How we use your personal information
This fair processing notice explains why the practice collects information about you and how that information may be used.
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. hospital, GP Practice, walk-in clinic, etc.). These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare.
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.
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 practice has had with you, such as appointments, clinic visits, emergency appointments, etc.
- Notes and reports about your health
- Details about your treatment and care
- Results of investigations such as laboratory tests, x-rays etc.
- Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care for you
- Sexual Orientation
- Trans status (please see following link for BMA guidance for managing confidentiality for patients with gender dysphoria)
Your records will be retained in accordance with the NHS code of practice for records management.
To ensure you receive the best possible care, your records are used to facilitate the care you receive. Information held about you may be used to help protect the health of the public and to help us manage the NHS. Information may be used within the GP practice for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service provided.
Some of this information will be held centrally and used for statistical purposes. Where we do this, we take strict measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.
Sometimes your information may be requested to be used for research purposes - the practice will always gain your consent before releasing the information for this purpose.
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
- Human Rights Act 1998
- Common Law Duty of Confidentiality
- Health and Social Care Act 2012
- NHS Codes of Confidentiality and Information Security
- Information: To Share or Not to Share Review
- Gender Recognition Act 2004
Every member of staff who works for the practice or another 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 3rd party without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances (i.e. life or death situations), where the law requires information to be passed on for example child/adult protection and serious criminal activity.
Staff Privacy Notice
What data we collect
We collect the personal data you provide to us when joining the team. This personal data includes your name, email address, job title, organisation address, land and mobile phone numbers and other as necessary contact details.
As part of the services we supply we may ask you to participate in consultations, surveys etc and we may keep copies of any communications between you and the Practice.
How we use your personal data
We use the information you give us to:
- To safely employ you.
- To ensure you are safe to work within the Practice.
- To ensure the details we contain about you are correct and up to date and to manage your preferences regarding communication from us.
- To otherwise communicate with you.
The Practice will only contact you for work/employment purposes, where there is a legitimate reason.
We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis, and we frequently encourage you to update your preferences.
We do not pass on your data to that third party without your explicit consent.
How long will we keep your data
We will keep your personal data for as long as you continue to be a member of the team and as long as is reasonably necessary afterwards to fulfil any legal requirements.
How we protect your data
We take the security of your personal information seriously. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure and unlawful or unauthorised processing and accidental loss, destruction or damage, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect. For example, we have adopted internal data protection procedures and trained our staff on them with a view to preventing breaches of security.
Use of third-party software
Meetings
From time to time we use software, such as online meeting software (for example Microsoft Teams or Zoom) for healthcare professionals to join in with virtual meetings. The features of this software do mean that, if you opt in to join a meeting, your data may be visible to other participants. It is a feature of the software and something we are unable to change.
Recording of online meetings
If a recording is going to take place on the day you are in attendance, you will be informed in the invitation to attend and on the day of recording the session (normally verbally) prior to any recording taking place. You will be told of the purpose of the recording and where it might be shared (usually with other healthcare professionals or members of the organisation). It is likely if you ask a question this will be recorded. By joining the event you will be consenting to having your data (name, image and email being captured). These can be anonymised by you, and the camera turned off, should you wish.
You are under no statutory obligation to agree to attend training/briefing/events that are being recorded and therefore can withdraw your consent and not attend or withdraw from the meeting.
Please ensure you are aware that anything else that may be in the background could be recorded. You can, on both Microsoft Teams and Zoom, put up a background to stop any additional pictures of your home being recorded. You can also turn off your camera and anonymise your name through the software, should you wish to.