We may also share your information, subject to strict agreements on how it will be used, with the following organisations;
- NHS Trusts / Foundation Trusts
- GP’s
- Community services such as district nurses, rehabilitation services, telehealth and out of hospital services.
- Child health services that undertake routine treatment or health screening
- Urgent care organisations, minor injury units or out of hours services
- Community hospitals
- Palliative care hospitals
- Care Homes
- Mental Health Trusts
- Hospitals
- Social Care organisations
- NHS Commissioning Support Units
- Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
- Private Sector Providers
- Voluntary Sector Providers
- Ambulance Trusts
- Clinical Commissioning Groups
- NHS England (NHSE) and NHS Digital (NHSD)
- Local Authorities
- Education Services
- Fire and Rescue Services
- Police & Judicial Services
- Voluntary Sector Providers
- Other ‘data processors’ which you will be informed of
Your information will only be shared if it is for the provision of your care or required for our statutory function and legal obligations.
Third party processors
When we use a third party service provider to process data on our behalf 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. An example of functions that may be carried out by third parties includes:
- 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.
- The systems that are contracted to maintain and store on our behalf are:
EMIS
Docman Clinical Systems
The safety and availability of your data is our utmost concern and we are confident that this approach will improve data security, integrity and performance.
Health Risk Screening / Risk Stratification
Health Risk Screening or Risk Stratification is a process that helps your GP to determine whether you are at risk of an unplanned admission or deterioration in health. By using selected information such as age, gender, NHS number, diagnosis, existing long-term condition(s), medication history, patterns of hospital attendances, admissions and periods of access to community care your GP will be able to judge if you are likely to need more support and care from time to time, or if the right services are in place to support the local population’s needs.
To summarise Risk Stratification is used in the NHS to:
- Help decide if a patient is at a greater risk of suffering from a particular condition
- Prevent an emergency admission
- Identify if a patient needs medical help to prevent a health condition from getting worse
- Review and amend provision of current health and social care services.
Your GP may use computer based calculations to identify if you are at risk, with support from the local Commissioning Support Unit.
Your GP will conduct this process outside of your GP appointment. This process is conducted electronically and without human intervention. The resulting report is reviewed by a healthcare team of staff within the Practice. This may result in contact being made with you if alterations to the provision of your care are identified.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has granted permission for personal data to be used for the purposes of risk stratification; this is because it would take too long to carry out a manual review of all patients. You have the right to object to your information being used in this way.
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.
If you decide to object to this, you should be aware that this may have a negative impact on the timely provision of your direct care. Should you wish to object please contact the Practice Manager.
Research
This practice may undertake accredited research projects. Where this involves accessing or disclosing identifiable patient information, we will only do so with your explicit consent and with approval from the Research Ethics Committee or where we have been provided with special authority to do so without consent.
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 at: https://www.gov.uk/topic/population-screening-programmes
Clinical Audit
This practice contributes to national and internal 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 the checks or audits are used to recommend improvements to patient care.
Summary Care Record
NHS England have also created a Summary Care Record which contains information about medication you are taking, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medication that you have had in the past.
The shared record means patients do not have to repeat their medical history at every care setting.
Your record will be automatically setup to be shared with the organisations listed above, however you have the right to ask your GP to stop your record from being shared or only allow access to parts of your record.
Your electronic health record contains lots of information about you. In most cases, particularly for patients with complex conditions and care arrangements, this means that you get the best care and means that the person involved in your care has all the information about you. The shared record means patients do not have to repeat their medical history at every care setting.
- If you decide not to share your Information (Opting –Out)
You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time for any instance of processing, provided consent is the legal basis for the processing. Please contact your GP Practice for further information and to raise your objection.
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.
National Data opt out
Health and care organisations have until March 2021 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 compliant with the national data opt-out policy.
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.
- Right to object: If we are using your data because it is necessary for our legal requirements to do so, and you do not agree, you have the right to object. We will respond to your request within 30 days (although we may be allowed to extend this period in certain cases). Generally, we will only disagree with you if certain limited conditions apply.
- Right to withdraw consent: Where we have obtained your consent to process your personal data for certain activities (for example for a research project), you may withdraw your consent at any time.
- Right of data portability: If you wish to transfer your data from us to another GP Practice we will help with this with a data transfer called GP to GP and transfer of your medical records.