Local Information Sharing
Your GP electronic patient record is held securely and confidentially on an electronic system managed by your registered GP Practice. If you require attention from a local Healthcare Professional outside of your usual practice services, such as in an Evening and Weekend GP Access Clinic, GP Federation Service, Emergency Department, Minor Injury Unit or Out Of Hours service, the professionals treating you are better able to give you safe and effective care if some of the information from your GP record is available to them.
Where available, this information can be shared electronically with other local healthcare providers via a secure system designed for this purpose. Depending on the service you are using and your health needs, this may involve the Healthcare Professional accessing a secure system that enables them to view parts of your GP electronic patient record ,or a secure system that enables them to view your full GP electronic patient record (e.g. EMIS remote consulting system).
In all cases, your information is only accessed and used by authorised staff who are involved in providing or supporting your direct care. Your permission will be asked before the information is accessed, other than in exceptional circumstances (e.g. emergencies) if the Healthcare Professional is unable to ask you and this is deemed to be in your best interests (which will then be logged).
Disclosure and sharing of your information
Information we obtain from third parties
We sometimes receive data that is indirectly made up from your personal information from third parties whose services we use. No such information is personally identifiable to you.
Information provided on the understanding that it will be shared with a third party
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 third party without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances (i.e. life or death situations), where the law requires information to be passed on and / or in accordance with the new information sharing principle following Dame Fiona Caldicott’s information sharing review (Information to share or not to share) where “The duty to share information can be as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality.” This means that Health and Social Care Professionals should have the confidence to share information in the best interests of their patients within the framework set out by the Caldicott principles. They should be supported by the policies of their employers, regulators and professional bodies.
Who are our partner organisations?
We may also have to share your information, subject to strict agreements on how it will be used, with the following organisations;
- NHS Trusts / Foundation Trusts
- GPs
- NHS Commissioning Support Units
- Independent Contractors such as Dentists, Opticians & Pharmacists
- Private Sector Providers
- Voluntary Sector Providers
- Ambulance Trusts
- Clinical Commissioning Groups
- Social Care Services
- Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
- Local Authorities
- Education Services
- Fire and Rescue Services
- Police & Judicial Services
- Voluntary Sector Providers
- Private Sector Providers
- Other ‘data processors’ which you will be informed of
You will be informed who your data will be shared with and in some cases asked for explicit consent for this to happen, when required.
We may also use external companies to process personal information, such as for archiving purposes. These companies are bound by contractual agreements to ensure information is kept confidential and secure.
What to do if you don’t want your information shared
Please tell us if you don’t want your information to be shared – either in some or all circumstances. We can make a note on your record that will ensure that your records can only be accessed by a health professional in the Practice (i.e. no administrative staff will be able to look at your records) or we can block your health data so that it can’t be accessed by other health service bodies e.g. Electronic Care Record.
Information submitted online
The practice website allows for the submission of some personal information for the purposes of updating your medical record e.g. new contact details. The service is provided by accredited suppliers, and all information submitted is covered by the same regulations as all other patient information.
Patient Rights (as the Data Subject)The right to erasure
The right to erasure is also known as “the right to be forgotten” and in general refers to an individual’s right to request the deletion or removal of personal information where there is no compelling reason for the Practice to continue using it.
As with other rights, there are particular conditions around this right and it does not provide individuals with an absolute right to be forgotten.
Individuals have the right to have their personal information deleted or removed in the following circumstances:
- When it is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected
- When the Practice no longer have a legal basis for using you your personal information, for example if you gave us consent to use your personal information in a specific way, and you withdraw your consent, we would need to stop using your information and erase it unless we had an overriding reason to continue to use it
- When you object to the Practice using your personal information and there is no overriding legitimate interest for us to continue using it.
- If we have used your personal information unlawfully
- If there is a legal obligation to erase your personal information for example by court order
The Practice can refuse to deal with your request for erasure when we use your personal information for the following reasons:
- to comply with a legal obligation for the performance of a public interest task or exercise of official authority
- for public health purposes in the public interest
- archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific research historical researchor statistical purpose
- the exercise or defence of legal claims
The right to restrict processing
You have the right to control how we use your personal information in some circumstances. This is known as the right to restriction. When processing is restricted, the Practice is permitted to store your personal information, but not further use it until an agreement is reached with you about further processing. We can retain enough information about you to ensure that your request for restriction is respected in the future.
Examples of ways you can restrict our processing would be:
- If you challenge the accuracy of your personal information, stop using it until we check its accuracy
- If you object to processing which is necessary for the performance of our tasks in the public interest or for the purpose of legitimate interests, we will restrict our processing while we consider whether our legitimate grounds override your individual interests, rights and freedoms
- If our use of your personal information is found to be unlawful and you ask for restriction instead of full erasure we will restrict our processing
- If we no longer need your personal information but you need it to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim, we will restrict our processing.
If we have shared your personal information with any individuals or organisations, if we restrict our processing, we will tell those individuals or organisations about our restriction if it is possible and not an unreasonable amount of effort.
Whenever we decide to lift a restriction on processing we will tell you.
Direct Care 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.