Practice Policies & Patient Information
Access to Records
In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and Access to Health Records Act, patients may request to see their medical records. Such requests should be made through the practice manager and may be subject to an administration charge. No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so or if it is a matter of patient safety/safeguarding concern.
Accessible Information Standard
Accessible Information Standard
On Friday 3 July 2015, it was announced that The Accessible Information Standard (also known as SCCI1605) had been approved. The Accessible Information Standard sets out what health and social care providers need to do to make sure that they provide information in accessible formats and communication support for appointments where appropriate.
Who will benefit from this Standard?
“The scope of the standard extends to individuals (patients and service users, and where appropriate the parents and carers of patients and service users) who have information and / or communication support needs which are related to or caused by a disability, impairment or sensory loss.”
This means that if you are deaf, blind or have a dual sensory loss and need information such as appointment letters in a format other than standard print, or an interpreter for a health or social care appointment, this should be provided for you.
The Standard doesn’t cover those who need information translated because English isn’t their first language, or other aspects of accessibility in care such as signage or hospital transport.
Who needs to follow the Standard?
The Standard is to be carried out by all providers of NHS and publicly funded social care. This will include hospitals, GPs, social care services, pharmacies and others.
How does the Standard work?
There are five steps that providers need to take to implement the standard:
- Identify the communication and information needs of those who use their service.
- Record the communication and information needs they have identified: clearly and consistently on the individual’s record, recording their needs not why they have those needs i.e. “requires BSL interpreter” not “person is d/Deaf”.
- Have a consistent flagging system so that if a member of staff opens the individual’s record it is immediately brought to their attention if the person has a communication or information need.
- Share the identified information and communication needs of the individual when appropriate; for example a GP referring a patient to the hospital including the information that the person needs a deaf/blind manual interpreter in the referral letter so that the hospital can arrange it for the upcoming appointment.
- Meet the communication and information needs identified. For example, where possible send an appointment letter in Braille or book an interpreter for an appointment.
When will this Standard come into force?
Services can start implementing the Standard immediately but must be completing steps one and two by 1 April 2016 and all five steps by 31 July 2016.
What do I need to do?
If you have information or communication needs:
- At your next contact with a health or social care provider highlight your needs and ask for them to be recorded in compliance with the Standard.
- Information quoted from sense.org.uk/content/accessible-information-standard-England
- EasyRead Guide – Accessible Information Standard england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/access-info-upd-er-july-15.pdf
The links below lead to websites which provide useful information relating to healthcare in different formats and languages:
- Easy Read Health Leaflets easyhealth.org.uk/categories/health-leaflets
NHS leaflets in other languages nhs.uk/ - NHS videos nhs.uk/Video/Pages/bsl-tinnitus.aspx?searchtype=Tag&searchterm=Sign+language&
Further information on advocacy services which can offer support when dealing with organisations:
- nhs.uk/
- Independent Advocacy independentadvocacy.org/
- Beacon / Continuing Healthcare beaconchc.co.uk/
- POhWER (support when making complaints to the NHS) pohwer.net/help-to-make-a-complaint-44.html
Care Quality Commission (CQC)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) monitor, inspect and regulate services to make ensure we meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and that we publish their findings, including performance ratings to help people choose care.
During the inspection we are monitored on how effective and responsive we are in relation to the below population groups:
- Older people
- People with long-term conditions
- Families, children and young people
- Working age people (including those recently retired and students)
- People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable
- People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia)
Inspection Rating
There are four ratings that given to health and social care services:
Outstanding – the service is performing exceptionally well
Good – The service is performing well and meeting CQC expectations.
Requires improvement – The service is not performing as well as it should and the CQC have told the service how it must improve.
Inadequate – The service is performing badly and the CQC has/will take action against the person or organisation that runs it.
The CQC visited the surgery 8th January 2019 to undertake a routine inspection and have rated our service as ‘Good’. Please see the attached report for more information.
Statement of Purpose
Our purpose is to offer a high quality of care to our patients through our Commitment to training, education and learning, developing the skills and knowledge of the Practice team to meet the needs of our patients and the advances in Primary Care. Offering a friendly welcoming practice in a safe and suitable environment and involving our patients in service provision to ensure we are meeting our patient expectations. Please see our full Statements of Purpose below:
Collecting GP data – advice for the public
Read about how your GP data is been collected.
Confidentiality
We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (which is overseen by the Information Commissioner’s Office), Human Rights Act, the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality, and the NHS Codes of Confidentiality and Security.
All of our staff, contractors and committee members receive appropriate and on-going training to ensure they are aware of their personal responsibilities and have contractual obligations to uphold confidentiality, enforceable through disciplinary procedures.
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 and / or in accordance with the new information sharing principle i.e. “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.
Your information may be used within the GP practice for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service provided or ensure we are providing appropriate care.
Confidentiality & Medical Records
The practice complies with data protection and access to medical records legislation. Identifiable information about you will be shared with others in the following circumstances:
- To provide further medical treatment for you e.g. from district nurses and hospital services
- To help you get other services e.g. from the social work department. This requires your consent
- When we have a duty to others e.g. in child protection cases, anonymous patient information will also be used at local and national level to help the Health Board and Government plan services e.g. for diabetic care
If you do not wish anonymous information about you to be used in such a way, please let us know.
Reception and administration staff require access to your medical records in order to do their jobs. These members of staff are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as the medical staff.
COVID-19 Privacy
COVID-19 Privacy Notice
(This Privacy Notice is to run alongside our standard Practice Privacy Notice)
Due to the unprecedented challenges that the NHS and we, Arbury Medical Centre face due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, there is a greater need for public bodies to require additional collection and sharing of personal data to protect against serious threats to public health.
In order to look after your healthcare needs in the most efficient way we, Arbury Medical Centre may therefore need to share your personal information, including medical records, with staff from other GP Practices including Practices within our Primary Care Network, as well as other health organisations (i.e. Clinical Commissioning Groups, Commissioning Support Units, Local authorities etc.) and bodies engaged in disease surveillance for the purposes of research, protecting public health, providing healthcare services to the public and monitoring and managing the Covid-19 outbreak and incidents of exposure.
The Secretary of State has served notice under Regulation 3(4) of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (COPI) to require organisations to process confidential patient information in the manner set out below for purposes set out in Regulation 3(1) of COPI.
Purpose of this Notice
The purpose of this Notice is to require organisations such as Arbury Medical Centre to process confidential patient information for the purposes set out in Regulation 3(1) of COPI to support the Secretary of State’s response to Covid-19 (Covid-19 Purpose). “Processing” for these purposes is defined in Regulation 3(2) and includes dissemination of confidential patient information to persons and organisations permitted to process confidential patient information under Regulation 3(3) of COPI. This Notice is necessary to require organisations such as Arbury Medical Centre to lawfully and efficiently process confidential patient information as set out in Regulation 3(2) of COPI for purposes defined in regulation 3(1), for the purposes of research, protecting public health, providing healthcare services to the public and monitoring and managing the Covid-19 outbreak and incidents of exposure.
Requirement to Process Confidential Patient Information
The Secretary of State has served notice to recipients under Regulation 3(4) that requires Arbury Medical Centre to process confidential patient information, including disseminating to a person or organisation permitted to process confidential patient information under Regulation 3(3) of COPI, renewed 01 July 2022 until 31 October 2022
Arbury Medical Centre is only required to process such confidential patient information:
- where the confidential patient information to be processed is required for a Covid-19 Purpose and will be processed solely for that Covid-19 Purpose in accordance with Regulation 7 of COPI
- From 01 July 2022 until 31 October 2022.
Covid-19 Purpose.
A Covid-19 Purpose includes but is not limited to the following:
- understanding Covid-19 and risks to public health, trends in Covid-19 and such risks, and controlling and preventing the spread of Covid-19 and such risks
- identifying and understanding information about patients or potential patients with or at risk of Covid-19, information about incidents of patient exposure to Covid-19 and the management of patients with or at risk of Covid-19 including: locating, contacting, screening, flagging and monitoring such patients and collecting information about and providing services in relation to testing, diagnosis, self-isolation, fitness to work, treatment, medical and social interventions and recovery from Covid-19
- understanding information about patient access to health services and adult social care services and the need for wider care of patients and vulnerable groups as a direct or indirect result of Covid-19 and the availability and capacity of those services or that care
- monitoring and managing the response to Covid-19 by health and social care bodies and the Government including providing information to the public about Covid-19 and its effectiveness and information about capacity, medicines, equipment, supplies, services and the workforce within the health services and adult social care services
- delivering services to patients, clinicians, the health services and adult social care services workforce and the public about and in connection with Covid-19, including the provision of information, fit notes and the provision of health care and adult social care services
- research and planning in relation to Covid-19.
Recording of processing
A record will be kept by Arbury Medical Centre of all data processed under this Notice.
Sending Public Health Messages
Data protection and electronic communication laws will not stop Arbury Medical Centre from sending public health messages to you, either by phone, text or email as these messages are not direct marketing.
Digital Consultations
It may also be necessary, where the latest technology allows Arbury Medical Centre to do so, to use your information and health data to facilitate digital consultations and diagnoses and we will always do this with your security in mind.
Research and Pandemic Planning
The Secretary of State has directed NHS Digital to collect, process and analyse data in connection with COVID-19 to support the Secretary of State’s response to COVID-19 and support various COVID-19 purposes set out in the COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020, 17 March 2020 (as amended) (COVID-19 Direction) and below. This enables NHS Digital to collect data and analyse and link the data for COVID-19 purposes with other data held by NHS Digital.
The purpose of the data collection is also to respond to the intense demand for General Practice data to be shared in support of vital planning and research for COVID-19 purposes, including under the general legal notice issued by the Secretary of State under Regulation 3(4) of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (COPI).
NHS Digital has therefore been requested by the joint co-chairs of the Joint GP IT Committee (JGPITC) (the BMA and RCGP) to provide a tactical solution during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic to meet this demand and to relieve the growing burden and responsibility on General Practices. On 15 April 2020 the BMA and RCGP therefore gave their support via JGPITC to NHS Digital’s proposal to use the General Practice Extraction Service (GPES) to deliver a data collection from General Practices, at scale and pace, as a tactical solution to support the COVID-19 response in the pandemic emergency period.
It is a requirement of the JGPITC that all requests by organisations to access and use this data will need to be made via the NHSX SPOC COVID-19 request process that will triage and prioritise these requests and refer appropriate requests on to the NHS Digital Data Access Request Service (DARS). NHS Digital will consult with representatives of the BMA and the RCGP on all requests for access to the data. An outline of the process for this agreed with the BMA and the RCGP is published here. Requests by organisations to access record level data from this collection will also be subject to Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD) consideration. Data applicants will need to demonstrate they have a lawful basis to access the data for COVID-19 purposes.
Benefits of this sharing
Organisations, including the Government, health and social care organisations and researchers need access to this vital data for a range of COVID-19 purposes, to help plan, monitor and manage the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which will help save lives. COVID-19 purposes for which this data may be analysed and used may include:
- understanding COVID-19 and risks to public health, trends in COVID-19 and such risks, and controlling and preventing the spread of COVID-19 and such risks
- identifying and understanding information about patients or potential patients with, or at risk of COVID-19, information about incidents of patient exposure to COVID-19 and the management of patients with or at risk of COVID-19 including: locating, contacting, screening, flagging and monitoring such patients and collecting information about and providing services in relation to testing, diagnosis, self-isolation, fitness to work, treatment, medical and social interventions and recovery from COVID19
- understanding information about patient access to health services and adult social care services as a direct or indirect result of COVID-19, and the availability and capacity of those services • monitoring and managing the response to COVID-19 by health and social care bodies and the Government including providing information to the public about COVID-19 and its effectiveness and information about capacity, medicines, equipment, supplies, services and the workforce within the health services and adult social care services
- delivering services to patients, clinicians, the health services and adult social care services workforce and the public about and in connection with COVID-19, including the provision of information, fit notes and the provision of health care and adult social care services; and
- research and planning in relation to COVID-19.
Data may be analysed and linked to other data held by NHS Digital or held by other organisations to which access to the data is granted for COVID-19 purposes, through the process described above.
Data will be collected nationally from all GP Practices by NHS Digital every fortnight. All requests to access this data will be triaged through the NHSX SPOC COVID-19 request process and assessed and fulfilled by NHS Digital through DARS. This will significantly reduce the burden on General Practice at a time when demand on resources is high, enabling General Practice to focus on delivering health care and support to patients. It will also reduce compliance burden and risk for General Practice associated with sharing data and complying with the terms of the general legal notice issued under COPI, which applies to General Practices.
Legal Basis for this collection
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 is published here: https://digital.nhs.uk//about-nhs-digital/corporate-information-and-documents/directions-anddata-provision-notices/secretary-of-state-directions/covid-19-public-health-directions-2020.
Details of the information to be collected can be found on the NHS Digital website – Specification of this DPN. Type 1 objections will be upheld in collecting this data from General Practices and therefore the data for those patients who have registered a Type 1 objection with their GP will not be collected. The Type 1 objection prevents an individual’s personal identifiable confidential information from being shared outside of their GP Practice except when it is being used for the purposes of their direct care. The National Data Opt-Out will not apply to the collection of the data, as this is a collection which is required by law.
This information is required by NHS Digital under section 259(1)(a) of the 2012 Act to comply with the COVID-19 Direction. In line with section 259(5) of the 2012 Act, all organisations in England that are within the scope of this Notice, as identified below under Health and Social Care Bodies within the scope of the collection, must comply with the requirement and provide information to NHS Digital in the form, manner and for the period specified in this Notice. This Notice is issued in accordance with the procedure published as part of NHS Digital’s duty under section 259(8) of the 2012 Act.
In August 2020, the NHS announced that the seasonal national flu immunisation programme criteria for 2020 – 2021 will be expanded to include patients on the SPL. Therefore, to provide information that will support the identification of patients at moderate or high risk of complications from flu, a revision to the weekly extract of data has taken place. This, version three of the extract for the purpose of maintaining and updating the SPL, will continue until the expiry of the COVID-19 Direction. This is currently 30th June 2022. The frequency of the data collection may change in response to demand.
Data collection extracted on a weekly basis week commencing 13 April 2020 | Revised weekly data collection. The first collection is due week commencing 28 September 2020 |
All patients with defined long-term medical conditions which pose a COVID-19 risk, identified as clinically extremely vulnerable to that risk and/or on certain drug treatments as below: | All patients with defined long-term medical conditions which pose a COVID-19 risk, identified as clinically extremely vulnerable/potentially clinically vulnerable to that risk and/or on certain drug treatments as below: |
Medical Conditions that provide information on clinically vulnerable patients
· Severe asthma and dust related lung disease with relevant treatment in the last 12 months (asthma treatment & prednisolone OR high dose cortiscosteroid safety card) · COPD emphysema, and associated lung diseases with relevant treatment in the last 12 months (COPD drugs OR high dose high dose cortiscosteroid safety card · Non-asthma and non-COPD respiratory disease · Cancer(haem and others) · Genetic, metabolic or autoimmune disease · Immunosuppression drugs in the last 12 months · Flu-like symptoms or respiratory tract infections from 1 November 2019 · Transplants with severe Immunosuppression drug treatment in the last 12 months · Pregnant in last 9 months |
Medical Conditions that provide information on clinically vulnerable patients
· Severe asthma and dust related lung disease with relevant treatment in the last 12 months (asthma treatment & prednisolone OR high dose cortiscosteroid safety card) · COPD emphysema, and associated lung diseases with relevant treatment in the last 12 months (COPD drugs OR high dose high dose cortiscosteroid safety card · Non-asthma and non-COPD respiratory disease · Cancer(haem and others) · Genetic, metabolic or autoimmune disease · Immunosuppression drugs in the last 12 months · Flu-like symptoms or respiratory tract infections from 1 November 2019 · Transplants with severe Immunosuppression drug treatment in the last 12 months · Pregnant in last 9 months
No change |
· Patients designated separately as at risk from COVID-19 using high/medium/low risk SNOWED CT Codes, for example | · Patients designated separately as at risk from COVID-19 using high/medium/low risk SNOWED CT Codes, for example
No change |
Patients with a COVID-19 activity code | Patients with a COVID-19 activity code
No change |
Clinically vulnerable patients (eligible for seasonal flu vaccination)
· Chronic Respiratory disease · Unresolved asthma with recent asthma drug treatment (in the last 12 months) or has ever had an emergency hospital admission due to asthma · Chronic heart disease · Unresolved chronic kidney disease stage3,4 and 5 · Unresolved diabetes mellitus · Unresolved immunosuppression diagnosis · Immunosuppression procedure in the last 12 months · Chronic Liver disease · Chronic neurological disease · Pregnant in the last 9 months (different cluster to clinically extremely vulnerable group) · In patients aged 16 and over : BMI of 40+ in the last 12 months · In patients aged 16 and over : Latest BMI in the last 3 years was 40+ · Learning disability (including Down’s) · Has a “requires flu vaccination” code · Identified as a healthcare worker in the last 12 months · Household contact of an immunocompromised individual
Other Potentially clinically Vulnerable patients · Unresolved hypertension · Pulmonary hypertension · Dementia · Systemic lupus · Discoid and non-systemic lupus · Psoriasis · Rheumatoid arthritis and associated disorders |
|
Additional Data items for Patients from the above groups
· Latest ethnic category code (all groups) · Earliest code indicating that the patient has died (all groups) · Latest smoking status (all groups) · Blood pressure from the last 2 years (all groups) · In patients aged 16 and over: all BMI and weight in last 5 years plus height (all groups) · IFCC-HbA1c in the last 2 years (for diabetic patients in the flu group only) · Latest COPD resolved and admission codes (for COPD Patients in the clinically extreme vulnerable group only) · ACE inhibitors, ARBs and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the last 12 months (all groups) · Latest asthma emergency admission codes (for asthma patients in flu group only) · Asthma-related drug treatments in the last 12 months (for asthma patients in the flu group only) |
The Secretary of State has directed NHS Digital to collect, process and analyse data in connection with COVID-19 to support the Secretary of State’s response to COVID-19 and support various COVID-19 purposes set out in the COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020, 17 March 2020 (COVID-19 Direction) (as amended) (COVID-19) Direction) and below. This enables NHS Digital to collect data and analyse and link the data for COVID-19 purposes with other data held by NHS Digital. The rationale for changing the data extraction is that the initial data collection was based on an existing specification for flu vaccination eligibility. This data extraction was then refined in order to more accurately reflect the patients who are clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19 and also to minimise the data we are collecting. A further refinement of the data extraction has taken place leading to the inclusion of new data being extracted. This will provide information to inform vaccination programmes. This General Practice Extraction
Service (GPES) data will be extracted weekly and be used to assist in producing a weekly update of the SPL. The objective of this collection is on an ongoing basis to identify patients registered at General Practices who may be: • clinically extremely vulnerable if they contract COVID-19 • at moderate or high risk of complications from flu or COVID-19. The data collected will be analysed and linked with other data NHS Digital or other organisations hold to identify: • a list of clinically extremely vulnerable patients who will be advised to take shielding measures to protect themselves. Advice given to these patients has been published by Public Health England and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protectingextremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protectingextremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19#what-do-we-mean-by-extremelyvulnerable • a list of patients at moderate or high risk of complications from flu to inform the flu call/recall vaccination programme.
Further information on the flu programme can be found here: Coronavirus (england.nhs.uk)
The extract may also be used for future direct care purposes relating to the COVID-19 outbreak. The methodology NHS Digital has used to produce the SPL is explained in detail and is published on the NHS Digital SPL website page here:
https://digital.nhs.uk/coronavirus/shielded-patient-list Patients
added to the SPL will be contacted by post, email (and/or SMS message where this is necessary) by the NHS on behalf of the Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, to:
- advise of the measures they can take to reduce their risk of contracting the virus and sign-post them to the Extremely Vulnerable Persons service operated by gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable
- offer a flu vaccination or to contact non-responders who remain unvaccinated (as per NHS England specifications for the service). The SPL will also be used to inform GPs of their individual patients on the SPL, by flagging those patient records on GP patient record systems. The SPL will be shared with a variety of other organisations involved in the care and support of those patients and for planning, commissioning and research purposes associated with COVID-19. Full details of those with whom information has been shared can be found on the NHS Digital SPL website here:
https://digital.nhs.uk/coronavirus/shielded-patient-list/distribution.
Requests by organisations to access record level data from this collection will be subject to Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD) consideration. Data applicants will need to demonstrate they have a lawful basis to access the data for COVID-19 purposes.
Benefits of the collection
Organisations, including Government, health and social care organisations need to access this vital data for a range of COVID-19 purposes, to help plan, monitor and manage the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which will help save lives. COVID-19 purposes for which this data may be analysed and used may include: • understanding COVID-19 and risks to public health, trends in COVID-19 and such risks, and controlling and preventing the spread of COVID-19 and such risks • identifying and understanding information about patients or potential patients with, or at risk of COVID-19, information about incidents of patient exposure to COVID-19 and the management of patients with or at risk of COVID-19 including: locating, contacting, screening, flagging and monitoring such patients and collecting information about and providing services in relation to testing, diagnosis, self-isolation, fitness to work, treatment, medical and social interventions and recovery from COVID19. Data will be analysed and linked to other data held by NHS Digital or held by other organisations to which access to the data is granted for COVID-19 purposes, through the process described above. Data will be collected nationally from all General Practices by NHS Digital every week. All requests to access this data will be through Data Access Request Service (DARS). This will significantly reduce the burden on General Practice at a time when demand on resources is high, enabling General Practice to focus on delivering health care and support to patients. It will also reduce compliance burden and risk for General Practice associated with sharing data and complying with the terms of the general legal notice issued under the National Health Service (Control of Patient Information Regulations) 2002 (COPI), which applies to General Practices Patients facing the greatest risk if they contract COVID-19 and/or are in the moderate to high risk of complications from flu:
- will be identified and known to health organisations
- will have a greater awareness of the recommended preventative shielding measures
- will be able to follow clear advice
- will be able to ask for help and support, including social care support and essential food supplies, through the Extremely Vulnerable Persons service operated by gov.uk.
It will enable the SPL to be updated weekly to identify new patients and changes to patients on the List and will enable support provisions to be more dynamic and responsive to both social and clinical need.
It will also enable vital planning, commissioning, and research to be carried out for COVID-19 purposes. If patients facing the greatest risk follow advice, it is hoped that this will contribute to the delay and mitigation of the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.
Visitors to The Practice
We have an obligation to protect our staff and employees’ health, so it is reasonable for staff at Arbury Medical Centre to ask any visitors to our practice to tell us if they have visited a particular country, or are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. This must only be in pre-approved circumstances and we would also ask all patients to consider government advice on the NHS 111 website and not attend the practice.
Where it is necessary for us to collect information and specific health data about visitors to our practice, we will not collect more information than we need, and we will ensure that any information collected is treated with the appropriate safeguards.
Review and Expiry of this Notice
This Notice will be reviewed on or before 31 October 2022 and may be extended by The Secretary of State. If no further notice is sent to Arbury Medical Centre by The Secretary of State this Notice will expire on 31 October 2022.
Data Choices
Your Data Matters to the NHS
Information about your health and care helps us to improve your individual care, speed up diagnosis, plan your local services and research new treatments. The NHS is committed to keeping patient information safe and always being clear about how it is used.
How your data is used
Information about your individual care such as treatment and diagnoses is collected about you whenever you use health and care services. It is also used to help us and other organisations for research and planning such as research into new treatments, deciding where to put GP clinics and planning for the number of doctors and nurses in your local hospital. It is only used in this way when there is a clear legal basis to use the information to help improve health and care for you, your family and future generations.
Wherever possible we try to use data that does not identify you, but sometimes it is necessary to use your confidential patient information.
You have a choice
You do not need to do anything if you are happy about how your 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 mind about your choice at any time.
Will choosing this opt-out affect your care and treatment?
No, choosing to opt out will not affect how information is used to support your care and treatment. You will still be invited for screening services, such as screenings for bowel cancer.
What do you need to do?
If you are happy for your confidential patient information to be used for research and planning, you do not need to do anything.
To find out more about the benefits of data sharing, how data is protected, or to make/change your opt-out choice visit nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters
Data Protection Privacy Notice for Patients
Data Protection Privacy Notice for Patients
Introduction:
This privacy notice lets you know what happens to any personal data that you give to us, or any information that we may collect from you or about you from other organisations.
This privacy notice applies to personal information processed by or on behalf of the practice.
This Notice explains
- Who we are and how we use your information
- Information about our Data Protection Officer
- What kinds of personal information about you we hold and use (process)
- The legal grounds for our processing of your personal information (including when we share it with others)
- What should you do if your personal information changes?
- For how long your personal information is retained / stored by us?
- What are your rights under Data Protection laws
The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UKGDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) became law on 25th May 2018, and 1st January 2021 when the UK exited the EU.
For the purpose of applicable data protection legislation (including but not limited to the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (UK) 2016/679) (the “UKGDPR”), and the Data Protection Act 2018 the practice responsible for your personal data is Arbury Medical Centre.
This Notice describes how we collect, use and process your personal data, and how in doing so, we comply with our legal obligations to you. Your privacy is important to us, and we are committed to protecting and safeguarding your data privacy rights.
How we use your information and the law.
Arbury Medical Centre will be what’s known as the ‘Controller’ of your personal data.
We collect basic personal data about you and location-based information. This does include name, address and contact details such as email and mobile number etc.
We will also collect sensitive confidential data known as “special category personal data”, in the form of health information, religious belief (if required in a healthcare setting) ethnicity and sex life information that are linked to your healthcare, we may also receive this information about you from other health providers or third parties.
Why do we need your information?
The health care professionals who provide you with care maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously. These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare and treatment.
NHS health records may be electronic, paper-based or a mixture of both. We use a combination of working practices and technology to ensure that your information is kept confidential and secure.
Records about you may include the following information;
- Details about you, such as your address, your carer or legal representative and emergency contact details.
- Any contact the surgery has had with you, such as appointments, clinic visits, emergency appointments.
- 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.
- Contact details (including email address, mobile telephone number and home telephone number)
To ensure you receive the best possible care, your records are used to facilitate the care you receive, including contacting you. Information held about you may be used to help protect the health of the public and to help us manage the NHS and the services we provide. Limited information may be used within the GP practice for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service we provided.
How do we lawfully use your data?
We need your personal, sensitive and confidential data in order to provide you with healthcare services as a General Practice, under the General Data Protection Regulation we will be lawfully using your information in accordance with: –
Article 6, e) processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller;”
Article 9, (h) processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine, for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems
This Privacy Notice applies to the personal data of our patients and the data you have given us about your carers/family members.
We use your personal and healthcare information in the following ways:
- when we need to speak to, or contact other doctors, consultants, nurses or any other medical/healthcare professional or organisation during the course of your diagnosis or treatment or on going healthcare;
- when we are required by law to hand over your information to any other organisation, such as the police, by court order, solicitors, or immigration enforcement.
- In a de-identified form to support planning of health services and to improve health outcomes for our population
We will never pass on your personal information to anyone else who does not need it, or has no right to it, unless you give us consent to do so.
Legal justification for collecting and using your information
The law says we need a legal basis to handle your personal and healthcare information.
Contract: We have a contract with NHS England to deliver healthcare services to you. This contract provides that we are under a legal obligation to ensure that we deliver medical and healthcare services to the public.
Consent: Sometimes we also rely on the fact that you give us consent to use your personal and healthcare information so that we can take care of your healthcare needs.
Please note that you have the right to withdraw consent at any time if you no longer wish to receive services from us.
Necessary care: Providing you with the appropriate healthcare, where necessary. The Law refers to this as ‘protecting your vital interests’ where you may be in a position not to be able to consent.
Law: Sometimes the law obliges us to provide your information to an organisation (see above).
Special categories
The law states that personal information about your health falls into a special category of information because it is very sensitive. Reasons that may entitle us to use and process your information may be as follows:
Public Interest: Where we may need to handle your personal information when it is considered to be in the public interest. For example, when there is an outbreak of a specific disease and we need to contact you for treatment, or we need to pass your information to relevant organisations to ensure you receive advice and/or treatment
Consent: When you have given us consent
Vital Interest: If you are incapable of giving consent, and we have to use your information to protect your vital interests (eg if you have had an accident and you need emergency treatment)
Defending a claim: If we need your information to defend a legal claim against us by you, or by another party
Providing you with medical care: Where we need your information to provide you with medical and healthcare services
Risk Stratification
Risk stratification data tools are increasingly being used in the NHS to help determine a person’s risk of suffering a condition, preventing an unplanned or (re)admission and identifying a need for preventive intervention. Information about you is collected from several sources including NHS Trusts and from this GP Practice. The identifying parts of your data are removed, analysis of your data is undertaken, and a risk score is then determined. This is then 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 in most circumstances, please contact the practice for further information about opt out.
Individual Risk Management at a GP practice level however is deemed to be part of your individual healthcare and is covered by our legal powers above.
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. The reviews are carried out by the CCGs Medicines Management Team under a Data Processing contract with the Practice.
Anonymised information
Sometimes we may provide information about you in an anonymised form. Such information is used analyse population- level heath issues and helps the NHS to plan better services. If we share information for these purposes, then none of the information will identify you as an individual and cannot be traced back to you.
GP Connect Service
The GP Connect service allows authorised clinical staff at NHS 111 to seamlessly access our practice’s clinical system and book directly on behalf of a patient. This means that should you call NHS 111 and the clinician believes you need an appointment with your GP Practice, the clinician will access available appointment slots only (through GP Connect) and book you in. This will save you time as you will not need to contact the practice direct for an appointment.
The practice will not be sharing any of your data and the practice will only allow NHS 111 to see available appointment slots. They will not even have access to your record. However, NHS 111 will share any relevant data with us, but you will be made aware of this. This will help your GP in knowing what treatment / service / help you may require.
Please note if you no longer require the appointment or need to change the date and time for any reason you will need to speak to one of our reception staff and not NHS 111.
Summary Care Records
All patients registered with a GP have a Summary Care Record, unless they have chosen not to have one. The information held in your Summary Care Record gives registered and regulated healthcare professionals, away from your usual GP practice, access to information to provide you with safer care, reduce the risk of prescribing errors and improve your patient experience.
Your Summary Care Record contains basic (Core) information about allergies and medications and any reactions that you have had to medication in the past.
Some patients, including many with long term health conditions, previously have agreed to have Additional Information shared as part of their Summary Care Record. This Additional Information includes information about significant medical history (past and present), reasons for medications, care plan information and immunisations.
Change to information held in your Summary Care Record
In light of the current emergency, the Department of Health and Social Care has removed the requirement for a patient’s prior explicit consent to share Additional Information as part of the Summary Care Record.
This is because the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has issued a legal notice to healthcare bodies requiring them to share confidential patient information with other healthcare bodies where this is required to diagnose, control and prevent the spread of the virus and manage the pandemic. This includes sharing Additional Information through Summary Care Records, unless a patient objects to this.
If you have already expressed a preference to only have Core information shared in your Summary Care Record, or to opt-out completely of having a Summary Care Record, these preferences will continue to be respected and this change will not apply to you. For everyone else, the Summary Care Record will be updated to include the Additional Information. This change of requirement will be reviewed after the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Why we have made this change
In order to look after your health and care needs, health and social care bodies may share your confidential patient information contained in your Summary Care Record with clinical and non-clinical staff in other health and care organisations, for example hospitals, NHS 111 and out of hours organisations. These changes will improve the healthcare that you receive away from your usual GP practice.
Your rights in relation to your Summary Care Record
Regardless of your past decisions about your Summary Care Record preferences, you will still have the same options that you currently have in place to opt out of having a Summary Care Record, including the opportunity to opt-back in to having a Summary Care Record or opt back in to allow sharing of Additional Information.
You can exercise these rights by doing the following:
- Choose to have a Summary Care Record with all information shared. This means that any authorised, registered and regulated health and care professionals will be able to see a detailed Summary Care Record, including Core and Additional Information, if they need to provide you with direct care.
- Choose to have a Summary Care Record with Core information only. This means that any authorised, registered and regulated health and care professionals will be able to see limited information about allergies and medications in your Summary Care Record if they need to provide you with direct care.
- Choose to opt-out of having a Summary Care Record altogether. This means that you do not want any information shared with other authorised, registered and regulated health and care professionals involved in your direct care. You will not be able to change this preference at the time if you require direct care away from your GP practice. This means that no authorised, registered and regulated health and care professionals will be able to see information held in your GP records if they need to provide you with direct care, including in an emergency.
To make these changes, you should inform your GP practice or complete this form and return it to your GP practice.
Patient Communication
Because we are obliged to protect any confidential information, we hold about you and we take this very seriously, it is imperative that you let us know immediately if you change any of your contact details.
We may contact you using SMS texting to your mobile phone in the event that we need to notify you about appointments and other services that we provide to you involving your direct care, therefore you must ensure that we have your up to date details. This is to ensure we are sure we are actually contacting you and not another person. As this is operated on an ‘opt out’ basis we will assume that you give us permission to contact you via SMS if you have provided us with your mobile telephone number. Please let us know if you wish to opt out of this SMS service. We may also contact you using the email address you have provided to us. Please ensure that we have your up to date details.
There may be occasions where authorised research facilities would like you to take part in research. Your contact details may be used to invite you to receive further information about such research opportunities.
Safeguarding
The Practice is dedicated to ensuring that the principles and duties of safeguarding adults and children are holistically, consistently and conscientiously applied with the wellbeing of all, at the heart of what we do.
Our legal basis for processing For the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) purposes is: –
Article 6(1)(e) ‘…exercise of official authority…’.
For the processing of special categories data, the basis is: –
Article 9(2)(b) – ‘processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising specific rights of the controller or of the data subject in the field of employment and social security and social protection law…’
Research
Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) collects de-identified patient data from a network of GP practices across the UK. Primary care data are linked to a range of other health related data to provide a longitudinal, representative UK population health dataset. You can opt out of your information being used for research purposes at any time (see below), full details can be found here: –
https://cprd.com/transparency-information
The legal bases for processing this information
CPRD do not hold or process personal data on patients; however, NHS Digital (formally the Health and Social Care Centre) may process ‘personal data’ for us as an accredited ‘safe haven’ or ‘trusted third-party’ within the NHS when linking GP data with data from other sources. The legal bases for processing this data are:
- Medicines and medical device monitoring: Article 6(e) and Article 9(2)(i) – public interest in the area of public health
- Medical research and statistics: Article 6(e) and Article 9(2)(j) – public interest and scientific research purposes
Any data CPRD hold or pass on to bona fide researchers, except for clinical research studies, will have been anonymised in accordance with the Information Commissioner’s Office Anonymisation Code of Practice. We will hold data indefinitely for the benefit of future research, but studies will normally only hold the data we release to them for twelve months.
Categories of personal data
The data collected by Practice staff in the event of a safeguarding situation will be as much personal information as is possible that is necessary to obtain in order to handle the situation. In addition to some basic demographic and contact details, we will also process details of what the safeguarding concern is. This is likely to be special category information (such as health information).
Sources of the data
The Practice will either receive or collect information when someone contacts the organisation with safeguarding concerns, or we believe there may be safeguarding concerns and make enquiries to relevant providers.
Recipients of personal data
The information is used by the Practice when handling a safeguarding incident or concern. We may share information accordingly to ensure duty of care and investigation as required with other partners such as local authorities, the police or healthcare professionals (i.e. their GP or mental health team).
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 to the Data Protection Officer as below.
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 2018
- The General Data Protection Regulations 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 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.
Our practice policy is to respect the privacy of our patients, their families and our staff and to maintain compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and all UK specific Data Protection Requirements. Our policy is to ensure all personal data related to our patients will be protected.
All employees and sub-contractors engaged by our practice are asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. The practice will, if required, sign a separate confidentiality agreement if the client deems it necessary. If a sub-contractor acts as a data processor for Arbury Medical Centre an appropriate contract (art 24-28) will be established for the processing of your information.
In certain circumstances you may have the right to withdraw your consent to the processing of data. Please contact the Data Protection Officer in writing if you wish to withdraw your consent. If some circumstances we may need to store your data after your consent has been withdrawn to comply with a legislative requirement.
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 requested to be used for research purposes – the surgery will always gain your consent before releasing the information for this purpose in an identifiable format. In some circumstances you can Opt-out of the surgery sharing any of your information for research purposes.
With your consent we would also like to use your information
There are times that we may want to use your information to contact you or offer you services, not directly about your healthcare, in these instances we will always gain your consent to contact you. We would however like to use your name, contact details and email address to inform you of other services that may benefit you. We will only do this with your consent. There may be occasions where authorised research facilities would like you to take part on innovations, research, improving services or identifying trends, you will be asked to opt into such programmes if you are happy to do so.
At any stage where we would like to use your data for anything other than the specified purposes and where there is no lawful requirement for us to share or process your data, we will ensure that you have the ability to consent and opt out prior to any data processing taking place.
This information is not shared with third parties or used for any marketing and you can unsubscribe at any time via phone, email or by informing the practice DPO as below.
National Opt-Out Facility
You can choose whether your confidential patient information is used for research and planning.
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 nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters or call 0300 303 5678
NHS Digital Data Collection from the Practice
The NHS needs data about the patients it treats to plan and deliver its services and to ensure that care and treatment provided is safe and effective. The General Practice Data for Planning and Research data collection will help the NHS to improve health and care services for everyone by collecting patient data that can be used to do this. For example patient data can help the NHS to:
- monitor the long-term safety and effectiveness of care
- plan how to deliver better health and care services
- prevent the spread of infectious diseases
- identify new treatments and medicines through health research
GP practices already share patient data for these purposes, but this new data collection will be more efficient and effective.
This means that GPs can get on with looking after their patients, and NHS Digital can provide controlled access to patient data to the NHS and other organisations who need to use it, to improve health and care for everyone.
Contributing to research projects will benefit us all as better and safer treatments are introduced more quickly and effectively without compromising your privacy and confidentiality.
NHS Digital has engaged with the British Medical Association (BMA), Royal College of GPs (RCGP) and the National Data Guardian (NDG) to ensure relevant safeguards are in place for patients and GP practices.
NHS Digital purposes for processing patient data
Patient data from GP medical records kept by GP practices in England is used every day to improve health, care and services through planning and research, helping to find better treatments and improve patient care. The NHS is introducing an improved way to share this information – called the General Practice Data for Planning and Research data collection.
NHS Digital will collect, analyse, publish and share this patient data to improve health and care services for everyone. This includes:
- informing and developing health and social care policy
- planning and commissioning health and care services
- taking steps to protect public health (including managing and monitoring the coronavirus pandemic)
- in exceptional circumstances, providing you with individual care
- enabling healthcare and scientific research
Any data that NHS Digital collects will only be used for health and care purposes. It is never shared with marketing or insurance companies.
What patient data NHS Digital collect
Patient data will be collected from GP medical records about:
- any living patient registered at a GP practice in England when the collection started – this includes children and adults
- any patient who died after the data collection started, and was previously registered at a GP practice in England when the data collection started
While 1 September has been seen by some as a cut-off date for opt-out, after which data extraction would begin, Government has stated this will not be the case and data extraction will not commence until NHS Digital have met the tests.
The NHS is introducing three changes to the opt-out system which mean that patients will be able to change their opt-out status at any time:
- Patients do not need to register a Type 1 opt-out by 1 September to ensure their GP data will not be uploaded
- NHS Digital will create the technical means to allow GP data that has previously been uploaded to the system via the GPDPR collection to be deleted when someone registers a Type 1 opt-out
- The plan to retire Type 1 opt-outs will be deferred for at least 12 months while we get the new arrangements up and running, and will not be implemented without consultation with the RCGP, the BMA and the National Data Guardian
We will not collect your name or where you live. Any other data that could directly identify you, for example NHS number, General Practice Local Patient Number, full postcode and date of birth, is replaced with unique codes which are produced by de-identification software before the data is shared with NHS Digital.
This process is called pseudonymisation and means that no one will be able to directly identify you in the data. The diagram below helps to explain what this means. Using the terms in the diagram, the data we collect would be described as de-personalised.
Image provided by Understanding Patient Data under licence.
NHS Digital will be able to use the same software to convert the unique codes back to data that could directly identify you in certain circumstances, and where there is a valid legal reason. Only NHS Digital has the ability to do this. This would mean that the data became personally identifiable data in the diagram above. An example would be where you consent to your identifiable data being shared with a research project or clinical trial in which you are participating, as they need to know the data is about you.
More information about when we may be able to re-identify the data is in the who we share your patient data with section below.
The NHS Digital programme will be providing further information as the programme progresses. In the meantime, if you have any questions, you can contact the programme at [email protected].
The NHS Digital web pages also provide further information at https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/general-practice-data-for-planning-and-research#additional-information-for-gp-practices.
The Data NHD Digital collect
We will only collect structured and coded data from patient medical records that is needed for specific health and social care purposes explained above.
Data that directly identifies you as an individual patient, including your NHS number, General Practice Local Patient Number, full postcode, date of birth and if relevant date of death, is replaced with unique codes produced by de-identification software before it is sent to NHS Digital. This means that no one will be able to directly identify you in the data.
NHS Digital will be able to use the software to convert the unique codes back to data that could directly identify you in certain circumstances, and where there is a valid legal reason. This would mean that the data became personally identifiable in the diagram above. It will still be held securely and protected, including when it is shared by NHS Digital.
NHS Digital will collect
- data on your sex, ethnicity and sexual orientation
- clinical codes and data about diagnoses, symptoms, observations, test results, medications, allergies, immunisations, referrals and recalls, and appointments, including information about your physical, mental and sexual health
- data about staff who have treated you
More detailed information about the patient data we collect is contained in the Data Provision Notice issued to GP practices.
NHS Digital Does not collect.
- your name and address (except for your postcode in unique coded form)
- written notes (free text), such as the details of conversations with doctors and nurses
- images, letters and documents
- coded data that is not needed due to its age – for example medication, referral and appointment data that is over 10 years old
- coded data that GPs are not permitted to share by law – for example certain codes about IVF treatment, and certain information about gender re-assignment
Opting out of NHS Digital collecting your data (Type 1 Opt-out)
If you do not want your identifiable patient data (personally identifiable data in the diagram above) to be shared outside of your GP practice for purposes except for your own care, you can register an opt-out with your GP practice. This is known as a Type 1 Opt-out.
Type 1 Opt-outs were introduced in 2013 for data sharing from GP practices, but may be discontinued in the future as a new opt-out has since been introduced to cover the broader health and care system, called the National Data Opt-out. If this happens people who have registered a Type 1 Opt-out will be informed. More about National Data Opt-outs is in the section Who we share patient data with.
NHS Digital will not collect any patient data for patients who have already registered a Type 1 Opt-out in line with current policy. If this changes patients who have registered a Type 1 Opt-out will be informed.
If you do not want your patient data shared with NHS Digital, you can register a Type 1 Opt-out with your GP practice. You can register a Type 1 Opt-out at any time. You can also change your mind at any time and withdraw a Type 1 Opt-out.
Data sharing with NHS Digital will start on 1 September 2021.
If you have already registered a Type 1 Opt-out with your GP practice your data will not be shared with NHS Digital.
If you wish to register a Type 1 Opt-out with your GP practice before data sharing starts with NHS Digital, this should be done by returning this form to your GP practice. If you have previously registered a Type 1 Opt-out and you would like to withdraw this, you can also use the form to do this. You can send the form by post or email to your GP practice or call 0300 3035678 for a form to be sent out to you.
If you register a Type 1 Opt-out after your patient data has already been shared with NHS Digital, no more of your data will be shared with NHS Digital. NHS Digital will however still hold the patient data which was shared with us before you registered the Type 1 Opt-out.
If you do not want NHS Digital to share your identifiable patient data (personally identifiable data in the diagram above) with anyone else for purposes beyond your own care, then you can also register a National Data Opt-out. There is more about National Data Opt-outs and when they apply in the National Data Opt-out section below.
NHS Digital legal basis for collecting, analysing and sharing patient data.
When we collect, analyse, publish and share patient data, there are strict laws in place that we must follow. Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), this includes explaining to you what legal provisions apply under GDPR that allows us to process patient data. The GDPR protects everyone’s data.
NHS Digital has been directed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care under the General Practice Data for Planning and Research Directions 2021 to collect and analyse data from GP practices for health and social care purposes including policy, planning, commissioning, public health and research purposes.
NHS Digital is the controller of the patient data collected and analysed under the GDPR jointly with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
All GP practices in England are legally required to share data with NHS Digital for this purpose under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (2012 Act). More information about this requirement is contained in the Data Provision Notice issued by NHS Digital to GP practices.
NHS Digital has various powers to publish anonymous statistical data and to share patient data under sections 260 and 261 of the 2012 Act. It also has powers to share data under other Acts, for example the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
Regulation 3 of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (COPI) also allow confidential patient information to be used and shared appropriately and lawfully in a public health emergency. The Secretary of State has issued legal notices under COPI (COPI Notices) requiring NHS Digital, NHS England and Improvement, arm’s-length bodies (such as Public Health England), local authorities, NHS trusts, clinical commissioning groups and GP practices to share confidential patient information to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak. Any information used or shared during the COVID-19 outbreak will be limited to the period of the outbreak unless there is another legal basis to use confidential patient information.
The legal basis under UKGDPR for General Practice Data for Planning and Research
How NHS Digital use patient data
NHS Digital will analyse and link the patient data we collect with other patient data we hold to create national data sets and for data quality purposes.
NHS Digital will be able to use the de-identification software to convert the unique codes back to data that could directly identify you in certain circumstances for these purposes, where this is necessary and where there is a valid legal reason. There are strict internal approvals which need to be in place before we can do this and this will be subject to independent scrutiny and oversight by the Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD).
These national data sets are analysed and used by NHS Digital to produce national statistics and management information, including public dashboards about health and social care which are published. We never publish any patient data that could identify you. All data we publish is anonymous statistical data.
For more information about data we publish see Data and Information and Data Dashboards.
We may also carry out analysis on national data sets for data quality purposes and to support the work of others for the purposes set out in Our purposes for processing patient data section above.
Who NHS Digital share patient data with
All data which is shared by NHS Digital is subject to robust rules relating to privacy, security and confidentiality and only the minimum amount of data necessary to achieve the relevant health and social care purpose will be shared.
All requests to access patient data from this collection, other than anonymous aggregate statistical data, will be assessed by NHS Digital’s Data Access Request Service, to make sure that organisations have a legal basis to use the data and that it will be used safely, securely and appropriately.
These requests for access to patient data will also be subject to independent scrutiny and oversight by the Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD). Organisations approved to use this data will be required to enter into a data sharing agreement with NHS Digital regulating the use of the data.
There are a number of organisations who are likely to need access to different elements of patient data from the General Practice Data for Planning and Research collection. These include but may not be limited to:
- the Department of Health and Social Care and its executive agencies, including Public Health England and other government departments
- NHS England and NHS Improvement
- primary care networks (PCNs), clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and integrated care organisations (ICOs)
- local authorities
- research organisations, including universities, charities, clinical research organisations that run clinical trials and pharmaceutical companies
If the request is approved, the data will either be made available within a secure data access environment within NHS Digital infrastructure, or where the needs of the recipient cannot be met this way, as a direct dissemination of data. We plan to reduce the amount of data being processed outside central, secure data environments and increase the data we make available to be accessed via our secure data access environment. For more information read about improved data access in improving our data processing services.
Data will always be shared in the uniquely coded form (de-personalised data in the diagram above) unless in the circumstances of any specific request it is necessary for it to be provided in an identifiable form (personally identifiable data in the diagram above). For example, when express patient consent has been given to a researcher to link patient data from the General Practice for Planning and Research collection to data the researcher has already obtained from the patient.
It is therefore possible for NHS Digital to convert the unique codes back to data that could directly identify you in certain circumstances, and where there is a valid legal reason which permits this without breaching the common law duty of confidentiality. This would include:
- where the data was needed by a health professional for your own care and treatment
- where you have expressly consented to this, for example to participate in a clinical trial
- where there is a legal obligation, for example where the COPI Notices apply – see Our legal basis for collecting, analysing and sharing patient data above for more information on this
- where approval has been provided by the Health Research Authority or the Secretary of State with support from the Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG) under Regulation 5 of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (COPI) – this is sometimes known as a ‘section 251 approval’
This would mean that the data was personally identifiable in the diagram above. Re-identification of the data would only take place following approval of the specific request through the Data Access Request Service, and subject to independent assurance by IGARD and consultation with the Professional Advisory Group, which is made up of representatives from the BMA and the RCGP. If you have registered a National Data Opt-out, this would be applied in accordance with the National Data Opt-out policy before any identifiable patient data (personally identifiable data in the diagram above) about you was shared. More about the National Data Opt-out is in the section below.
Details of who we have shared data with, in what form and for what purposes are published on our data release register.
The practice one of many organisations working in the health and care system to improve care for patients and the public)[1].
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.
Most of the time, anonymised data is used for research and planning so that you cannot be identified in which case your confidential patient information isn’t needed.
You have a choice about whether you want your confidential patient information to be used in this way. If you are happy with this use of information you do not need to do anything. If you do choose to opt out your confidential patient information will still be used to support your individual care.
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
You can also find out more about how patient information is used at:
https://www.hra.nhs.uk/information-about-patients/ (which covers health and care research); and
https://understandingpatientdata.org.uk/what-you-need-know (which covers how and why patient information is used, the safeguards and how decisions are made)
You can change your mind about your choice at any time.
Data being used or shared for purposes beyond individual care does not include your data being shared with insurance companies or used for marketing purposes and data would only be used in this way with your specific agreement.
Health and care organisations have until 2020 to put systems and processes in place so they can be compliant with the national data opt-out and apply your choice to any confidential patient information they use or share for purposes beyond your individual care. Our organisation ‘is / is not currently’ compliant with the national data opt-out policy[2]
Where do we store your information electronically?
All the personal data we process is processed by our staff in the UK however for the purposes of IT hosting and maintenance this information may be located on servers within the European Union.
No 3rd parties have access to your personal data unless the law allows them to do so and appropriate safeguards have been put in place such as a Data Processor as above). We have a Data Protection regime in place to oversee the effective and secure processing of your personal and or special category (sensitive, confidential) data.
EMIS Web
The Practice uses a clinical system provided by a Data Processor called EMIS, from 10th June 2019, EMIS started storing your practice’s EMIS Web data in a highly secure, third party cloud hosted environment, namely Amazon Web Services (“AWS”).
The data will remain in the UK at all times and will be fully encrypted both in transit and at rest. In doing this, there will be no change to the control of access to your data and the hosted service provider will not have any access to the decryption keys. AWS is one of the world’s largest cloud companies, already supporting numerous public sector clients (including the NHS), and it offers the very highest levels of security and support.
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
- Primary Care Network
- NHS Commissioning Support Units
- Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
- Private Sector Providers
- Voluntary Sector Providers
- Ambulance Trusts
- Clinical Commissioning Groups
- Social Care Services
- NHS England (NHSE) and NHS Digital (NHSD)
- Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)
- 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 who your data will be shared with and in some cases asked for consent for this to happen when this is required.
Computer System
This practice operates a Clinical Computer System on which NHS Staff record information securely. This information can then be shared with other clinicians so that everyone caring for you is fully informed about your medical history, including allergies and medication.
To provide around the clock safe care, unless you have asked us not to, we will make information available to our Partner Organisation (above). Wherever possible, their staff will ask your consent before your information is viewed.
Shared Care Records
To support your care and improve the sharing of relevant information to our partner organisations (as above) when they are involved in looking after you, we will share information to other systems. You can opt out of this sharing of your records with our partners at anytime if this sharing is based on your consent.
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. All employees and sub-contractors engaged by our practice are asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. If a sub-contractor acts as a data processor for Arbury Medical Cantre an appropriate contract (art 24-28) will be established for the processing of your information.
Sharing your information without consent
We will normally ask you for your consent, but there are times when we may be required by law to share your information without your consent, for example:
- where there is a serious risk of harm or abuse to you or other people;
- Safeguarding matters and investigations
- where a serious crime, such as assault, is being investigated or where it could be prevented;
- notification of new births;
- where we encounter infectious diseases that may endanger the safety of others, such as meningitis or measles (but not HIV/AIDS);
- where a formal court order has been issued;
- where there is a legal requirement, for example if you had committed a Road Traffic Offence.
How long will we store your information?
We are required under UK law to keep your information and data for the full retention periods as specified by the NHS Records management code of practice for health and social care and national archives requirements.
More information on records retention can be found online at (https://digital.nhs.uk/article/1202/Records-Management-Code-of-Practice-for-Health-and-Social-Care-2016).
How can you access, amend move the personal data that you have given to us?
Even if we already hold your personal data, you still have various rights in relation to it. To get in touch about these, please contact us. We will seek to deal with your request without undue delay, and in any event in accordance with the requirements of any applicable laws. Please note that we may keep a record of your communications to help us resolve any issues which you raise.
Right to object: If we are using your data and you do not agree, you have the right to object. We will respond to your request within one month (although we may be allowed to extend this period in certain cases). This is NOT an absolute right sometimes we will need to process your data even if you object.
Right to withdraw consent: Where we have obtained your consent to process your personal data for certain activities (for example for a research project, or consent to send you information about us or matters you may be interested in), you may withdraw your consent at any time.
Right to erasure: In certain situations (for example, where we have processed your data unlawfully), you have the right to request us to “erase” your personal data. We will respond to your request within one month (although we may be allowed to extend this period in certain cases) and will only disagree with you if certain limited conditions apply. If we do agree to your request, we will delete your data but will need to keep a note of your name/ other basic details on our register of individuals who would prefer not to be contacted. This enables us to avoid contacting you in the future where your data are collected in unconnected circumstances. If you would prefer us not to do this, you are free to say so.
Right of data portability: If you wish, you have the right to transfer your data from us to another data controller. We will help with this with a GP to GP data transfer and transfer of your hard copy notes.
Primary Care Network
The objective of primary care networks (PCNs) is for group practices together to create more collaborative workforces which ease the pressure of GP’s, leaving them better able to focus on patient care.
Primary Care Networks form a key building block of the NHS long-term plan. Bringing general practices together to work at scale has been a policy priority for some years for a range of reasons, including improving the ability of practices to recruit and retain staff; to manage financial and estates pressures; to provide a wider range of services to patients and to more easily integrate with the wider health and care system.
All GP practices are expected to come together in geographical networks covering populations of approximately 30–50,000 patients by June 2019 if they are to take advantage of additional funding attached to the GP contract. This size is consistent with the size of the primary care homes, which exist in many places in the country, but much smaller than most GP Federations.
This means the practice may share your information with other practices within the PCN to provide you with your care and treatment.
Population Health Management
Population Health Management (or PHM for short) is aimed at improving the health of an entire population. It is being implemented across the NHS and this Practice is taking part in a project as a time limited pilot across named practices in Derby and Derbyshire.
The PHM approach requires health care organisations to work together with communities and partner agencies, for example, GP practices, community service providers, hospitals and other health and social care providers. These organisations will share and combine information with each other in order to get a view of health and services for the population in a particular area. This information sharing is subject to robust security arrangements.
As part of this programme, personal data about your health care will have all identifiers removed (like your name or NHS Number) and replaced with a code which will be linked to information about care received in different health care settings. If we see that an individual might benefit from some additional care or support, we will send the information back to your GP or hospital provider and they will use the code to identify you and offer you relevant services.
As part of this programme your GP and other care providers will send the information they hold on their systems to the North Of England Commissioning Support Unit (NECS). NECS are part of NHS England. More information can be found here https://www.necsu.nhs.uk
NECS will link all the information together. Your GP and other care providers will then review this information and make decisions about the whole population or particular patients that might need additional support. NECS work in partnership with a company called Optum to help them with this work. Both NECS and Optum are legally obliged to protect your information and maintain confidentiality in the same way that your GP or hospital provider is. More information about Optum can be found here www.optum.co.uk.
Health and Social Care Providers are permitted by data protection law to use personal information where it is ‘necessary for medical purposes’. This includes caring for you directly as well as management of health services more generally.
The PHM project is time-limited to 22 weeks. Once the project has completed all de-identified , information processed by NECS / Optum will be securely destroyed. This will not affect any personal information held by your GP or other health or social care providers.
Access to your personal information
Data Subject Access Requests (DSAR): You have a right under the Data Protection legislation 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. To request this, you need to do the following:
- Your request should be made to the Practice. (For information from a hospital or other Trust/ NHS organisation you should write direct to them.
- There is no charge to have a copy of the information held about you
- We are required to provide you with information within one month
- You will need to give adequate information (for example full name, address, date of birth, NHS number and details of your request) so that your identity can be verified, and your records located information we hold about you at any time.
What should you do if your personal information changes?
You should tell us so that we can update our records please contact the Practice Manager as soon as any of your details change, this is especially important for changes of address or contact details (such as your mobile phone number), the practice will from time to time ask you to confirm that the information we currently hold is accurate and up-to-date.
Online Access
You may ask us if you wish to have online access to your medical record. However, there will be certain protocols that we have to follow in order to give you online access, including written consent and production of documents that prove your identity.
Please note that when we give you online access, the responsibility is yours to make sure that you keep your information safe and secure if you do not wish any third party to gain access.
Third parties mentioned on your medical record
Sometimes we record information about third parties mentioned by you to us during any consultation, or contained in letters we receive from other organisations. We are under an obligation to make sure we also protect that third party’s rights as an individual and to ensure that references to them which may breach their rights to confidentiality, are removed before we send any information to any other party including yourself.
Our website
The only website this Privacy Notice applies to is the Surgery’s website. If you use a link to any other website from the Surgery’s website then you will need to read their respective Privacy Notice. We take no responsibility (legal or otherwise) for the content of other websites.
The Surgery’s website uses cookies. For more information on which cookies we use and how we use them, please see our Cookies Policy.
CCTV recording
CCTV is installed on our practice premises covering both the external area of the building and the internal area excluding consulting rooms. Images are held to improve the personal security of patients and staff whilst on the premises, and for the prevention and detection of crime. The images are recorded onto an integral hard drive of the equipment and are overwritten on a rolling basis. Viewing of these digital images is password protected and controlled by the Practice Manager.
Telephone system
Our telephone system records all telephone calls. Recordings are retained for up to three years, and are used periodically for the purposes of seeking clarification where there is a dispute as to what was said and for staff training Access to these recordings is restricted to named senior staff.
Objections / Complaints
Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed at the GP, please contact the GP Practice Manager or the Data Protection Officer as above. If you are still unhappy following a review by the GP practice, you have a right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority: You have a right to complain to the UK supervisory Authority as below.
Information Commissioner:
Wycliffe house
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 01625 545745
If you are happy for your data to be 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 Data Protection Officer.
If you would like to know more about your rights in respect of the personal data we hold about you, please contact the Data Protection Officer as below.
Data Protection Officer:
The Practice Data Protection Officer is Paul Couldrey of PCIG Consulting Limited. Any queries regarding Data Protection issues should be addressed to him at: –
Email: [email protected]
Postal: PCIG Consulting Limited
7 Westacre Drive
Quarry Bank
Dudley
West Midlands
DY5 2EE
Changes:
It is important to point out that we may amend this Privacy Notice from time to time. If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our Privacy Notice, please contact the Practice Data Protection Officer.
Fair Processing Notice (Data Information)
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.
Personal data is shared with information governance-compliant organisations to search and identify individuals entitled to health care in the community, recommended by NHS, but not provided by practices.
We comply with Data Protection Act in ensuring your personal information is as confidential and secure as possible.
Freedom of Information
Information about the General Practioners and the practice required for disclosure under this act can be made available to the public. All requests for such information should be made to the practice manager.
GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was adopted by the EU in April 2016 and will replace the current EU Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC. The GDPR introduces new obligations to data processors and data controllers, including those based outside the EU.
The GDPR will bring harmonisation across the EU regarding data privacy. The extraterritorial effect of the GDPR means its scope will apply to non-EU data controllers and processors monitoring the behaviour of or offering goods or services to individuals located in the EU. The Regulation will affect many industries, particularly financial services where firms tend to hold large volumes of personal data.
GDPR Privacy Notice v1.2 June 2021
GDPR How we use your information
GP Earnings
All GP Practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.
Missed Appointment Policy
When a patient does not attend (DNA) their pre-booked appointment or does not contact the surgery in advance to cancel/change appointment. The affect of these are:
- An increase in the waiting time for appointments
- Frustration for both staff and patients
- A waste of resources
- A potential risk to the health of a patient
If a patient fails to attend a pre-booked appointment they will be sent a letter. Dependent on the reoccurrence of missed appointments the practice will continue to send up to two further reminder/warning letters. However should persistent missed appointments occur, the practice may consider this a breakdown in patient communication and remove them from the registered patient list.
Mission Statement (Statement of Purpose)
Arbury Medical Centre offers General Medical Services and other local/national enhanced services for its registered patient population.
The aim of the Practice is the diagnosis and treatment of illness, promoting health education, health screening, primary prevention, immunisations and cervical cytology. In this way we aim to offer a high standard of care involving Patient Participation promoting good health and well-being.
We support our Patients to make sure they are able to access and receive the best and most appropriate health and/or social care.
We work closely with other healthcare colleagues, Specialists and local Hospitals in Secondary and Community Care and our Practice Nurses to support the management of chronic illness, such as Asthma, Diabetes and Cardiac Care.
We offer an appointment based system for GP and Nurse Consultations.
National Data Extractions (GPES)
The Health and Social Care Act 2012 allows NHS Digital to collate personal confidential data from GP practices without seeking your specific consent. This is extracted in order to make increased use of information from medical records and either used just by the NHS with the intention of improving healthcare and the quality of care delivered to patients or may be sold to external companies such as universities or commercial organisations. Please see below if you do not want your data used in this way.
More information about how NHS Digital uses your data can be found at content.digital.nhs.uk/gpes.
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 ico.org.uk.
The practice is registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) as a data controller under the Data Protection Act 1998. The registration number is Z5146666 and can be viewed online in the public register at ico.org.uk/what_we_cover/register_of_data_controllers
Objections/Complaints
Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed at the practice, please contact the Practice Manager. If you are still unhappy following a review by the GP practice, you can then complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) via their website.
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 personal data being extracted and leaving the GP practice for any of the purposes described, you need to let us know as soon as possible so please speak to the receptionist or put it in writing to the Practice Manager.
There are 3 levels of opt-out to prevent your data being shared. Each opt-out requires the practice to add a different code to your medical notes (please be aware that certain regulation such as child protection and court orders may over-rule your choices).
- You do not want your data to leave the practice even for direct patient care. (9Ndo Express dissent for Summary Care Record dataset upload)
- You are happy to share your data for your care but do not want NHS Digital extracting your data. (See below for type 1 code and how to over-ride this code if patient changes their mind.)
- You are happy to share your data for your care and improving public health but do not want NHS Digital selling or sharing your data to third parties. (See below for type 2 code and how to over-ride this code if patient changes their mind.)
All patients have the right to change their minds and reverse a previous decision. Please contact the practice if you change your mind regarding any previous choice.
Our ICB
Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board
Westgate House,
Market St,
Warwick CV34 4DE
Patients Charter
“Good general practice is a partnership in care requiring doctors and patients to work together to achieve the best service to all.”
Our charter is below.
Our Responsibilities to You
We are committed to giving you the best possible service; this will be achieved by working together.
You will be treated as a partner in the care and attention you receive. You will be treated as an individual and will be given courtesy and respect at all times, irrespective of your ethnic origin, religious belief, personal attributes or the nature of your health problems.
Following discussion you will receive the most appropriate care, given by suitably qualified people.
No care or treatment will be given without your informed consent.
Your Responsibilities to Us
Being a partner means that we have responsibilities to each other.
We ask that you treat the doctors, all practice staff and their families with the same courtesy and respect.
In return we would ask you to try and follow the medical advice offered and to take any medication as advised.
Getting the best out of the appointment
We run an appointment system in this practice. You will be given a time at which the doctor or nurse hope to be able to see you.
We will try to ensure that you are seen on time, but some consultations take longer than others and we have no way of knowing about this in advance. If there is a patient with an emergency or a serious problem we will give them priority. When there is a prolonged delay, an explanation will be given by the receptionist. It is our job to give you treatment and advice. In the interest of your health, it is important for you to understand all the information given to you. Please feel free to ask questions if you are unsure of anything.
Please do everything you can to keep appointments, tell us as soon as possible if you cannot and be ready to tell us details of your past illnesses, medication, hospital admissions and any other relevant details.
Please try to be punctual; if you arrive later than your appointment time this may cause delays and inconvenience to other patients. Please ask for more than one appointment if you want more than one patient to be seen. If we are running late, please be patient, because on another occasion it might be you that needs the extra time. Please do not blame the receptionist.
Telephone
We will try to answer the telephone promptly and to ensure that there are sufficient staff available to do this.
Please keep your telephone call brief and avoid calling during the peak morning surgery for non-urgent matters.
(Enquiries about tests arranged by the hospital should be directed to the hospital, not the practice.)
Home Visits
We will arrange a home visit as appropriate for those patients who are, in the doctor’s opinion, too ill or infirm to be brought to the surgery. You will have to arrange your own transport to attend the surgery.
Please do not ask for a home visit unless the patient cannot be brought to the surgery. In particular, most children can quite safely be brought to the surgery by car. Please ensure that your request for a home visit reaches the surgery before 10:00am, unless a genuine emergency arises later.
Courtesy
The Clinicians of the Practice will offer patients advice and information on:
- steps they can take to promote good health and avoid illness
- self-help which can be undertaken without reference to a doctor in the case of minor ailments
We will provide you with information about how to make suggestions or complaints about the care we offer. We want to improve services and will therefore welcome any comments you have.
If we consider that you need a second opinion or treatment is not available in the practice, we will try to inform you of the best way of achieving this.
If you are totally dissatisfied with us or the services we provide, you have the right at any time to leave our list and to register with another practice.
You are responsible for your own health and that of your children and should take appropriate action and advice.
Please do not ask for or arrange a specialist appointment without first discussing the matter fully with your own doctor. If you later decide that you no longer need an appointment made for you, please inform both the hospital and us.
As doctors, we also have the right to have patients removed from our list should the GP/Patient relationship breakdown.
Good General Practice has been based on good doctor and patient relationships requiring trust and mutual respect. It is important that this state of affairs should continue. We believe this is basic to good patient care.
Research & Your Info
YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION – RESEARCH STUDIES
The staff at this practice record information about you and your health so that you can receive the right care and treatment. We need to record this information, together with the details of the care you receive, because it may be needed if we see you again.
We may use some of this information for other reasons, for example, to help us to protect the health and general public generally, to plan for the future, to train staff and to carry out medical and other health research for the benefit of everyone.
We are currently involved in research studies for which we provide anonymous information from patients’ notes. The risk of you being identified from this information is extremely low as all directly identifiable details (name, address, post code, NHS number, full date of birth) are removed from your notes before they are collected for research, and automatic programs to depersonalise any free text (non structured or coded data) are run after information is collected. Individual patients’ records are added into a much larger anonymous database, containing records from millions of patients across the UK. This information is used by researchers outside the practice. The databases to which we contribute anonymous records, are known as The Health Improvement Network (THIN). This data may be anonymously linked to other data, such as hospital data. This database is managed by a company outside the NHS which does not have access to your personal details, only to anonymous medical records. The data are used for research into such topics as drug safety, disease patterns, prescribing patterns, health economics and public health. Many of these studies provide useful information to medical staff on diseases, the use of drugs or outcomes of disease or treatment.
These studies may be performed by academic researchers or commercial companies amongst others. However, no researcher has access to your full details such as your NHS number, name and address, initials or your full date of birth. The researchers are not given information about the GP nor the Practice name, address or postcode.
If you would like to opt out of this data collection scheme, please let your doctor know and no data from your records will be collected for use in research. This will not affect your care in any way.
If anything to do with the research should require that you provide additional information about yourself, you will be contacted to see if you’re willing to take part: you will not be identified in any published results.
For a list of published research using the THIN database please email Michelle Page at michelle.page@visionhealth,co.uk.
Note that you have the right of access to your health records. If at any time you would like to know more, or have have concerns about how we use your information, you can speak to the Practice Manager, telephone number: 02476 388555.
Risk Satisfaction
Risk stratification is a process for identifying and managing patients who are at a higher risk of emergency hospital admission. This may be because patients have a long term condition such as COPD, cancer or are more frail. NHS England encourages GPs to use risk stratification tools as part of their local strategies for supporting patients with long-term conditions and help reduce the patients’ risk of hospital admissions.
Information about you is collected from a number of sources including NHS Trusts and from this GP Practice. Your risk is then ‘scored’ after analysis of your anonymous information using computer programmes. Your information is only provided back to your GP or member of your care team in an identifiable form. Risk stratification enables your GP to focus on the prevention of ill health and not just the treatment of sickness.
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 & Warwickshire Health & 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 and where possible 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.
Summary Care Record
There is a new Central NHS Computer System called the Summary Care Record (SCR). It is an electronic record which contains information about the medicines you take, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines you have had.
Why do I need a Summary Care Record?
Storing information in one place makes it easier for healthcare staff to treat you in an emergency, or when your GP practice is closed.
This information could make a difference to how a doctor decides to care for you, for example which medicines they choose to prescribe for you.
Who can see it?
Only healthcare staff involved in your care can see your Summary Care Record.
How do I know if I have one?
Over half of the population of England now have a Summary Care Record. You can find out whether Summary Care Records have come to your area by looking at our interactive map or by asking your GP.
Do I have to have one?
No, it is not compulsory. If you choose to opt out of the scheme, then you will need to complete a form and bring it along to the surgery. You can use the form at the foot of this page.
More Information
For further information visit the NHS Care records website.
The Coventry & Warwickshire Integrated Care Record (ICR)
Why the ICR matters
Further Information
If you would like further information regarding the ICR, please visit the Coventry and Warwickshire Health and Care Parntership.
There are also posters and leaflets available via the Links Below:
Violence Policy
The NHS operate a zero tolerance policy with regard to violence and abuse and the practice has the right to remove violent patients from the list with immediate effect in order to safeguard practice staff, patients and other persons. Violence in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety. In this situation we will notify the patient in writing of their removal from the list and record in the patient’s medical records the fact of the removal and the circumstances leading to it.
What Information do we 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
Your Data Matters
Your Data Matters to the NHS.
Information about your health and care helps us 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 please visit: nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters or telephone 0300 303 5678.
Click link below for other information
Zero Tolerance
Arbury Medical Centre operates a zero tolerance policy to any abuse or bad behaviour towards its staff, doctors or other patients. This could be physical, verbal or online abuse.
GPs and staff have a right to care for others without fear of being attacked, abused or treated badly in any way. To successfully provide our services a mutual respect between staff and patients has to be in place. All our staff aim to be polite, helpful, and sensitive to all patients’ individual needs and circumstances. We would respectfully remind patients that very often staff could be confronted with a multitude of varying and sometimes difficult tasks and situations, all at the same time.
However, aggressive behaviour, be it physical, verbal or online, will not be tolerated and may result in you being removed from the practice list and, in extreme cases, the Police being contacted.
In order for the practice to maintain good relations with our patients we would like to ask all our patients to read and take note of the occasional types of behaviour we see that are unacceptable:
- Using bad language, shouting or raising of voices at practice staff.
- Any physical violence towards any member of our team or other
- Verbal abuse towards staff or patients in any form including shouting.
- Racist, xenophobic, sexist, homophobic or other intolerant language, discrimination or sexual harassment will never be tolerated.
- Persistent or unrealistic demands that cause stress to staff will not be accepted. Requests will be met wherever possible and explanations given when they cannot be met.
- Being perceived to bully or manipulate a staff member to obtain something.
- Causing damage to, stealing or not returning practice equipment from the practice’s premises, staff or patients.
- Obtaining drugs and/or medical services fraudulently.