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. • Details about you, such as your name, address, carers, legal representatives and emergency contact details 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 Medicines Management The Practice may conduct medicines management reviews of medications prescribed to its patients. How do we maintain the confidentiality of your records? We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in • Data Protection Act 1998 and General Data Protection Regulation 2016 Human Rights Act 1998 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 • NHS trusts / foundation trusts You will be informed with whom your data will be shared and in some cases asked for explicit This shared system is called the Devon and Cornwall Care Record. It’s important that anyone treating you has access to your shared record so they have all the information they need to care for you. This applies to your routine appointments and also in urgent situations such as going to A&E, calling 111 or going to an out-of-hours appointment. It’s also quicker for staff to access a shared record than to try to contact other staff by phone or email. Only authorised health and care staff can access the Devon and Cornwall Care Record and the information they see is carefully checked so that it relates to their job. Also, systems do not share all your data – just data that services have agreed is necessary to include. For more information about the Devon and Cornwall Care Record, please go to https://www.devonandcornwallcarerecord.nhs.uk/ 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 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 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 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. 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
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;
• 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 opt out of your data being used in this way.
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.
accordance with:
• 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
the following organisations;
• 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
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.
• 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
to date for you.
The Practice is registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).
Who is the Data Controller?
Complaints