Highparks Medical Practice
Telephone: 01634 949300
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Privacy Notice & GDPR
Privacy Notice for General Practice
How we use your personal information
The Privacy Notice explains why the GP practice collects information about you and how that information may be used.
Health care professionals who provide you with care maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously (e.g. NHS Trust, GP Surgery, Walk-in Clinic, etc.) These records are used to help to provide you with the best possible healthcare.
NHS health care 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 this GP Practice hold about you may include the following information;
- Details about you, such as your name, address, carers, legal representatives and 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
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.
Risk Stratification
Risk stratification data tools are increasingly being used in the NHS to help determine a person’s risk of suffering a particular condition, preventing an unplanned or (re) admission and identifying a need for preventive intervention. Information about you is collected from a number of sources including NHS Trusts and from this GP Practice. A risk score is then arrived at through an analysis of your de-identified information using software managed by our Clinical Commissioning Group and is only provided back to your GP as data controller in an identifiable form. Risk stratification enables your GP to focus on preventing ill health and not just the treatment of sickness. If necessary your GP may be able to offer you additional services. Please note that you have the right to opt out of your data being used in this way.
Medicine Management The Practice may conduct Medicines Management Reviews of medications prescribed to its patients. This service performs a review of prescribed medications to ensure patients receive the most appropriate, up to date and cost effective treatments. This service is provided to practices within Medway Clinical Commissioning Group.
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 1998 and General Data Protection Regulation 2016
- Human Rights Act 1998
- Common Law Duty of Confidentiality
- Health and Social Care Act 2012
- NHS Codes of Confidentiality, Information Security and Records Management
Information: To share or not to share review
Every member of staff who works for an NHS orgainisation 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 third party without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances (i.e. life or death situations), where the law requires information to be passed on and / or in accordance with the new information sharing principle following Dame Fiona Caldicott’s information sharing review (information to share to not to share) where ” The duty to share information can be as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality”. This means that health and social care professionals should have the confidence to share information in the best interest of their patients within the framework set out be the Caldicott principles. They should be supported by the polices of their employers, regulators and professional bodies.
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;
- 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
- Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
- Local Authorities
- Education Services
- Fire and Rescue Services
- Police and Judicial Services
- Voluntary Sector Providers
- Private Sector Providers
- 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 to happen when this is required.
Access to personal information
You have to right under the Data Protection Act 1998 and General Data Protection Regulations to request access to view or to obtain copies of what information the surgery holds about you and have it amended or removed should it be inaccurate. In order to request this, you need to do the following:
- Submit your request to the GP – for information from the hospital you should write direct to them
- There will be no charge to have a printed copy of the information held about you unless it is considered to be excessive
- 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 and details of your request) so that your identity can be verified and your records located
Objections / Complaints
Should you have concerns about how your information is managed at the GP, please contact the GP 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.gov.uk).If you are happy for your data to be extracted and used for the purposes described in this privacy notice then you do not need to do anything. If you have any concerns about how your data is shared then please contact the practice.
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 sate 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.
NotificationThe Data Protection Act 1998 requires organisations to register a notification with the Information Commissioner to describe the purpose for which they process personal and sensitive information.This information is publicly available on the information commissioners office website www.ico.org.ukHighcliffe Medical 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:
- Highparks Medical Practice, Parkside, Cliffe Woods, Rochester, Kent, ME38HX
Who is the Data Protection Officer?
- Kevin Creasey – Practice Manager
If you are still unhappy following a review by the Practice you can then complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). www.org.uk, casework@ico.org.uk, telephone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect on 25th May 2018, replacing the Data Protection Act 1998.
Please find below Privacy Notices for the Practice. Copies of these are available to read in the waiting areas at the practice sites. If you would like a copy of any of the privacy notices, you can print them from the links below or ask at reception.
Privacy Notice Care Quality Commission
Privacy Notice for Direct Care
Privacy Notice for National screening programs
Privacy Notice for Summary Care Record
Useful Links
