Data Protection

How we use your medical records

We ask you for information so that you can receive proper care and treatment.

We keep this information, together with details of your care, because it may be needed if we see you again.

We may use some of this information for other reasons: for example to help us protect the health of the public generally and to see that the NHS runs efficiently, plans for the future, trains its staff, pays its bills and can account for its actions. Information may also be needed to help educate tomorrow’s clinical staff and to carry out medical and other health research for the benefit of everyone.

Sometimes the law requires us to pass on information: for example, to notify a birth.

You have a right of access to your health records. All requests for access must be in writing using the form provided by the practice.

Please see below details of our privacy policies

Overarching Privacy Policy (PDF, 294KB)

Children's Privacy Policy (PDF, 1.63MB)

Easy Read Privacy Policy (PDF, 148KB)

Privacy Notice Care Quality Commission (PDF, 166KB)

Privacy Notice for Staff (PDF, 167KB)

Privacy Notice Emergencies (PDF, 181KB)

Privacy Notice for Direct Care inc Referral (PDF, 213KB)

Privacy Notice NHS Digital (PDF, 170KB)

Privacy Notice Public Health (PDF, 156KB)

Privacy Notice Risk Stratification (PDF, 181KB)

Privacy Notice Safeguarding (PDF, 139KB)

Privacy Notice for Staff Vaccination (PDF, 148KB)

Privacy Notice for Telephone Recording (PDF, 170KB)

Privacy Notice - Candidates applying for work (PDF, 1.82KB)

Confidentiality

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

You may be receiving care from other people as well as the NHS. So that we can all work together for your benefit we may need to share some information about you.

We only ever use or pass on information about you if people have a genuine need for it in your and everyone’s interests. Whenever we can we shall remove details that identify you.

The sharing of some types of very sensitive personal information is strictly controlled by law.
Anyone who receives information from us is under a legal duty to keep it confidential.

Under 16s

The duty of confidentiality owed to a person under 16 is as great as the duty owed to any other person. Young people aged under 16 years can choose to see health professionals, without informing their parents or carers. If a GP considers that the young person is competent to make decisions about their health, then the GP can give advice, prescribe and treat the young person without seeking further consent.

However, in terms of good practice, health professionals will encourage young people to discuss issues with a parent or carer. As with older people, sometimes the law requires us to report information to appropriate authorities in order to protect young people or members of the public.

How We Share Your Data – Local and National Schemes

Provision of Information to Third Parties

The practice may share your personal information with other NHS organisations where this is appropriate for your healthcare.

In other circumstances we may approach you for specific consent to release personal information to third parties.

In some circumstances there are statutory or ethical obligations to disclose information to others (such as public health issues) which may not require your consent. However you will be consulted about these in advance unless there is an over-riding public interest in not doing so.

Summary Care Record

What is a Summary Care Record (SCR)?

Your Summary Care Record is an electronic summary of key information from your GP medical record. If you need healthcare away from your usual doctor’s surgery, your SCR will provide those looking after you with this information to help them give you better and quicker care.

This can be especially useful:

• in an emergency
• when you are on holiday
• when your surgery is closed
• at out-patient clinics
• when you visit a pharmacy

Summary Care Record – your 3 options:

You can choose how much information is shared through your Summary Care Record. You are much more likely to reap the benefits of SCR if you choose the enhanced version (option 2).

You can choose to have a ‘core’ Summary Care Record

All patients, unless they have opted out, have a ‘core’ Summary Care Record including basic information about their current medications, allergies, and bad reactions they have had to medicines.

You can choose to have an ‘enhanced’ Summary Care Record

This means your record will contain the ‘core’ information plus extra information that you think would be helpful for the healthcare staff who treat you. You must give your explicit consent for this.

That extra information could include:

• Information about your long term health conditions – such as asthma, diabetes, heart problems or rare medical conditions.
• Your relevant medical history – clinical procedures that you have had, why you need a particular medicine, the care you are currently receiving and clinical advice to support your future care.
• Your healthcare needs and personal preferences – you may have particular communication needs, a long term condition that needs to be managed in a particular way, or you may have made legal decisions or have preferences about your care that you would like to be known.
• Immunisation information – details of previous vaccinations, such as tetanus and routine childhood jabs.

You can choose not to have a Summary Care Record.

Information from your GP record concerning your current medications, allergies and bad reactions to medicines will not be readily available to other services treating you. Fewer than 5% of patients have chosen to opt out.

For more information, or to request an enhanced Summary Care Record, please talk to the staff at your GP practice. You can change your mind about what information you share at any time.

How will having a Summary Care Record help me?

Essential details about your healthcare can be very difficult to remember, particularly when you are unwell. Having an enhanced Summary Care Record means that healthcare professionals treating you will be better informed about you, which will increase the quality of your care.

You may already have seen the benefits of having a core Summary Care Record. One common benefit is when a patient is admitted to hospital and the Clinician treating them is able to see they are allergic to a particular medication and so prescribe an alternative.

How will my information be kept safe?

Your Summary Care Record can only be viewed by authorised staff who have an NHS smartcard with a chip and PIN. They must also ask for your consent to view your Summary Care Record, unless you are unconscious or otherwise unable to communicate and they believe that accessing your record is in your best interest. All access to your Summary Care record is documented and audited by the Privacy Officer of the organisation to ensure it is appropriate.

An enhanced Summary Care Record is not a copy of your whole record. Sensitive informationsuch as fertility treatments, sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy terminations or gender reassignment will not be included, unless you specifically ask for it to be.

Risk Specification

What is risk stratification?

There are two kinds of risk stratification:

The first kind is a process for identifying some patients within a Practice who might benefit from extra assessment or support with self-care because of the nature of their health problems. The process is a mixture of analysis of information by computer followed by review of the results by a clinical team at the Practice.

The analysis can, for example, help predict the risk of an unplanned hospital Admission so that preventative measures can be taken as early as possible to try and avoid it. In the end, it is the clinical team of the GP Practice that will decide how your care is best managed.

The second kind is a process for identifying patterns of ill health and needs across our local population. This will be done by pulling together all the information in an anonymised file (where your identity has been removed) to look at patterns and trends of illness across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland as a whole. This will help our Public Health Department and those in the NHS who are responsible for planning and arranging health services across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (known as commissioners) better understand the current and possible future health needs of the local population. This will help them make provision for the most appropriate health services for the people of this area. This group of staff will not be able to identify you as an individual under any circumstances.

In both cases secure NHS systems and processes will protect your health information and patient confidentiality at all times

What information about me will be analysed?

The minimum amount of information about you will be used. The information included is:

• Age
• Gender
• GP Practice and Hospital attendances and admissions
• Medications prescribed
• Medical conditions (in code form) and other things that may affect your health such as height, weight for example.

How will my information be kept secure and confidential?

Information from your GP record will be sent via a secure computer connection to a special location called a ‘safe haven’ at NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (NHS Arden & GEM CSU) in Leicester This safe haven carries special accreditation from the NHS. It is designed to protect the confidentiality of your information. There are strict controls in place. It enables information to be used in a way that does not identify you. The GP Practice remains in control your information at all times.

Before any analysis starts, any information that could identify you will be removed and replaced by a number. The analysis is done by computer. The results are returned to the GP Practice. Only your GP Practice can see the results in a way that identifies you.

What will my GP Practice do with the analysis?

The results can help the clinical team decide on some aspects of your future care. For example, if the clinical team at the Practice think that you might benefit from a review of your care, they can arrange this. You may then be invited in for an appointment to discuss your health and treatment. If the Practice thinks you might benefit from referral to a new service, this will be discussed with you firstly.

What if I want to opt out?

If you do not wish this to happen then it is important that you let us know.

Opt Out Form (DOCX, 34KB)

Patient Information leaflet

How we use your personal records (PDF, 723KB)

Access to Records

Request access to your medical records:

Systm Online Application Form (DOCX, 17KB)

We will need to see ID to set up the online access:

ID needed for setting up Systm Online (PDF, 100KB)

Request copies of your medical records:

Subject Access Request Form (DOCX, 25KB)

NHS England IT Requirements

In accordance with NHS England's IT requirements Forest House Surgery complies with the following:

• All of our clinical correspondence includes the NHS Number of the patient

• Any relevant changes to a patient's medical record are updated to the patient's 'summary care record' (SCR) on a daily basis. Currently the SCR shows details of the patients current medication, allergies and adverse reactions. A patient can request to have an enhanced summary care record. This means that together with your GP you can decide on any additional information that may be relevant for other health care professionals to know about you in the event of an emergency

• Our Practice uses the GP2GP facility to transfer medical records electronically between participating practices when registering and de-registering patients

• Our Practice offers the facility to order and view repeat medications and appliances online

• Our Practice offers the facility to book, view and amend appointments online

• Our Practice offers the facility for patients to view online and print off information from their own summary care record (SCR) and access to their detailed coded record

Heidi Health