GDPR/Data

Data Choices

Your Data Matters to the NHS

Information about your health and care helps the NHS to improve your individual care, speed up diagnosis, plan your local services and research new treatments.

In May 2018, the strict rules about how this data can and cannot be used were strengthened. The NHS is committed to keeping patient information safe and always being clear about how it is used.

You can choose whether your confidential patient information is used for research and planning. For more information about your data rights please visit the Your Data Matters campaign at www.ico.org.uk.

How Your Data is Used

Your health and care information is used to improve your individual care. It is also used to help us research new treatments, decide where to put GP clinics and plan for the number of doctors and nurses in your local hospital. Wherever possible we try to use data that does not identify you, but sometimes it is necessary to use your confidential patient information.

What is Confidential Patient Information?

Confidential patient information identifies you and says something about your health, care or treatment. You would expect this information to be kept private. Information that only identifies you, like your name and address, is not considered confidential patient information and may still be used, for example, to contact you if your GP practice is merging with another.

Who can Use Your Confidential Patient Information for Research and Planning?

It is used by the NHS, local authorities, university and hospital researchers, medical colleges and pharmaceutical companies researching new treatments.

Making your Data Opt-Out Choice

You can choose to opt out of sharing your confidential patient information for research and planning. There may still be times when your confidential patient information is used, for example, during an epidemic where there might be a risk to you or to other people’s health. You can also still consent to take part in a specific research project.

Will Choosing This Opt-Out Affect Your Care and Treatment?

No, your confidential patient information will still be used for your individual care. Choosing to opt out will not affect your care and treatment. You will still be invited for screening services, such as screenings for bowel cancer.

What Should You Do Next?

You do not need to do anything if you are happy about how your confidential patient information is used. If you do not want your confidential patient information to be used for research and planning, you can choose to opt out securely online or through a telephone service.

You can change your choice at any time. To find out more or to make your choice visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters or call 0300 303 5678.

Fair Processing Notice

This fair processing notice explains why our practice collects information about you and how that information may be used and shared.

The employees and partners of the practice use electronic and paper records to create and maintain an in-depth history of your NHS medical care at the practice and elsewhere, to help ensure you receive the best possible healthcare. Anyone who accesses your data within the practice can only do so using a ‘smartcard’ that identifies him/her and what he/she accessed.

We comply with Data Protection Act 2018 in ensuring your personal information is as confidential and secure as possible.

The GP Information Governance for our practice is provided by Arden and GEM CSU. Our named data protection officer (from Arden and GEM CSU) is Judith Jordan

Email: agem.gpig@nhs.net

What Information do You Hold?

Records which this GP practice hold about you may include the following information:

Details about you, such as your address, legal representative, emergency contact details.
Any contact the surgery has had with you, such as appointments, telephone conversations and letters.
Notes and reports about your physical (including sexual) and mental health.
Details about your treatment and medications.
Results of investigations such as laboratory tests, x-rays etc.
Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care for you.
Reports from social services such as child protection reports or police reports if relevant to the care of you or your family.
Private reports sent, at your request, to other organisations.

Sharing Your Data Outside the Practice

Information held about you may be used to help protect the health of the public and to help the Department of Health manage the NHS. Some of this information will be extracted and held centrally and used for statistical purposes. Where we do this, we take strict measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.

We currently only share information from your records on an individual basis either by fax, letter or courier but with improvements in information technology and strict information governance standards, it is becoming possible to share your GP records across Coventry and Warwickshire health and social care.

We will only allow this to happen with your consent so that you are able to allow doctors, nurses and other health and social care services to see all the information held on your GP records.

The following are examples of the types of organisations that we are likely to share information with:

NHS and specialist hospitals, trusts.
Independent contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists.
Private and voluntary sector providers.
Ambulance trusts.
Clinical Commissioning Groups and NHS England.
Social care services and local authorities.
Education services.
Police, fire and rescue services.

Any patient can choose to withdraw their consent to their data being used in this way. When the practice is about to participate in any new data sharing scheme we will make patients aware by displaying prominent notices in the surgery and on our website at least four weeks before the scheme is due to start.

These schemes are only for direct care so you (or your carer) will be present when the information is accessed and will be asked for consent again before your records are opened.

A patient can object to their personal information being shared with other health care providers but if this limits the treatment that you can receive then the doctor will explain this to you at the time.

Third Party Processors

In order to deliver the best possible service, the practice will share data (where required) with other NHS bodies such as other GP practices and hospitals. In addition, the practice will use carefully selected third party service providers.

When we use a third party service provider to process data on our behalf then we will always have an appropriate agreement in place to ensure that they keep the data secure, that they do not use or share information other than in accordance with our instructions and that they are operating appropriately.

Examples of functions that may be carried out by third parties include:

Companies that provide IT services & support, including our core clinical systems; systems which manage patient facing services (such as our website and service accessible through the same); data hosting service providers; systems which facilitate appointment bookings or electronic prescription services; document management services etc.
Delivery services (for example if we were to arrange for delivery of any medicines to you).
Payment providers (if for example, you were paying for a prescription or a service such as travel vaccinations).

Further details regarding specific third party processors can be supplied on request.

Statement of Intent

Contractual requirements require that GP Practices should make available a statement of intent in relation to the following IT developments:

Summary Care Record (SCR)
GP to GP Record Transfers
Patient Online Access to Their GP Record
Data for commissioning and other secondary care purposes

The same contractual obligations require that we have a statement of intent regarding these developments in place and publicised.

Please find below details of the practices stance with regards to these points.

Summary Care Record

NHS England requires practices to enable successful automated uploads of any changes to patient’s summary information, at least on a daily basis, to the summary care record (SCR) or have published plans in place to achieve this.

Having your Summary Care Record (SCR) available will help anyone treating you without your full medical record. They will have access to information about any medication you may be taking and any drugs that you have a recorded allergy or sensitivity to.

Of course, if you do not want your medical records to be available in this way then you will need to let us know so that we can update your record.

The practice confirms that your SCR is automatically updated on at least a daily basis to ensure that your information is as up to date as it can possibly be.

GP to GP Records Transfer

NHS England requires practices to utilise the GP2GP facility for the transfer of patient records between practices, when a patient registers or de-registers (not for temporary registration).

It is very important that you are registered with a doctor at all times. If you leave your GP and register with a new GP, your medical records will be removed from your previous doctor and forwarded on to your new GP via NHS England. It can take your paper records up to two weeks to reach your new surgery.

With GP to GP record transfers your electronic record is transferred to your new practice much sooner. The practice confirms that GP to GP transfers are already active and we send and receive patient records via this system.

Patient Online Access to their GP Record

NHS England requires practices to promote and offer the facility to enable patients online access to appointments, prescriptions, allergies and adverse reactions or have published plans in place to achieve this by 31st of March 2015.

We currently offer the facility for booking and cancelling appointments and also for ordering your repeat prescriptions and viewing a summary of your medical records online via our online services Patient Access.

Data for Commissioning and Other Secondary Care Purposes

It is already a requirement of the Health and Social Care Act that practices must meet the reasonable data requirements of commissioners and other health and social care organisations through appropriate and safe data sharing for secondary uses, as specified in the technical specification for care data.

At our practice, we have specific arrangements in place to allow patients to opt out of care.data which allows for the removal of data from the practice. Please see our Fair Processing Notice section above for more information.

The Practice confirms these arrangements are in place and that we undertake annual training and audits to ensure that all our data is handled correctly and safely via the Information Governance Toolkit.