As a practice we feel it is important that all our patients are fully informed of what happens to personal information that is stored on our computer system and are aware that we have a strict code of confidentiality.

EVERYBODY WORKING FOR THE NHS HAS A LEGAL DUTY TO KEEP INFORMATION ABOUT YOU CONFIDENTIAL.

All staff employed by this Practice abide by our Code of Confidentiality, and we operate a Practice Policy on Information Security.

When you register with this Practice you will be asked for information about yourself so that you can receive the appropriate care and treatment.  This information is kept, together with details of your health and treatment provided so that the Practice can always ensure that the care you receive is both appropriate and consistent with your medical history.

The following set out the only instances where the Practice may pass information to other organizations and the conditions that must be complied with before information about you is released:

• Statutory requirement sometimes requires the Practice to pass on information e.g. notification of a birth or death.

• The NHS Central Register for England and Wales contains basic personal details of all patients registered with a general practitioner.  The register does not contain clinical information.

• The Practice takes part in Drug Trial Research approved by the local Research Ethics Committee.  If at any time the research should involve you personally, you will always be contacted for your permission before any information is divulged.  Patients will not be identified in any published results without their prior permission.

• At times it may be necessary to refer to patient records when dealing with complaints or legal claims.

• We may use some of this information for preparing statistics to continue to improve the quality of our care and help to ensure that our services meet the needs of our patients.  At all times steps will be taken to ensure you cannot be identified.

• The NHS has chosen to offer patients the choice of having a Summary Care Record.  The Summary Care Record will contain basic information about any allergies you may have, unexpected reactions to medications and any prescriptions you have recently received.  The information will help clinicians in Accident and Emergency Departments and ‘Out of Hours’ health services to give you safe, timely and effective treatment.  Healthcare Professionals will only be allowed to access your record if they are authorised to do so and, even then, only if you give your express permission.  Information held on your Summary Care Record will not be passed to any outside organisation.  Further information about this scheme and an opt out form is available by visiting the NHS Care Records Service website.

You may be receiving care from other organizations within the NHS.  To ensure that you receive a consistent program of care we may need to share some information about your medical history.  We only ever do this if it is in your interest.

The Law strictly controls the sharing of some types of information.  Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.

If you do have any concerns regarding the confidentiality of your personal medical history, or you would like further information. Please do not hesitate to discuss this with your doctor, or the Practice Manager (Mrs Andrea Ball) (or her deputy).

YOU HAVE A RIGHT OF ACCESS TO YOUR HEALTH RECORDS