Privacy Notice

Privacy Notice

PRIVACY NOTICE

How we use your personal information
This notice explains why the 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.) for medical diagnosis and treatment. 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 which the Practice holds 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 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 used for research purposes, either here or with one of our research partners – the surgery will always gain your consent before releasing any information outside the Practice 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 admission and identifying a need for preventative intervention. Information about you is collected from a number of sources including NHS Trusts and from the Practice. A risk score is then arrived at through an analysis of your de-identified information using software 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.

Medicines 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
Cornwall through Kernow 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 organisation 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 or 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
interests of their patients within the framework set out by the Caldicott principles. They should be
supported by the policies 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
• Clinical commissioning groups
• Social care services
• The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
• Local authorities
• Education services
• Fire and rescue services
• Police & judicial Services
• Voluntary sector providers
• Private sector providers
• Other ‘data processors’ which you will be informed of

You will be informed with whom your data will be shared and in some cases asked for explicit
consent for this happen when this is required. We may also use external companies to process
personal information, such as for archiving purposes. These companies are bound by contractual
agreements to ensure information is kept confidential and secure.

Access to personal information

You have a right under the Data Protection Act 1998 to request access to view or to obtain copies of
what information the surgery holds about you and to have it amended should it be inaccurate. In
order to request this, you need to do the following:

• Your request should be made in writing to a Practice Manager – for information from the
hospital you should write directly to them
• There may be a charge to have a printed copy of the information held about you if the
request is deemed ‘excessive’
• We are required to respond to you within one month
• You will need to provide two forms of identification including one photo ID (ie passport or
driving licence) and one form proving proof of address (utility bill) so that records can be
verified and your records located

Objections / Complaints

Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed at the Practice, please
contact a Practice Manager. If you are still unhappy following a review by the 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 date 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.

Notification

The Data Protection Act 1998 requires organisations to register a notification with the Information
Commissioner to describe the purposes for which they process personal and sensitive information.
This information is publicly available on the Information Commissioners Office website
www.ico.org.uk
The 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:
Carn to Coast Health Centres, Pool Health Centre, Station Road, Pool, Redruth, TR15 3DU
Who is the Data Protection Officer?
The DPO is provided by Kernow Health CIC Tel: 01872 221102.
Complaints
Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed by the Practice please contact
a Practice Manager at Carn to Coast Health Centres, Pool Health Centre, Station Road, Pool, Redruth,
TR15 3DU
If you are still unhappy following a review by the Practice you can then complain to the Information
Commissioners Office (ICO). www.ico.org.uk, casework@ico.org.uk, telephone: 0303 123 1113 (local
rate) or 01625 545 745