Practice Policies

How We Use Personal Information

Why we collect information about you

Your Doctor and other health professionals caring for you keep records about your health and any treatment that you receive from the NHS. They may be written down(manual records) or held on computer. The records include:

• Basic details about you such as address and date of birth
• Contacts we have had with you such as clinic visits
• Notes and reports about your health
• Results of investigations
• Relevant information from health professionals or those who care for you

To help you

Your records are used to guide professionals in the care that you receive to ensure that:

• Your Doctor, Nurse or any other healthcare professional involved in your care has accurate and up to date information to assess your health and decide what care you need
• Full information is available if you see another Doctor ,or referred to another specialist or another part of the NHS

To help the NHS

Your information may also be used to help us:

• Assess the needs of the general population
• Make sure our services can meet patients needs in the future
• Review the care we provide to ensure it is of the highest standard
• Teach and train healthcare professionals
• Conduct health research and development
• Prepare statistics on NHS performance
• Investigate complaints, legal claims or untoward incidents

Some of this information is held centrally but where it is used for statistical purposes stringent measures are taken to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified. Where it is not possible to use anonymised information, personally identifiable information may be used for essential NHS purposes. These may include auditing services. This will only be done with your consent unless the law requires information be passed on to improve public health

How we keep your records confidential

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

• We may need to share some information about you with other health professionals so that we can all work together for your benefit.
• 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 information to third parties without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances or where the law requires us to do so.
• Anyone receiving information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.
• We are required by law to report certain information to the appropriate authorities. This is only after formal permission has been given by a qualified health professional. Occasions when we pass on information include
  • Notifications of new birth
  • Infectious diseases which may endanger the safety of others such as Meningitis or Measles ( but not HIV/AIDS )
  • Where a formal court order has been issued.

How can you access your own health records?

The Data Protection Act 1998, which came into force on 1st March 2000, allows you to find out what information about you is held on computer and in certain manual records. If you want to see them, you should make your request in writing to the practice. We shall contact you when your records are ready to view. You are entitled to receive a copy but please note that a charge is made for photocopying. You should also be aware that in certain circumstances your right to see some details in your health records might be limited in your own interest or for other reasons.

You can also view your medical records online, if you wish to register for GP online services and have access to your medical records please speak to a member of the team.

If you would like to know more about how information is used or if you do not wish to have your information used in any of the ways described on this page please speak to the health care professional concerned with your care.