St Michael's and the Beehive Surgeries
Minerva Primary Care Network
PRIVACY NOTICE
Applicable to Minerva PCN member practices:
Combe Down Surgery, The Avenue, Combe Down, Bath BA2 5EG
Grosvenor Surgery, 26 Grosvenor Place, London Road, Bath BA1 6BA
Newbridge Surgery, 129 Newbridge Hill, Bath BA1 3PT
Rush Hill & Weston Surgeries, 20 Rush Hill, Bath BA2 2QH
St Michael’s Surgery, Walwyn Close, Twerton, Bath BA2 1ER
Your information, what you need to know
This privacy notice explains why we collect information about you, how that information will be used, how we keep it safe and confidential and what your rights are in relation to this.
Why we collect information about you
We keep data on you relating to who you are, where you live, what you do, your family, possibly your friends, your employers, your habits, your problems and diagnoses, the reasons you seek help, your appointments, where you are seen and when you are seen, who by, referrals to specialists and other healthcare providers, tests carried out here and in other places, investigations and scans, treatments and outcomes of treatments, your treatment history, the observations and opinions of other healthcare workers, within and without the NHS as well as comments and aide memoires reasonably made by healthcare professionals in this practice who are appropriately involved in your health care.
When registering for NHS care, all patients who receive NHS care are registered on a national database, the database is held by NHS Digital, a national organisation which has legal responsibilities to collect NHS Data when directed by the Secretary of State for Health under the Health and Social Care Act 2002.
If your health needs require care from others outside this practice we will exchange with them whatever information about you is necessary for them to provide that care. When you make contact with healthcare providers outside the practice but within the NHS it is usual for them to send us information relating to that encounter. We will retain part or all of those reports. Normally we will receive equivalent reports of contacts you have with non NHS services but this is not always the case.
Your consent to this sharing of data, within the practice and with those others outside the practice is assumed and is allowed by the Law.
You have the right to object to our sharing your data in these circumstances but we have an overriding responsibility to do what is in your best interests (see also Lawful Basis below).
How we keep your information confidential and safe
Everyone working for our organisation 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 NHS staff and they are required to protect your information, inform you of how your information will be used, and allow you to decide if and how your information can be shared. All our staff are expected to make sure information is kept confidential and receive regular training on how to do this.
The health records we use will 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.
We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with:
- Data Protection Legislation
- General Data Protection Regulation
- Human Rights Act
- Common Law Duty of Confidentiality
- NHS Codes of Confidentiality and Information Security
- Health and Social Care Act 2015
- And all applicable legislation
We maintain our duty of confidentiality to you at all times. We will only ever use or pass on information about you if we reasonably believe that 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 (such as a risk of serious harm to yourself or others) or where the law requires information to be passed on.
How we use your information
Improvements in information technology are also making it possible for us to share data with other healthcare organisations for the purpose of providing you, your family and your community with better care. For example it is possible for healthcare professionals in other services to access your record with your permission when the practice is closed. This is explained further in the Local Information Sharing section below.
Under the powers of the Health and Social Care Act 2015, NHS Digital can request personal confidential data from GP Practices without seeking patient consent for a number of specific purposes, which are set out in law.
You can choose to withdraw your consent to your personal data being shared for these purposes. When we are about to participate in a new data-sharing project we will display prominent notices in the Practice and on our website at least four weeks before the scheme is due to start. Instructions will be provided to explain what you have to do to ‘opt-out’ of the new scheme. Please be aware that it may not be possible to opt out of one scheme and not others, so you may have to opt out of all the schemes if you do not wish your data to be shared.
You can object to your personal information being shared with other healthcare providers but should be aware that this may, in some instances, affect your care as important information about your health might not be available to healthcare staff in other organisations. If this limits the treatment that you can receive then the practice staff will explain this to you at the time you object.
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.
Data Processors
We may use the services of a data processor to assist us with some of our data processing, but this is done under a contract with direct instruction from us that controls how they will handle patient information and ensures they treat any information in line with the General Data Protection Regulation, confidentiality, privacy law, and any other laws that apply.
Lawful Basis
We have been commissioned by the BaNES Clinical Commissioning Group to provide a GP surgery service and it is necessary for the performance of this task in the public interest for us to process your personal data.
We will use your special categories of personal data, such as that relating to your race, ethnic origin, and health for the purposes of providing you with health or social care or the management of health or social care systems and services. Such processing will only be carried out by a health or social work professional or by another person who owes a duty of confidentiality under legislation or a rule of law.
We are a medical research practice but we will only process your special categories of personal data for scientific research purposes with your explicit consent.
In some circumstances, we may process your personal information on the basis that:
- it is necessary to protect your vital interests;
- we are required to do so in order to comply with legal obligations to which we are subject;
- we are required to do so for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal claim;
- you have given us your explicit consent to do so.
Circumstances under which we may share your data
Clinical audit
Information will be used by the CCG for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service provided to patients with long terms conditions. Other organisations that look after you may also re-access your notes for clinical audit. When required, information will be held centrally and used for statistical purposes (e.g. the National Diabetes Audit). When this happens, strict measures are taken to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified from the data.
Clinical Research
We get requests from organisations to use our information for research purposes – we will always ask your permission before releasing any identifiable information for this purpose. Research organisations do not usually approach patients directly but will ask us to make contact with suitable patients to seek their consent. Records may be accessed by staff in other surgeries within the Primary Care Network to determine suitability for research.
Improving Diabetes Care
Information that does not identify individual patients is used to enable focussed discussions to take place at practice-led local diabetes review meetings between health care professionals. This enables the professionals to improve the management and support of these patients.
National screening programmes
The NHS provides national screening programmes so that certain diseases can be detected at an early stage. These currently apply to bowel cancer, breast cancer, aortic aneurysms and diabetic retinal 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.
Individual Funding Request
An ‘Individual Funding Request’ is a request made on your behalf, with your consent, by a clinician, for funding of specialised healthcare which falls outside the range of services and treatments that CCG has agreed to commission for the local population. An Individual Funding Request is taken under consideration when a case can be set out by a patient’s clinician that there are exceptional clinical circumstances which make the patient’s case different from other patients with the same condition who are at the same stage of their disease, or when the request is for a treatment that is regarded as new or experimental and where there are no other similar patients who would benefit from this treatment. A detailed response, including the criteria considered in arriving at the decision, will be provided to the patient’s clinician.
Invoice Validation
Invoice validation is an important process. It involves using your NHS number to identify which CCG is responsible for paying for your treatment. Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006
provides a statutory legal basis to process data for invoice validation purposes. We can also use your NHS number to check whether your care has been funded through specialist commissioning, which NHS England will pay for. The process makes sure that the organisations providing your care are paid correctly.
NHS payments processes
Contract holding GPs in the UK receive payments from their respective governments on a tiered basis. Most of the income is derived from baseline capitation payments made according to the number of patients registered with the practice on quarterly payment days. These amounts, paid per patient, per quarter vary according to the age, sex and other demographic details for each patient. There are also graduated payments made according to the practice’s achievement of certain agreed national quality targets known as the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), for instance the proportion of diabetic patients who have had an annual review.
Practices can also receive payments for participating in agreed national or local enhanced services, for instance opening early in the morning or late at night or at the weekends. Practices can also receive payments for certain national initiatives such as immunisation programs and practices may also receive incomes relating to a variety of non-patient related elements such as premises. Finally there are short term initiatives and projects that practices can take part in. Practices or GPs may also receive income for participating in the education of medical students, junior doctors and GPs themselves as well as research.
In order to make patient based payments basic and relevant necessary data about you needs to be sent to the various payment services. The release of this data is required by English laws.
Local Information Sharing
Your GP electronic patient record is held securely and confidentially on an electronic system called SystmOne TPP managed by us. If you require attention from a health professional in the Emergency Department, Out Of Hours service, or community service such as the district nurses, the professionals treating you are better able to give you safe and effective care if relevant information from your GP record is available to them.
We are able to share information electronically with other local health and care providers that also use SystmOne. Depending on the service you are using and your health and care needs, this may involve the professional accessing your GP electronic patient record.
In all cases, your information is only accessed and used by authorised health and social care professionals in locally based organisations who are involved in providing or supporting your direct care. Before sharing information we will ensure that there is an appropriate need and reason to share it. If we need to share information that you may not be aware of, we will do our best to let you know.
Records are also shared if you attend appointments through the Improving Access Service or at one of the other Minerva PCN practices.
If you are resident in a residential care home or nursing home we may share your record with staff there who in turn may share information with attending clinicians i.e. out of hours GP or ambulance crews.
Minerva also sub-contract to outside organisations to employ associated healthcare professionals who will have access to medical records when providing direct care. These employees are bound by the same standards of confidentiality.
We are also able to share with health and social care staff outside of SystmOne TPP. Information will be shared securely via phone, email or post, or through integrated care record systems between local health and social care organisations. Integrated care record systems only allow staff to access the information they need for the job they do. For further information see: https://bathneshealthandcare.nhs.uk/integrated-care-records/
Or Your Care Record (bswccg.nhs.uk)
We also use GP Connect which is a system that allows other health and care providers access to your GP medical records to enable them to support your health and care when you are accessing care outside your normal GP surgery i.e. through NHS 111. You can read more about GP Connect here: GP Connect information for patients
Emergencies
There are occasions when intervention is necessary in order to save or protect a patient’s life or to prevent them from serious immediate harm, for instance during a collapse or diabetic coma or serious injury or accident. In many of these circumstances the patient may be unconscious or too ill to communicate. In these circumstances we have an overriding duty to try to protect and treat the patient. If necessary we will share your information and possibly sensitive confidential information with other emergency healthcare services, the police or fire brigade, so that you can receive the best treatment. The law acknowledges this and provides supporting legal justifications.
Individuals have the right to make pre-determined decisions about the type and extent of care they will receive should they fall ill in the future, these are known as “Advance Directives”. If lodged in your records these will normally be honoured despite the observations in the first paragraph.
Regulatory inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an organisation established in English law by the Health and Social Care Act. The CQC is the regulator for English health and social care services to ensure that safe care is provided. They inspect and produce reports on all English general practices in a rolling 5 year program. The law allows CQC to access identifiable patient data as well as requiring this practice to share certain types of data with them in certain circumstances, for instance following a significant safety incident.
For more information about the CQC see: http://www.cqc.org.uk/
National Fraud Initiative – 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 Data Protection legislation. Data matching by the Cabinet Office is subject to a Code of Practice. For further information see:
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.
Website
When you visit our website information may automatically be collected about you. This information will not identify you, it relates to:
‘Google Analytics’, which collects technical information, including your browser type and version, time zone setting, operating system and platform and pages you visit.
‘Cookies’ are stored whilst you are using the site. Cookies are used to recognise your computer when you visit our website to improve the websites usability. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org
Any information you provide via an online request through the website will only be processed for that request and will not be used for any other reason. Your personal information will not be processed outside of the UK.
The organisation that provides the website on our behalf is contracted and subject to the same legal rules and conditions for keeping personal confidential data secure.
Doctorlink
To see how Doctorlink uses your data see https://www.doctorlink.com/privacynotice/
Risk Stratification for planning and commissioning of local services
‘Risk stratification for case finding’ is a process for identifying and managing patients who have or may be at-risk of health conditions (such as diabetes) or who are most likely to need healthcare services (such as people with frailty). Risk stratification tools used in the NHS help determine a person’s risk of suffering a particular condition and enable us to focus on preventing ill health before it develops.
Information about you is collected from a number of sources including NHS Trusts, GP Federations and us. A risk score is then arrived at through an analysis of your de-identified information. Only this practice will be able to identify you and the results of any calculated factors, such as your risk of having a heart attack in the next 10 years or your risk of being admitted to hospital. This can help us identify and offer you additional services to improve your health.
Risk-stratification data may also be used to improve local services and commission new services, where there is an identified need. In this area, risk stratification may be commissioned by the Clinical Commissioning Group. 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: https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/tsd/ig/risk-stratification /
Data can also be used to help the in the planning, implementing and evaluating of the areas local population health strategy and analysis of appointment demand and capacity.
This can help the commissioners of healthcare understand the needs of the population and understand how activities within one element of the healthcare economy impacts on other elements.
If you do not wish information about you to be included in any risk stratification programmes, please let us know. We can add a code to your records that will stop your information from being used for this purpose. Please be aware that this may limit the ability of healthcare professionals to identify if you have or are at risk of developing certain serious health conditions.
Supporting Locally Commissioned Services
CCGs support GP practices by auditing anonymised data to monitor locally commissioned services, measure prevalence and support data quality. The data does not include identifiable information and is used to support patient care and ensure providers are correctly paid for the services they provide.
Supporting Medicines Management
CCGs operate pharmacist and prescribing advice services to support local GP practices with prescribing queries, which may require identifiable information to be shared. These pharmacists work with your usual GP to provide advice on medicines and prescribing queries, and review prescribing of medicines to ensure that it is appropriate for your needs, safe and cost-effective. Where specialist prescribing support is required, the CCG medicines optimisation team may order medications on behalf of your GP Practice to support your care.
In the interests of Public Health
Public health encompasses everything from national smoking and alcohol policies, the management of epidemics such as flu, the control of large scale infections such as TB and Hepatitis B to local outbreaks of food poisoning or Measles. Certain illnesses are also notifiable, i.e. the doctors treating the patient are required by law to inform the Public Health Authorities, for instance Scarlet Fever.
This will necessarily mean the subjects personal and health information being shared with the Public Health organisations.
Safeguarding
Some members of society are recognised as needing protection, for example children and vulnerable adults. If a person is identified as being at risk from harm we are expected as professionals to do what we can to protect them. In addition we are bound by certain specific laws that exist to protect individuals. This is called “Safeguarding”.
To ensure that adult and children’s safeguarding matters are managed appropriately, access to identifiable information will be shared in circumstances where it’s legally required for the safety of the individuals concerned.
Summary Care Record (SCR)
The Summary Care Record consists of a basic medical record held on a central government database on every patient registered with a GP surgery in England. Your SCR provides authorised healthcare staff with faster, secure access to essential information about you in an emergency or when you need unplanned care, where such information would otherwise be unavailable.
The basic data is automatically extracted from your GP’s electronic record system and uploaded to the central system. GPs are required by their contract with the NHS to allow this upload. The basic upload consists of current medication, allergies and details of any previous bad reactions to medicines, the name, address, date of birth and NHS number of the patient.
As well as this basic record additional information can be added, and this can be far reaching and detailed. However, whereas the basic data is uploaded automatically any additional data will only be uploaded if you specifically request it and with your consent. This information can include specific care plans or instructions for other healthcare professionals i.e. a pain management plan or ‘do not resuscitate’ plan for the ambulance service.
Summary Care Records can only be viewed within the NHS on NHS smartcard controlled screens or by organisation, such as pharmacies, contracted to the NHS.
Please be aware that if you choose to opt-out of SCR, NHS healthcare staff caring for you outside of this surgery may not be aware of your current medications, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines you have had, in order to treat you safely in an emergency. Your records will stay as they are now with information being shared by letter, email, fax or phone. If you wish to opt-out of having an SCR please return a completed opt-out form to the practice.
Data Retention
We manage patient records in line with the Records Management NHS Code of Practice for Health and Social Care which sets the required standards of practice in the management of records for those who work within or under contract to NHS organisations in England, based on current legal requirements and professional best practice.
Who are our partner organisations?
We may also have to share your information, with the following organisation:
- NHS Trusts
- Specialist Trusts
- GP Federations
- Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
- Private Sector Providers
- Voluntary Sector Providers
- Ambulance Trusts
- Clinical Commissioning Groups
- Social Care Services
- Local Authorities
- Education Services
- Fire and Rescue Services
- Police
- Other ‘data processors’
This will be to ensure you receive effective care. The organisations we share with are bound by the same laws and regulations to ensure your data is handled lawfully.
We will never share your information outside of health and social care partner organisations without your explicit consent, or with an appropriate legal basis to do so such as there are exceptional circumstances when the health or safety of others is at risk, where the law requires it or to carry out a statutory function.
Within the health partner organisations (NHS and Specialist Trusts) and in relation to the above mentioned themes – Risk Stratification, Invoice Validation, Supporting Medicines Management, Summary Care Record – we will assume you are happy for your information to be shared unless you choose to opt-out (see below).
This means you will need to express an explicit wish to not have your information shared with the other organisations; otherwise it will be automatically shared. We are required by law to report certain information to the appropriate authorities. This is only provided after formal permission has been given by a qualified health professional. There are occasions when we must pass on information, such as notification of new births, where we encounter infectious diseases which may endanger the safety of others, such as meningitis or measles (but not HIV/AIDS), and where a formal court order has been issued. Our guiding principle is that we are holding your records in strictest confidence.
Your right to withdraw consent for us to share your personal information (Opt-Out)
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 confidential patient information helps to ensure you get the best possible care and treatment.
The confidential patient information collected about you when you use these services can also be used and provided to other organisations for purposes beyond your individual care where allowed by law.
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 choose to opt out your confidential patient information will still be used to support your individual care.
We do not share your confidential patient information for purposes beyond your individual care without your permission. When sharing data for planning and reporting purposes, we use anonymised data so that you cannot be identified in which case your confidential patient information isn’t required.
Information being used or shared for purposes beyond individual care does not include your confidential patient information being shared with insurance companies or used for marketing purposes and information would only be used in this way with your specific agreement.
Health and care organisations that process confidential patient information have to put systems and processes in place so they can be compliant with the national data opt-out. They must respect and apply your opt-out preference if they want to use or share your confidential patient information for purposes beyond your individual care.
We are currently compliant with the national data-out policy as we do not share your confidential patient information for purposes beyond your individual care without your permission.
To find out more or to register your choice to opt out, please visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters
You can change your choice at any time.
How long do we keep your personal information?
We follow the Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care 2016 records retention schedule published by the Information Governance Alliance for the Department of Health which states that electronic patient records should be retained for 10 years from the date of death. At that point, all personal data we hold on you will be securely deleted.
Access to your information
You have 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. If you want to access your data it helps us process this if you make the request in writing and we can supply a form for this. Under special circumstances, some information may be withheld. If you wish to have a copy of the information we hold about you, in the first instance please contact reception.
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 will 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.
Notification
Data Protection Legislation requires organisations to register a notification with the Information Commissioner to describe the purposes for which they process personal and sensitive information.
We are registered as a Data Controller and our registration can be viewed online in the public register at: http://ico.org.uk/what_we_cover/register_of_data_controllers. Any changes to this notice will be published on our website and at the Practice.
Your Right to Rectification and Erasure
In some circumstances, you may have a right to:
- restrict the use of information we hold about you
- object to the use of information we hold about you
If you feel that the personal data that the practice holds about you is inaccurate or incomplete then please let us know and we will update your records within one month of notification. If this incorrect information has been sent onwards, we will also inform any other organisations of this. If it is not possible to correct the information then we will write to you to let you know the reason behind the decision and inform you how you can complain about this.
If you feel information in your health record should not be there, you can ask the practice to erase that information. We will look at each request specifically. Please bear in mind there may well be legal reasons why we will need to keep data even if you request it to be erased. We will explain this to you in detail in our response.
Complaints
If you have concerns or are unhappy about any of our services, please contact the Practice/Patient Services Manager.
For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data-sharing issues, you can contact:
The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone: 0303 123 1113 Website: www.ico.gov.uk
Further Information
Useful links on how NHS uses personal information and your rights:
The NHS Care Record Guarantee
The NHS Care Record Guarantee for England sets out the rules that govern how patient information is used in the NHS, what control the patient can have over this, the rights individuals have to request copies of their data and how data is protected under Data Protection Legislation. http://systems.digital.nhs.uk/infogov/links/nhscrg.pdf
The NHS Constitution
The NHS Constitution establishes the principles and values of the NHS in England. It sets out the rights patients, the public and staff are entitled to. These rights cover how patients access health services, the quality of care you’ll receive, the treatments and programmes available to you, confidentiality, information and your right to complain if things go wrong. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nhs-constitution-for-england
NHS Digital
NHS Digital collects health information from the records health and social care providers keep about the care and treatment they give, to promote health or support improvements in the delivery of care services in England. http://content.digital.nhs.uk/article/4963/What-we-collect
