Privacy notice

Your information, what you need to know

This privacy notice explains:

  • Why we collect information about you
  • What details we collect about you
  • The different ways in how that information may be used:
    • To provide you with healthcare
    • For medical research and to measure the quality of care
    • For national screening programmes
    • To meet legal requirements
  • How we keep your information safe and confidential
  • How you can access your medical records
  • Legal information about how we handle your data

Why we collect information about you

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

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

What details we collect about you

The health care professionals who provide you with care maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously (e.g. NHS Trust, GP Surgery, Walk-in clinic, etc.). These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare.

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

  • Details about you, such as your address and next of kin
  • Any contact the surgery has had with you, such as appointments, telephone consultations, medication requests, clinic visits, emergency appointments, etc…
  • Notes and reports about your health
  • Details about your treatment and care
  • Results of investigations, such as laboratory tests, x-rays, etc.
  • Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care for you

How we use your information to provide you with healthcare

Dockham Road Surgery keeps medical records confidential and complies with the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016.

We hold your medical records so that we can provide you with safe care and treatment.

We will also use your information so that this practice can check and review the quality of the care we provide. This helps us to improve our service to you.

  • We will share relevant information from your medical record with other health or social care staff or organisations when they provide you with care. For example, your GP will share information when they refer you to a specialist in a hospital. Or your GP will send details about your prescription to your chosen pharmacy.
  • Within Gloucestershire, there is a secure online system for sharing information known as JUYI. This stands for Joining Up Your Information. JUYI gives local health and social care professionals directly involved in your care instant access to your health and social care records.  Sharing your electronic records with the people who look after you gives them the most up-to-date information about you and makes your care safer and more efficient and cost effective. Further information about JUYI can be found online at www.juyigloucestershire.org
  • As part of the Forest of Dean Primary Care Network of GP surgeries, Dockham Road Surgery participates in an Extended Hours and Improved Access programme, to offer evening and weekend appointments at any of the 11 locality surgeries.  Doctors who treat you during these appointments will have access to your GP medical record in order to provide you with the best possible care.  More information about the participating surgeries and how your information is shared can be found online at www.forestgpsurgeries.co.uk
  • ACR project for patients with diabetes
    The data is being processed for the purpose of delivery of a programme, sponsored by NHS Digital, to monitor urine for indications of chronic kidney disease (CKD) which is recommended to be undertaken annually for patients at risk of chronic kidney disease e.g., patients living with diabetes. The programme enables patients to test their kidney function from home. We will share your contact details with Healthy.io to enable them to contact you and confirm that you wish them to send you a test kit. This will help identify patients at risk of kidney disease and help us agree any early interventions that can be put in place for the benefit of your care. Healthy.io will only use your data for the purposes of delivering their service to you. If you do not wish to receive a home test kit from Healthy.io we will continue to manage your care within the Practice. Healthy.io are required to hold data we send them in line with retention periods outlined in the Records Management code of Practice for Health and Social Care. Further information about this is available in the ‘Self-test for kidney disease from home’ leaflet
  • Healthcare staff working in A&E and out of hours care in Gloucestershire and across the country will also have access to your information. For example, it is important that staff who are treating you in an emergency know if you have any allergic reactions. This will involve the use of your Summary Care Record (SCR). SCRs are there to improve the safety and quality of your care.  SCR core information comprises your allergies, adverse reactions and medications. An SCR with additional information can also include reason for medication, vaccinations, significant diagnoses / problems, significant procedures, anticipatory care information and end of life care information. Additional information can only be added to your SCR with your agreement. More information about SCRs can be found online at www.digital.nhs.uk/summary-care-records

You have the right to object to information being shared for your care. Please speak to any of our practice staff if you wish to object, but if this limits the treatment that you can receive then the doctor will explain this to you at the time. You also have the right to have any mistakes or errors corrected.

Other important information about how your information is used to provide you with healthcare

Identifying patients who might be at risk of certain diseases.

Your medical records will be searched by a computer programme so that we can identify patients who might be at high risk from certain diseases such as heart disease or unplanned admissions to hospital. This means we can offer patients additional care or support as early as possible and enable us to focus on preventing ill health and not just the treatment of sickness.

Information about you is collected from a number of sources including NHS Trusts and from Dockham Road Surgery. A risk score is then arrived at through an analysis of your de-identified information using software managed by Sollis and hosted by South, Central & West Commissioning Support Unit and provided back to this practice.

Information which identifies you will only be seen by this practice.

In Gloucestershire, risk stratification is commissioned by the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 provides a statutory legal basis to process data for risk stratification purposes. Further information about risk stratification is available from: www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/tsd/ig/risk-stratification.

If you do not wish information about you to be included in the risk stratification programme, you can opt out of your data being used in this way by going to the National Data Opt-Out website at www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters.

Safeguarding

Sometimes we need to share information so that other individuals, including healthcare staff, children or others with safeguarding needs, are protected from harm. We may also need to share information with the police or other government agencies if there is a threat of serious harm to the wider public.

These circumstances are rare.

We do not need your consent or agreement to do this.

How we use your information to measure the quality of care and for medical research

Dockham Road Surgery contributes to national clinical audits so that healthcare can be checked and reviewed.

  • Information from medical records can help doctors and other healthcare workers measure and check the quality of care which is provided to you
  • The results of the checks or audits can show where hospitals are doing well and where they need to improve
  • The results of these audits are used to recommend improvements to patient care
  • Data are sent to NHS Digital, a national body with legal responsibilities to collect data
  • The data will include information about you, such are your NHS Number and date of birth and information about your health, which is recorded in coded form – for example the code for diabetes or high blood pressure
  • For more information about national clinical audits see the Healthcare Quality Improvements Partnership website: www.hqip.org.uk or phone 020 7997 7370

Dockham Road Surgery might also ask your consent to share information from your medical records in order to support medical research when the law allows us to do so, for example to learn more about why people get ill and what treatments might work best.

This is important because the use of information from GP medical records is very useful in developing new treatments and medicines and to help answer questions about illnesses and disease so that improvements can be made to the care and treatment patients receive.

You have the right to object to your identifiable information being shared for national clinical audits or to support medical research. If you do not wish information about you to be used in this way, you can opt out by going to the National Data Opt-Out website at www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters.

How we use your information to conduct national screening programmes

The NHS provides national screening programmes so that certain diseases can be detected at an early stage.

These screening programmes include bowel cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, aortic aneurysms and a diabetic eye screening service.

The law allows us to share your contact information with Public Health England so that you can be invited to the relevant screening programme.

More information can be found online at www.gov.uk/topic/population-screening-programmes.

How your information is shared so that Dockham Road Surgery can meet its legal requirements

The law requires Dockham Road Surgery to share information from your medical records in certain circumstances. Information is shared so that the NHS, Public Health England or other statutory government bodies can, for example:

  • Plan and manage services
  • Check that the care being provided is safe
  • Prevent infectious diseases from spreading

We will share information with NHS Digital, NHS Improvement, the Care Quality Commission, our local health protection team (or Public Health England) or other statutory government bodies when the law requires us to do so. Please see below for more information.

We must also share your information if a court of law orders us to do so.

NHS Digital

NHS Digital is a national body which has legal responsibilities to collect information about health and social care services. It collects information from across the NHS in England and provides reports on how the NHS is performing. These reports help to plan and improve services to patients.

Dockham Road Surgery must comply with the law and will send data to NHS Digital or NHS Improvement, for example, when we are told to do so by the Secretary of State for Health or NHS England under the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

More information about NHS Digital and NHS Improvement and how they use information can be found at: www.digital.nhs.uk/home.

Care Quality Commission (CQC)

The CQC regulates health and social care service to ensure that safe care is provided. The law says that we must report certain serious events to the CQC, for example, when patient safety has been put at risk. For more information about the CQC see: www.cqc.org.uk.

Public Health

The law requires us to share data for public health reasons, for example to prevent the spread of infectious diseases or other diseases which threaten the health of the population. Dockham Road Surgery will report the relevant information to our local health protection team or Public Health England.

For more information about Public Health England and disease reporting, see: www.gov.uk – Notifiable diseases and causative organisms: how to report.

National Registries

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

Cabinet Office

The use of data by the Cabinet Office for data matching is carried out with statutory authority under Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the General Data Protection Regulation 2018.

Data matching by the Cabinet Office is subject to a Code of Practice.

View further information on the Cabinet Office’s legal powers and the reasons why it matches particular information.

www.gov.uk – Code of Data Matching Practice for the National Fraud Initiative.

How we keep your information confidential and safe

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

NHS health records may be electronic, on paper or a mixture of both, and we use a combination of working practices and technology to ensure that your information is kept confidential and secure. Your records are backed up securely in line with NHS standard procedures. We ensure that the information we hold is kept in secure locations, is protected by appropriate security and access is restricted to authorised personnel.

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

How you can access your medical records

Under the European Union General Data Protection Regulation 2016 everybody has the right to see, or have a copy, of data we hold that can identify you, with some exceptions. You do not need to give a reason to see your data.

All patients can access their online medical records by signing up to our online patient system. Please contact any member of our reception team in order to do this.

For requests for written copies of your medical records, we will process all requests within 30 calendar days – or up to a maximum of 90 days for complex requests.

If you want to access your data you must make the request verbally or in writing.

All initial requests for your data will be provided free of charge. We may charge a reasonable fee for further copies to cover administration costs.

If you wish a third party to have access to your data – such as a solicitor or insurance company – they must prove that they are acting on your behalf and we will verify that you wish them to have access to the data. Under special circumstances, some information may be withheld. If you wish to have a copy of the information we hold about you, please contact Alex Powell or any member of our reception team.

Change of details

It is important that you tell the person treating you if any of your details such as your name or address have changed or if any of your details are incorrect in order for this to be amended. Please inform us of any changes so our records for you are accurate and up to date.

Mobile telephone number

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

We will keep our Privacy Notice under regular review. This notice was last reviewed in January 2021.

Legal information about how we handle your data

We are required by law to provide you with the following information about how we handle your information.

Data controller contact details

Dockham Road Surgery, Cinderford Medical Centre, Valley Road, GL14 3NQ

Data protection officer contact details

Caroline Dominey-Strange, call 07768 983884 or email, caroline.dominey-strange@nhs.net

Purposes of the processing

  • To give direct health or social care to individual patients. For example, when a patient agrees to a referral for direct care, such as to a hospital, relevant information about the patient will be shared with the other healthcare staff to enable them to give appropriate advice, investigations, treatments and/or care.
  • To check and review the quality of care (this is called audit and clinical governance).
  • For medical research.
  • To conduct national health screening programmes to detect diseases or conditions early. The information is shared so that the correct people are invited for screening, which means that those who are most at risk can be offered treatment.
  • To comply with legal obligations or court orders.

Lawful basis for processing

The use of your data to provide you with healthcare and to contact patients for screening is supported under the following section of the GDPR:

  • Article 6(1)(e) ‘…necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority…’; and

The use of your data to check the quality of care (clinical audit and governance), to contact patients for screening and to comply with legal obligations or court orders is supported under the following sections of the GDPR:

  • Article 6(1)(e) ‘…necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority…’; and
  • Article 9(2)(h) ‘necessary for the purposes of preventative 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 and services…”

The use of your data to support medical research is supported under the following sections of GDPR:

  • Article 6(1)(e) ‘…necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority…’; and
  • Article 9(2)(j) ‘…necessary for…scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes in accordance with Article 89(1) based on Union or Member States law which shall be proportionate to the aim pursued, respect he essence of the right to data protection and provide for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and interests of the data subject.’

The use of your data to comply with legal obligations is supported under the following section of GDPR:

  • Article 6(1)(c) – ’processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject…’

Healthcare staff will also respect and comply with their obligations under the common law duty of confidence.

Recipient or categories of recipients of the processed data

For the provision of your healthcare, the data will be shared with:

  • healthcare professionals and staff in this surgery;
  • participants of the Joining Up Your Information (JUYI) scheme
  • healthcare professionals in the Forest of Dean Primary Care Network;
  • local hospitals, such as the Dilke Community Hospital, Lydney Community Hospital, Gloucester Royal Hospital and Cheltenham General Hospital;
  • out of hours services, such as Care UK and GDoc;
  • diagnostic and treatment centres;
  • or other organisations involved in the provision of direct care to individual patients.

For the purposes of risk stratification and screening programmes, your data will be shared with the South Central & West Commissioning Support Unit.

For national clinical audits which check the quality of care the data will be shared with NHS Digital.

To comply with legal obligations or court orders the data will be shared with:

  • NHS Digital;
  • The Care Quality Commission;
  • Our local health protection team or Public Health England;
  • Other statutory government bodies as required by law, and
  • The court, if ordered.

Rights to object

  • You have the right to object to information being shared between those who are providing you with direct care. This may affect the care you receive – please speak to the practice.
  • You are not able to object to your name, address and other demographic information being sent to NHS Digital. This is necessary if you wish to be registered to receive NHS care.
  • You are not able to object when information is legitimately shared for safeguarding reasons. In appropriate circumstances it is a legal and professional requirement to share information for safeguarding reasons. This is to protect people from harm. The information will be shared with the local safeguarding services. More information can be found online at www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/gsab and www.gscb.org.uk.
  • You have a right to object under the GDPR and the right to ‘opt-out’ under the national data opt-out model for the sharing of your data for medical research and clinical audit. The national data opt-out model provides an easy way for you to opt out of information that identifies you being used medical research and quality checking or audit purposes. More information can be found at www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters.
  • For national screening programmes you can opt to no longer receive an invitation to a screening programme:  www.gov.uk – Opting out of the NHS population screening programmes.

There are very limited rights to object when the law requires information to be shared, but government policy allows some rights of objection as set out below.

NHS Digital

  • You have the right to object to information being shared with NHS Digital for reasons other than your own direct care.  This is called a ‘Type 1’ objection.   You can ask a member of the practice staff to apply this code to your record.  Please note:  The ‘Type 1’ objection will no longer be available after 2020.  This means you will not be able to object to your data being shared with NHS Digital when it is legally required under the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

Public Health

  • Legally information must be shared under public health legislation.  This means that you are unable to object.

Care Quality Commission

  • Legally information must be shared under public health legislation.  This means that you are unable to object.

Court order

  • Your information must be shared if it is ordered by a court.  This means that you are unable to object.

Right to access and correct

  • You have the right to access your medical record and have any errors or mistakes corrected. Please speak to a member of staff.
  • We are not aware of any circumstances in which you will have the right to delete correct information from your medical record; although you are free to obtain your own legal advice if you believe there is no lawful purpose for which we hold the information and contact us if you hold a different view.

Retention period

GP medical records will be kept in line with the law and national guidance. For more information, please speak to the practice.

Right to complain

You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. If you wish to complain follow this link www.ico.org.uk/global/contact-us or call the helpline 0303 123 1113.

Data we get from other organisations

We receive information about your health from other organisations who are involved in providing you with health and social care. For example, if you go to hospital for treatment or an operation the hospital will send us a letter to let us know what happens. This means your GP medical record is kept up-to date when you receive care from other parts of the health service.