Your Information

What you Need to Know

This privacy notice explains why we collect information about you, how that information may be used and how we keep it safe and confidential.

Why We Collect Information About You

Health care professionals who provide you with care are required by law to maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received within any NHS organisation. These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare.

We collect and hold data for the sole purpose of providing healthcare services to our patients. In carrying out this role we may collect information about you which helps us respond to your queries or secure specialist services. We may keep your information in written form and/or in digital form. The records may include basic details about you, such as your name and address. They may also contain more sensitive information about your health and also information such as outcomes of needs assessments.

Data We Collect About You

The 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 help to provide you with the best possible healthcare.

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

• Details about you, such as your address and next of kin
• 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

How we Keep Your Information Confidential and Safe

As a GP practice, all of our GPs, staff and associated practitioners are committed to protecting your privacy and will only process data in accordance with the Data Protection Legislation. This includes the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018, the Law Enforcement Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/680) (LED) and any applicable national Laws implementing them as amended from time to time. The legislation requires us to process personal data only if there is a legitimate basis for doing so and that any processing must be fair and lawful.

In addition, consideration will also be given to all applicable Law concerning privacy, confidentiality, the processing and sharing of personal data including the Human Rights Act 1998, the Health and Social Care Act 2012 as amended by the Health and Social Care (Safety and Quality) Act 2015, the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations.

We maintain our duty of confidentiality to you at all times. 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), or where the law requires information to be passed on.

Everyone working for the NHS is subject to the Common Law Duty of Confidence. Information provided in confidence will only be used for the purposes advised with consent given by the patient unless there are other circumstances covered by the law. The NHS Digital Code of Practice on Confidential Information applies to all our staff and they are required to protect your information, inform you of how your information will be used, and allow you to decide if and how your information can be shared. All of our staff are expected to make sure information is kept confidential and all staff receive annual training on this subject.

NHS health 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. Your records are backed up securely in line with NHS standard procedures. We ensure that the information we hold is kept in secure locations, is protected by appropriate security and access is restricted to authorised personnel.

We also make sure external data processors that support us are legally and contractually bound to operate and prove security arrangements are in place where data that could or does identify a person are processed.

How We Use Your Information

Improvements in information technology are making it possible for us to share data with other healthcare organisations for the purpose of providing you, your family and your community with better care. For example, it is possible for healthcare professionals in other services to access your record with your permission when the practice is closed. This is explained further in the Local Information Sharing at Appendix A.

Whenever you use a health or care service, such as attending Accident & Emergency or using Community Care services, important information about you is collected in a patient record for that service. Collecting this information helps to ensure you get the best possible care and treatment. The information collected about you when you use these services can also be used and provided to other organisations for purposes beyond your individual care, for instance, to help with:

• Improving the quality and standards of care provided
• Research into the development of new treatments
• Preventing illness and diseases
• Monitoring safety
• Planning services

This may only take place when there is a clear legal basis to use this information. All these uses help to provide better health and care for you, your family and future generations. Confidential patient information about your health and care is only used like this where allowed by law.

Usually, data is anonymised for use in any research and planning so that you cannot be identified, in which case your confidential patient information isn’t needed.

A full list of details including the legal basis, any Data Processor involvement and the purposes for processing information can be found in Appendix A at the end of this document.

Data Retention

We will approach the management of patient records in line with the Records Management NHS Code of Practice for Health and Social Care which sets the required standards of practice in the management of records for those who work within or under contract to NHS organisations in England, based on current legal requirements and professional best practice.

Individuals Rights under GDPR

Under GDPR 2016 the Law provides the following rights for individuals. The NHS uphold these rights in a number of ways.

• The right to be informed
• The right of access
• The right to rectification
• The right to erasure (not an absolute right) only applies in certain circumstances
• The right to restrict processing
• The right to data portability
• The right to object
• Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling

Your Right to Withdraw Consent for us to Share Your Personal Information

The NHS Constitution states:

‘You have a right to request that your personal and confidential information is not used beyond your own care and treatment and to have your objections considered’.

Type 1 Opt Out

This is an objection that prevents an individual’s personal confidential information from being shared outside of their general practice except when it is being used for the purposes of direct care, or in particular circumstances required by law, such as a public health emergency like an outbreak of a pandemic disease. If you wish to apply a Type 1 Opt Out to their record they should make their wishes know to the practice manager or complete the online form on the nhs website: www.nhs.uk/manage-your-choice

National Data Opt Out

The national data opt-out was introduced on 25 May 2018, enabling patients to opt-out from the use of their data for research or planning purposes, in line with the recommendations of the National Data Guardian in her Review of Data Security, Consent and Opt-Outs.

By 2020 all health and care organisations are required to apply national data opt-outs where confidential patient information is used for research and planning purposes. NHS Digital has been applying national data opt-outs since 25 May 2018. Public Health England has been applying national data opt-outs since September 2018.

The national data opt-out replaces the previous ‘type 2’ opt-out, which required NHS Digital not to share a patient’s confidential patient information for purposes beyond their individual care. Any patient that had a type 2 opt-out recorded on or before 11 October 2018 has had it automatically converted to a national data opt-out. Those aged 13 or over were sent a letter giving them more information and a leaflet explaining the national data opt-out. For more information, visit the National Data Opt Out Programme.

If you are happy for your data to be extracted and used for the purposes described in this fair processing notice then you do not need to do anything. If you do not want your information to be used for any purpose beyond providing your care you can choose to opt-out. If you wish to do so, please let us know so we can code your record appropriately. We will respect your decision if you do not wish your information to be used for any purpose other than your care but in some circumstances we may still be legally required to disclose your data.

To find out more or to register your choice to opt out, please visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters

On this web page you will:

• See what is meant by confidential patient information
• Find examples of when confidential patient information is used for individual care and examples of when it is used for purposes beyond individual care
• Find out more about the benefits of sharing data
• Understand more about who uses the data
• Find out how your data is protected
• Be able to access the system to view, set or change your opt-out setting
• Find the contact telephone number if you want to know any more or to set/change your opt-out by phone
• See the situations where the opt-out will not apply

Right of Access to your information – Subject Access Request – (SAR)

Under Data Protection Legislation everybody has the right to have access to, or request a copy of information we hold that can identify you, this includes your medical record, there are some safeguards regarding what you will have access to and you may find information has been redacted or removed for the following reasons;

• Does not cause harm to the patient
• That legal confidentiality obligations for the non-disclosure of third-party information are adhered to

You do not need to give a reason to see your data and requests can be made verbally or in writing. Although we do ask you to complete an ‘Access to Medical Records Form’ in order that we can ensure that you have the correct information you require.

You will need to provide proof of identity to receive this information. If you would like to access your GP record online, visit Systmonline. If you have not yet registered for this service, please ask reception.

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 are incorrect in order for this to be amended. Please inform us of any changes, by completing our online Change of Personal Details triage, so our records for you are accurate and up to date.

Mobile Telephone Number

If you provide us with your mobile phone number we may use this to send you reminders about your appointments or other health screening information. Please let us know if you do not wish to receive reminders on your mobile.

Email

Where you have provided us with your email address, with your consent we will use this to send you information relating to your health and the services we provide. If you do not wish to receive communications by email please let us know.

Notification

The General Data Protection Regulation 2018 requires the organisation to register a notification with the Information Commissioner to describe the purposes for which they process personal and sensitive information.

We are registered as a data controller and our registration can be viewed online in the public register at: www.ico.org.uk/register_of_data_controllers. Any changes to this notice will be published on our website and in a prominent area at the practice.

Data Protection Officer

Should you have any data protection questions or concerns, please contact our Data Protection Officer via the surgery at: caroline.dominey-strange@nhs.net

What is the Right to Know?

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) gives people a general right of access to information held by or on behalf of public authorities, promoting a culture of openness and accountability across the public sector. You can request any non-personal information that the GP Practice holds, that does not fall under an exemption. You may not ask for information that is covered by the Data Protection Legislation under FOIA. However, you can request this under a right of access request – see section above ‘Access to your information’.

Complaints

If you have concerns or are unhappy about any of our services, please view our Suggestions, Comments and Complaints page or contact the Practice Manager.

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data-sharing issues, you can contact:

The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

The NHS Care Record Guarantee

The NHS Care Record Guarantee for England sets out the rules that govern how patient information is used in the NHS, what control the patient can have over this, the rights individuals have to request copies of their data and how data is protected under the Data Protection Act 1998.

The NHS Constitution

The NHS Constitution establishes the principles and values of the NHS in England. It sets out the rights patients, the public and staff are entitled to. These rights cover how patients access health services, the quality of care you’ll receive, the treatments and programmes available to you, confidentiality, information and your right to complain if things go wrong.

For more information, please visit www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nhs-constitution-for-england

NHS Digital

NHS Digital collects health information from the records health and social care providers keep about the care and treatment they give, to promote health or support improvements in the delivery of care services in England.

For more information, please visit www.content.digital.nhs.uk/What-we-collect

General Practice Data for Planning and Research Directions 2021

(Replaces ‘General Practice Extraction Service 3- GPES)

General Practice Data for Planning and Research Directions 2021 – NHS Digital

Patients personal confidential data will be extracted and shared with NHS Digital in order to support vital health and care planning and research.
Patients may opt out of having their information shared for Planning or Research by applying a National Data Opt Out or a Type 1 Opt Out (see above).

General Practice Extraction Service (GPES) Covid-19 Planning and Research Data Purpose

Personal Confidential and Special Category data will be extracted at source from GP systems for the use of planning and research for the Covid-19 pandemic emergency period. Requests for data will be required from NHS Digital via their secure NHSX SPOC Covid-19 request process.

Legal Basis

NHS Digital has been directed by the Secretary of State under section 254 of the 2012 Act under the COVID-19 Direction to establish and operate a system for the collection and analysis of the information specified for this service: GPES Data for Pandemic Planning and Research (COVID-19).

A copy of the COVID-19 Direction can be viewed by visiting www.digital.nhs.uk/covid-19-public-health-directions-2020

Patients who have expressed an opt-out preference via Type 1 objections with their GP surgery not to have their data extracted for anything other than their direct care will not be party to this data extraction.

Reviews of and Changes to our Fair Processing Notice

We will keep our Fair Processing Notice under regular review. This notice was last reviewed in May 2021.

Appendix A

Clinical Audit

Information may be used for clinical audits to monitor the quality of the service provided. Some of this information may be held centrally and used for statistical purposes. Where we do this we take strict measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified e.g. the National Diabetes Audit.

Clinical Research

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.

National Registries

National Registries (such as the Learning Disabilities Register) have statutory permission under Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006, to collect and hold service user identifiable information without the need to seek informed consent from each individual service user.

Cabinet Office

The use of data by the Cabinet Office for data matching is carried out with statutory authority under Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act 1998.
Data matching by the Cabinet Office is subject to a Code of Practice.

View further information on the Cabinet Office’s legal powers and the reasons why it matches particular information by visiting www.gov.uk/code-of-data-matching-practice-for-national-fraud-initiative

Risk Stratification

Risk stratification is a process for identifying and managing patients who are most likely to need hospital or other healthcare services. Risk stratification tools used in the NHS help determine a person’s risk of suffering a particular condition and enable us to focus on preventing ill health and not just the treatment of sickness. 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 Sollis and hosted by South, Central & West Commissioning Support Unit and provided back to this practice. If necessary we may be able to offer you additional services.

Risk stratification is commissioned by the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in this area. Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 provides a statutory legal basis to process data for risk stratification purposes.

Further information about risk stratification is available by visiting www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/tsd/ig/risk-stratification

If you do not wish information about you to be included in the risk stratification programme, please let us know. We can add a code to your records that will stop your information from being used for this purpose.

Individual Funding Request

An ‘Individual Funding Request’ is a request made on your behalf, with your consent, by a clinician, for funding of specialised healthcare which falls outside the range of services and treatments that CCG has agreed to commission for the local population. An Individual Funding Request is taken under consideration when a case can be set out by a patient’s clinician that there are exceptional clinical circumstances which make the patient’s case different from other patients with the same condition who are at the same stage of their disease, or when the request is for a treatment that is regarded as new or experimental and where there are no other similar patients who would benefit from this treatment. A detailed response, including the criteria considered in arriving at the decision, will be provided to the patient’s clinician.

Invoice Validation

Invoice validation is an important process. It involves using your NHS number to check the CCG that is responsible for paying for your treatment. Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 provides a statutory legal basis to process data for invoice validation purposes. We can also use your NHS number to check whether your care has been funded through specialist commissioning, which NHS England will pay for. The process makes sure that the organisations providing your care are paid correctly.

Supporting Medicines Management

CCGs support local GP practices with prescribing queries which generally don’t require identifiable information. CCG pharmacists work with your practice to provide advice on medicines and prescribing queries, and review prescribing of medicines to ensure that it is safe and cost-effective. Where specialist support is required e.g. to order a drug that comes in solid form, in gas or liquid, the CCG medicines management team will order this on behalf of the practice to support your care.

Safeguarding

To ensure that adult and children’s safeguarding matters are managed appropriately, access to identifiable information will be shared in some limited circumstances where it’s legally required for the safety of the individuals concerned.

Summary Care Record (SCR)

The NHS in England uses a national electronic record called the Summary Care Record (SCR) to support patient care. It contains key information from your GP record. Your SCR provides authorised healthcare staff with faster, secure access to essential information about you in an emergency or when you need unplanned care, where such information would otherwise be unavailable.

Summary Care Records are there to improve the safety and quality of your care. SCR core information comprises your allergies, adverse reactions and medications. An SCR with additional information can also include reason for medication, vaccinations, significant diagnoses / problems, significant procedures, anticipatory care information and end of life care information. Additional information can only be added to your SCR with your agreement. Please be aware that if you choose to opt-out of SCR, NHS healthcare staff caring for you outside of this surgery may not be aware of your current medications, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines you have had, in order to treat you safely in an emergency. Your records will stay as they are now with information being shared by letter, email, fax or phone.

If you wish to opt out of the Summary Care Record scheme please complete our online Opt Out form.

Local Sharing via Joining Up Your Information (JUYI)

Your patient record is held securely and confidentially on our electronic system. We want to provide you with the best care possible. If you require attention from a health professional such as an Emergency Department, Minor Injury Unit or Out Of Hours location, those treating you are better able to give appropriate care if some of the information from your GP patient record is available to them. This information can be locally shared electronically via the JUYI system. The information is only used by authorised health and social care professionals in Gloucestershire-based organisations, involved in your direct care. Your permission will be asked before the information is accessed, unless the health and social care user is unable to ask you and there is a valid reason for access, which will then be logged.

If you do not wish to share your medical records outside of your practice you can opt out at any time by contacting the practice, but this might impact the care you receive.

Further information about JUYI can be found by visiting www.juyigloucestershire.org

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
• Specialist trusts
• Independent contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
• Private sector providers
• Voluntary sector providers
• Ambulance trusts
• Clinical commissioning groups
• Social care services
• Local authorities
• Education services
• Fire and rescue services
• Police
• Other ‘data processors’

We will never share your information outside of health partner organisations without your consent unless there are lawful circumstances such as when the health or safety of others is at risk, where the law requires it or to carry out a statutory function.

Within the health partner organisations (NHS and Specialist Trusts) and in relation to the above mentioned purposes – Risk Stratification, Invoice Validation, Supporting Medicines Management, Summary Care Record – we will assume you are happy to for your information to be shared unless you choose to opt-out (see below).

This means you will need to express an explicit wish not to have your information shared with the other NHS organisations; otherwise they will be automatically shared. We are required by law to report certain information to the appropriate authorities. This is only provided after formal permission has been given by a qualified health professional. There are occasions when we must pass on information, such as notification of new births, where we encounter infectious diseases which may endanger the safety of others, such as meningitis or measles (but not HIV/AIDS), and where a formal court order has been issued. Our guiding principle is that we are holding your records in strictest confidence.

Where multiple copies of the same information is requested the surgery may charge a reasonable fee for the extra copies.