care records, please go to https://www.somersetccg.nhs.uk/about-us/digital-projects/sider/
Safeguarding of children or vulnerable adults
If we have significant concerns or hear about an individual child or vulnerable adult being at risk of harm, we may share relevant information with other organisations, such as local authorities and the Police, involved in ensuring their safety.
Ensuring medicines work well
We work with the local Medicines Management team of the Clinical Commissioning Group to help get the best out of medicines for patients and ensure they are effective in managing conditions. This generally uses anonymous data, but occasionally they will assist in reviews of medication for patients with complex needs. Doctors may also seek advice and guidance on prescribing queries.
Identifying health risks
Systems known as ‘risk stratification tools’ are used to help determine a person’s risk of suffering particular conditions and enable us to focus on preventing ill health before it develops. Information in these systems comes from a number of sources, such as hospitals and the practice. This can help us identify and offer you additional services to improve your health.
Multi-disciplinary team meetings
For some long term conditions, such as diabetes, the practice participates in meetings with staff from other agencies involved in providing care, to help plan the best way to provide care to patients with these conditions.
National Services (including screening programmes)
There are some national services like National Diabetes Audit and the National Cancer Screening Programmes that collect and keep information from across the NHS. This is how the NHS knows when to contact you about services like cervical, breast or bowel cancer screening.
You can find out more about how the NHS holds and shares your information for national programmes on the NHS screening website (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-screening/)
Data may also be shared on anyone who contracts a ‘communicable disease’, such as Covid 19, in order to manage public health and safety.
How we use your information: beyond providing your care
The information collected about you when you use our services can also be used and provided to other organisations for purposes beyond your individual care, for instance to help with:
improving the quality and standards of care
research into the development of new treatments
preventing illness and diseases
monitoring safety
planning new services
public health screening
assisting the Care Quality Commission with any investigations
investigating fraud
Wherever possible data used for these purposes is anonymised so that you cannot be identified. If information cannot be completely anonymous, then this may only take place when the law allows the information to be used. All these uses help to provide better health and care for you, your family and future generations.
Statutory disclosures
Sometimes we are duty bound by laws to disclose information to organisations such as the Care Quality Commission, the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency, the General Medical Council, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and Counter Fraud services. In these circumstances we will always try to inform you before we are required to disclose and we only disclose the minimum information that the law requires us to do so.
Objecting to the of use of data for purposes beyond your care
The NHS Constitution states ‘You have a right to request that your personal and confidential information is not used beyond your own care and treatment and to have your objections considered’. For further information please visit: The NHS Constitution
National data opt-out
The national data opt-out enables patients to opt-out from the use of their personal confidential data for research or planning purposes. To find out more or to register to opt out, please visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters.
If you have any concerns about use of your data not covered by the National Data Opt out, please contact the practice.
How long do we hold information for?
Records are kept for the lifetime of the patient. If you move to a new practice, your record will be transferred. If the practice you have left need to access your record, for example to deal with a historic complaint, they will let you know. When information has been identified for destruction or deletion it will be disposed of using approved confidential disposal procedures.
Your rights:
Data Protection laws give you a number of rights, including access to your data, correction, erasure, objection and restriction of use of your data. Details on how to request access to your data are set out below. If you have any concerns about the accuracy and use of your records, please contact us.
Right of Access to your information (Subject Access Request)
You have the right to have a copy of the information we hold about you. There are some safeguards regarding what you will have access to and you may find information has been removed for the following reasons.
Where your doctor has decided that some information may cause significant harm to you or someone else
Where the information is about someone else (third party) and is confidential to them
You can make a request by asking or writing to the practice. We may ask you to complete a form so that we have a record of your request. You will need to provide proof of identity.
If you would like to access your GP record please request this form the practice.
Lawful basis for processing:
The use of personal data for providing care is supported under the following Article 6 and 9 conditions of the GDPR:
Article 6(1)(e) ‘…necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority…’; and
Article 9(2)(h) ‘necessary 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...”
Change of Details
It is important that you tell us as soon as you can if any of your details such as your name or address, email address or mobile number have changed. This is to make sure no information about you is sent to an old address.
Mobile telephone number
If you provide us with your mobile phone number, we may use this to send you text reminders about your appointments or other health screening information. Please let us know if you do not wish to receive text reminders on your mobile.
Email address
Where you have provided us with your email address we will use this to send you information relating to your health and the services we provide. If you do not wish to receive communications by email, please let us know.
Any changes to this notice will be published on our website and in a prominent area at the Practice.
Data Protection Officer
Should you have any questions or concerns about your data, please contact our Data Protection Officer:
Telephone: (practice main contact number)
Email: (INSERT as appropriate)
Right to complain
If you have concerns or are unhappy about any of our services, please contact the Practice Manager.
For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data-sharing issues, you can contact:
The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone: 0303 123 1113 Website: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us
The following table builds upon the information in our Fair Processing notice and is published to ensure transparency. This list is not exhaustive. Where the offering of a service to a patient will inform them about the sharing of their data, e.g. support from smoking cessation services, it is not necessarily included here. This list does not set out uses of anonymous data where identity has been completely removed (such as anonymised data to the Department for Work and Pensions on provision of ‘fit notes’).
Organisation/Activity
Rationale
Shared Care Records – Somerset Integrated Digital electronic Record (SIDeR)
Purpose
To ensure you receive effective, safe care, we will, through digital means enable your record to be available to those providing your care in whichever care setting you are seen, such as an A&E attendance, a physiotherapy appointment, a social care needs assessment.
In order to achieve this, the aim of Shared Care Records is to enable health and care staff to view your information, to save valuable time in getting you the right treatment. Your information will only be available to the staff involved in your direct care, and not at any other time, or for any other reason.
Further information can be found here https://www.somersetccg.nhs.uk/about-us/digital-projects/sider/
Legal Basis – Article 6(1)e ‘exercise of official authority’ and article 9(2)h ‘Provision of health and care’
Processor – Black Pear
Summary Care Record
Purpose - The NHS in England uses a national electronic record called the Summary Care Record (SCR) to support patient care. It contains key information from your GP record. Your SCR provides authorised healthcare staff with faster, secure access to essential information about you in an emergency or when you need unplanned care, where such information would otherwise be unavailable.
Legal Basis – Article 6(1)e ‘exercise of official authority’ and article 9(2)h ‘Provision of health and care’
Further information can be found here
Controller of summary care record data – NHS Digital
Test requests and results
Purpose – Some basic identifying details, the type of test requested and if required any relevant health information is shared with Pathology Laboratories when tests such as blood or urine tests need to be undertaken. The laboratory will also hold the details of the request and the result. The result/report will be sent electronically to the practice who will hold it in the patient’s record.
Legal Basis – Article 6(1)e ‘exercise of official authority’ and article 9(2)h ‘Provision of health and care’
Controller of test data – The laboratory that process the request and result are a controller of the data generated by the test process.
Research
Purpose – We may share personal confidential or anonymous information with research companies. Where you have opted out of having your identifiable information shared for this purpose then it will not be used. Details on how to opt out are here.
Legal Basis – consent is required to share confidential patient information for research, unless there is have support under the Health Service (Control of Patient Information Regulations) 2002 (‘section 251 support’) applying via the Confidentiality Advisory Group in England and Wales
The organisation leading the research will be the controller of data disclosed to them.
Individual Funding Requests
Purpose – We may need to process your personal information where we are required to apply for funding for a specific treatment for you for a particular condition that is not routinely available.
Legal Basis - The clinical professional who first identifies that you may need the treatment will explain to you the information that is needed to be collected and processed in order to assess your needs and commission your care; they will gain your explicit consent to share this. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. If you are happy for the request to be made, the basis for processing your data is: Article 6(1)e ‘exercise of official authority’ and article 9(2)h ‘Provision of health and care’
Your data will be disclosed to the Clinical Commissioning Group who manages the individual funding request process.
Child Health Information Service
Purpose - We wish to make sure that your child has the opportunity to have immunisations and health checks when they are due. We share information about childhood immunisations, the 6-8 week new baby check and breast-feeding status with health visitors and school nurses.
Legal Basis – Article 6(1)e ‘exercise of official authority’ and article 9(2)h ‘Provision of health and care’
Controller to which data is disclosed: Health Intelligence Ltd
Risk Stratification – Preventative Care
Purpose - ‘Risk stratification for case finding’ is a process for identifying and managing patients who have or may be at-risk of health conditions (such as diabetes) or who are most likely to need healthcare services (such as people with frailty). Risk stratification tools used in the NHS help determine a person’s risk of suffering a particular condition and enable us to focus on preventing ill health before it develops.
Information about you is collected from a number of sources including NHS Trusts and your GP Practice. A risk score is then arrived at to help us identify and offer you additional services to improve your health.
In addition data with your identity removed is used to inform the development and delivery of services across the local area.
If you do not wish information about you to be included in any risk stratification programmes, please let us know. We can add a code to your records that will stop your information from being used for this purpose. Please be aware that this may limit the ability of healthcare professionals to identify if you have or are at risk of developing certain serious health conditions.
Legal Basis
Article 6(1)e ‘exercise of official authority’ and article 9(2)h ‘Provision of health and care’.
Risk stratification has been approved by the Secretary of State, through the Confidentiality Advisory Group of the Health Research Authority (approval reference (CAG 7-04)(a)/2013)) and this approval has been extended to the end of September 2022 NHS England Risk Stratification which gives us a statutory legal basis under Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 to process data for risk stratification purposes which sets aside the duty of confidentiality. We are committed to conducting risk stratification effectively, in ways that are consistent with the laws that protect your confidentiality.
Controller to which data is disclosed: Somerset CCG
(NB identifiable data is not disclosed to other controllers)
Public Health
Screening programmes (identifiable)
Notifiable disease information (identifiable)
Smoking cessation (anonymous)
Sexual health (anonymous)
Purpose – The NHS provides national screening programmes so that certain diseases can be detected at an early stage. These currently apply to bowel cancer, breast cancer, aortic aneurysms and diabetic retinal screening service. The law allows us to share your contact information with Public Health England so that you can be invited to the relevant screening programme. Personal identifiable and anonymous data is shared. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-population-screening-explained [Or insert relevant link] or speak to the practice
Legal Basis
Article 6(1)e ‘exercise of official authority’ and article 9(2)h ‘Provision of health and care’.
Controller to which data is disclosed: Public Health Services (England), South Somerset District Council & Somerset County Council.
NHS Trusts
Purpose – Personal information is shared with Hospitals, Community Services, Mental Health Services and others in order to provide you with care services. This could be for a range of services, including treatment, operations, physio, and community nursing, ambulance service.
Legal Basis
Article 6(1)e ‘exercise of official authority’ and article 9(2)h ‘Provision of health and care’.
Controller to which data is disclosed: Somerset Trust
Care Quality Commission
Purpose – The CQC is the regulator for the English Health and Social Care services to ensure that safe care is provided. They will inspect and produce reports back to the GP practice on a regular basis. The Law allows the CQC to access identifiable data but only where it is needed to conduct their services.
More detail on how they ensure compliance with data protection law (including GDPR) and their privacy statement is available on CQC website: https://www.cqc.org.uk/about-us/our-policies/privacy-statement
Legal Basis - Article 6(1)c “processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject.” And Article 9(2)h ‘management of health and care services’
Controller data is disclosed to – Care Quality Commission
Payments
Purpose - Payments to the practice come in many different forms. Some payments are based on the number of patients that receive specific services, such as diabetic reviews and immunisation programmes. In order to make patient based payments basic and relevant necessary data about you needs to be sent to the various payment services, this data contains limited identity if needed, such as your NHS number. The release of this data is required by English laws.
Legal Basis - Article 6(1)(c) “processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject.” And Article 9(2)(h) ‘as stated below
Controllers that data is disclosed to – NHS England, CCG, Public Health
Patient Record data base support
Purpose – The practice uses electronic patient records. Our supplier of the electronic patient record system is EMIS Ltd
Our supplier does not access identifiable records without permission of the practice and this is only given where it is necessary to investigate issues on a particular record
Legal Basis
Article 6(1)e ‘exercise of official authority’ and article 9(2)h ‘management of health and care services’.
Medicines optimisation
Purpose – We use software packages linked to our patient record system to aid when prescribing drugs. These ensure that prescribing is effective. We do not share your identifiable data with the companies that provide these packages
Legal Basis
Article 6(1)e ‘exercise of official authority’ and article 9(2)h ‘Provision of health and care’.
Multi-Disciplinary Teams
Purpose - We work closely with a range of other care providers to deliver the best care possible for you. Multi-disciplinary teams are our way of bringing together care providers for conversations in a confidential environment about care arrangements for you where this is appropriate. For example, if you have a number of long term conditions and would benefit from additional support. Where possible, we will inform you that your care will be discussed in this type of forum. However, if this may not always be possible and in these circumstances, we will consider your best interests and will share information on this basis.
Legal Basis
Article 6(1)e ‘exercise of official authority’ and article 9(2)h ‘Provision of health and care’.
Clinical Audit
Purpose – Information will be used by the CCG for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service provided to patients with long term conditions. When required, information will be held centrally and used for statistical purposes (e.g. the National Diabetes Audit). When this happens, strict measures are taken to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified from the data.
Legal Basis
Article 6(1)e ‘exercise of official authority’ and article 9(2)h ‘management of health and care services’.
Controller – Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group
National Fraud Initiative - Cabinet Office
Purpose – The use of data by the Cabinet Office for data matching is carried out with statutory authority. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under Data Protection legislation. Data matching by the Cabinet Office is subject to a Code of Practice. For further information see:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-data-matching-practice-for-national-fraud-initiative
NFI activities vary each year, so data would only be disclosed if required by the focus of their activities
Legal Basis – Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014
Controller – Cabinet Office
National Registries
Purpose – National Registries (such as the Learning Disabilities Register) have statutory permission under Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006, to collect and hold service user identifiable information without the need to seek informed consent from each individual service user.
Legal Basis – Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006
Police
Purpose – The police may request information in relation to on-going enquiries, all requests are reviewed and only appropriate information will be shared under legislation.
Legal Basis –
Article 6(1)e – task carried out in the public interest
Article 9(2)c - Vital Interests
Article 9(2)f - Legal claims or judicial acts
Article 9(2)g - Reasons of substantial public interest
Controller disclosed to - Police
Reviews of and Changes to our Privacy Notice
We will keep our Privacy Notice under regular review. This notice was last reviewed 02/12/2020
We are committed to protecting the privacy of all individuals using this website.
This policy explains how we use any personal information we collect from you through this website.
Collection of personal information
You can access most of the pages on our website without giving us your personal information. However, you may choose to provide us with your personal information on some pages of the website by completing an on-line form.
By submitting your personal information, you consent to our use of the information as set out in this privacy policy.
Use of personal information
We shall use any personal information you give to us, in accordance with this policy, and with any additional statements appearing on forms used for submitting your personal information. We shall not disclose your personal information to any third parties without obtaining your prior consent unless we are required by law to do so. In particular:
We shall use your personal information to administer, and may respond to, your request.
We shall securely store the information you supply together with any response we may provide.
If you contact us regarding the website we may use your details to reply to you. If you make a comment or complaint about other aspects of the service we may use your details to investigate your comments.
Website privacy
This website uses https to ensure data is encrypted in transmission. This encryption, known as TLS encryption protocol, allows us to protect your privacy. You can usually verify that the page is encrypted by seeing a small lock symbol in the upper left corner of your browser and the website address is prefixed with https://.
Data storage
All data obtained by us is held and used in compliance with the Data Protection Act 2018.
Data protection
The Company's Data Protection Officer is Keven Caldwell , Somerset CCG, kevin.caldwell1@nhs.net.
Cookie Policy
Please read our Cookie Policy.
Links
This website contains links to other sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third parties that run any other websites. Please refer to their own privacy policies for more information.
Access to your personal information
You have a right under the Data Protection Act 2018 to ask us to provide you with the information we hold about you and to have any inaccuracies corrected. If you would like to access a copy of your information, please contact the Practice Manager using the following contact details in the heading above.
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