PRIVACY POLICY

PATIENT INFORMATION LEAFLET

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:

• staff have accurate and up to date information to assess your health needs and decide what care you need in the future
• full information is available should you need another form of care, for example if you are referred to a specialist service
• you have received quality care
• your concerns can be properly looked into if you are unhappy with your treatment

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 Practice 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.:

• Local NHS Trusts, such as Yeovil Hospital, Musgrove Park Hospital or Community Hospitals or services
• Social Services
• NHS Walk-In Centres
• NHS 111 and Out of Hours GP services

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 Practice 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:

• To prevent risk to yourself and others
• Investigation or prevention of serious crime
• Control of infectious diseases
• Notification of new births
• Formal Court Order

 

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:

• training and educating staff.You will be asked if you wish to be personally involved.Where appropriate your consent will be recorded in writing
• research approved by the Local Research Ethics Committee. You will be asked if you wish to be personally identified or involved
• clinical audit and other work to monitor the quality of care provided

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 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.  This can be accessed at:

www.hscic.gov.uk

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FAIR PROCESSING/PRIVACY NOTICE

For patients of Ryalls Park Medical Centre

1 INTRODUCTON

1.1 The law determines how organisations can use the personal information they collect. This is underpinned by the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality together with legislation we must comply with including:

• Data Protection Act 1998
• Human Rights Act 1998
• Health and Social Care Act 2012

1.2 Ryalls Park Medical Centre holds and uses the personal and confidential information of its patients for a number of purposes. This notice sets out in general terms a summary of the type of information we hold about you, what we use if for and also who we may share your information with.

 

2 INFORMATION HELD

2.1 Ryalls Park Medical Centre collects personal confidential information about you This information may include (but is not limited to):

• Your name, address telephone number, date of birth and next of kin
• Appointment details, associated admissions
• Correspondence, notes and reports
• Investigations and test results

2.2 The practice uses this information for the following reasons:

• to help inform the decisions that we make about your care
• to ensure that your treatment is safe and effective, including any advice that may be provided as part of your care
• to help us work effectively with other organisations who may also be involved in your care

 

3 INFORMATION SHARING

3.1 Ryalls Park Medical Centre may share information held about you with other organisations to support:

For patient care (identifiable information):

• to promote continuity of care by sharing your information with other professionals involved in your care
• to promote safe care by sharing your information with other health care professionals who might be involved in your care such as emergency departments and out of hours doctor services

For planning and assurance (information in anonymised format which does not include information from the patient written notes):

• to help protect the general health of the public
• to manage and plan services for the future
• to review the quality of care provided by the practice to ensure it remains effective
• to help our staff review the care that is provided to ensure it is of the highest standard and to enable the continual improvement of care
• to comply with a legal obligation

3.2 Organisations with which information is routinely shared with for the reasons set out above include but are not limited to:

For patient care:

• Local hospitals
• Emergency and out of hours services

For planning and assurance:

• NHS England
• Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group
• Somerset County Council – Public Health service

 

4 OPTING OUT

4.1 All patients have the right to opt out of allowing their personal information to be shared with other healthcare organisations. If you wish to do this, please speak to a member of the practice staff.

4.2 For more detailed information about your rights and our responsibilities in respect of data protection, we have a number of information leaflets that are available in our waiting areas and reception, as well as further resources on our website. Easy read format as well as information in other languages is available upon request.

 

5 SECURITY OF YOUR INFORMATION

5.1 Ryalls Park Medical Centre have a range of security measures in place to ensure that your information is held, and where appropriate, shared in a secure way. Your patient record will only be accessed by those members of practice staff who are authorised to do so.

5.2 If you have any concerns about the way we handle your information, please speak to a member of the practice staff.