Privacy policy

HOLLYGREEN PRACTICE

Data Protection Privacy Notice for Patients

 Introduction

This privacy notice lets you know what happens to any personal data that you give to us, or any that we may collect from or about you.

This privacy notice applies to personal information processed by or on behalf of the practice.

This Notice explains


1. Who we are, how we use your information and our Data Protection Office?

2. What kinds of personal information about you do we process?

3.What are the legal grounds for our processing of your personal information (including when we share it with others)? 

4. What should you do if your personal information changes?

5. For how long your personal information is retained by us?

6. What are your rights under data protection laws?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 became law on 25th May 2018. The GDPR is a single EU-wide regulation on the protection of confidential and sensitive information, the DPA 2018 deals with elements of UK law that differ from the European Regulation.  These came into force in the UK on the 25th May 2018, repealing the Data Protection Act (1998).

For the purpose of applicable data protection legislation (including but not limited to the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (the "GDPR"), and the Data Protection Act 2018 (currently in Bill format before Parliament) the practice responsible for your personal data is the Hollygreen Practice.

This Notice describes how we collect, use and process your personal data, and how, in doing so, we comply with our legal obligations to you. Your privacy is important to us, and we are committed to protecting and safeguarding your data privacy rights

How we use your information and the law.

Hollygreen Practice will be what’s known as the ‘Controller’ of the personal data you provide to us.

We collect basic personal data about you which does not include any special types of information or location-based information. This does however include name, address, contact details such as email and mobile number etc.

We will also collect sensitive confidential data known as “special category personal data”, in the form of health information, religious belief (if required in a healthcare setting) ethnicity, and sex during the services we provide to you and or linked to your healthcare through other health providers or third parties.

Why do we need your information?

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. NHS Trust, GP Surgery, 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 the Practice hold about you may include the following information;

    • Details about you, such as your address, carer, legal representative, emergency contact details
    • Any contact the surgery 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


To ensure you receive the best possible care, your records are used to facilitate the care you receive, including contacting you. Information held about you may be used to help protect the health of the public and to help us manage the NHS and the services we provide. Information may be used within the GP practice for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service provided.

How do we lawfully use your data?

We need to know your personal, sensitive and confidential data in order to provide you with Healthcare services as a General Practice, under the General Data Protection Regulation we will be lawfully using your information in accordance with: -

Article 6, e) processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller;”

Article 9, (h) processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine, for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems

This Privacy Notice applies to the personal data of our patients and the data you have given us about your carers/family members.

Risk Stratification

Risk stratification data tools are increasingly being used in the NHS to help determine a person’s risk of suffering a condition, preventing an unplanned or (re)admission and identifying a need for preventive intervention. Information about you is collected from several sources including NHS Trusts and from this GP Practice. A risk score is then arrived at through an analysis of your de-identified information is only provided back to your GP as data controller in an identifiable form. Risk stratification enables your GP to focus on preventing ill health and not just the treatment of sickness. If necessary, your GP may be able to offer you additional services. Please note that you have the right to opt out of your data 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.

HOW YOUR INFORMATION IS SHARED SO THAT THIS PRACTICE CAN MEET LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

The law requires the practice to share information from your medical records in certain circumstances. Under the UKGDPR we will be lawfully using your information in accordance with

Article 6(1) (c) - 'processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject ...'

Artcile 9 (2) (h) - 'processing is necessary for the purpose of preventative ... medicine .... the provision of social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services'

Informaton is shared so that the NHS or Public Health England can, for example:

*  Plan and manage services

*  Check that the care being provided is safe

*  Prevent infectious diseases from spreading

We will share information with NHS Digital, the Care Quality Commission and local health protection team (or Public Health England) when the law requires us to do so.  Please see below for more information.

We must also share your information if a court of law orders us to do so.

 

NHS Digital

NHS Digital is a national body which has legal responsibilities to collect information about health and social care services.

It collects information from across the NHS in England and provides reports on how the NHS is performing.  These reports help to plan and improve services to patients.

This practice must comply with the law and will send data to NHS Digital, fro example, when it is told to do so by the Secretary of State for Health or NHS Enlgand and Social Care Act 2012.

More information about NHS Digital and how it uses information can be found at:  https://digital.nhs.uk/home

 https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/general-practice-data-for-planning-and-research/transparency-notice

This practice is supporting vital health and care planning and research by sharing your data with NHS Digital.  For more information about this see the GP Practice Privacy Notice for General Practiyce Data for Planning and Research.

 

 Care Quality Commission (CQC)

The CQC regulates health and social care services to ensure that safe care is provided.

The law says that we must report certain serious events to the CQCm for example, when patient safety has been put at risk.

For more information about the CQC see: https://www.cqc.org.uk/

 

Public Health 

The law requires us to share data for public health reasons, for example to prevent the spread of infectious diseases or other diseases which threaten the health of the population.

We will report the relevant informaton to the local health protection team or Public Health England.

For more information about Public Health England and disease reporting see: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/notifiable-disease-and-causative-oranisms-how-to-report

 

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. The following sections of the UK GDPR allow us to contact patients for screening.

Article 6(1) (e) - 'processing is necessary ... in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller'

Article 9 (2) (h) - 'processing is necessary or the purpose of preventative ... medicine... the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services'.

For national screening programmes you can opt out so that you no longer receive an invitiation to a screening programme.

See: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/opting-out-of-the-nhs-population-screening-programmes or speak to the practice.

 

OUR COMMITMENT TO DATA PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY

We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with:

*  Data Protection Act 2018

*  The UK General Data Protection Regulation

*  Human Rights Act 1998

*  Common Law Duty of Confidentiality

 *  Health and Social Care Act 2012

*  NHS Codes of Confidentiallity, Information Security and Records Management

In the circumstances where we are required to use personal identifiable information, we will only do this if:

*  The information is necessary for your direct healthcare, or

*  We have received explicit consent from you to use the information for a specific purpose, or

*  There is an overriding public interest in using the information:

    - In order to safeguard an individual

    - To prevent a serious crime or in the case of Public Health or other emergencies, to protect the health and safety of others, or

*  There is a legal requirement that allows or compels us to use or provide information (e.g. a formal court order or legislation) or,

*  We have permission from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to use certain confidential patient identifiable information when it is necessary for our work.

Everyone working in the NHS has a legal and contractual duty to keep informaton about you confidential.

Our practice policy is to respect the privacy of our patients, their families and our staff and to maintain compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UKGDPR) and all UK specific Data Protection requirements. Our policy is to ensure all personal data related to our patients will be protected.

All employees and sub-contractors engaged by our practice are asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. The practice will, if required, sign a separate confidentiality agreement if the client deems it necessary. if a sub-contractor acts as a data processor an appropriate contract (art 24-28) will be established for the processing of your information.

Where information is held centrally and used for statistical purposes, 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 surgery will always gain your consent before releasing the information for this purpose in an identifiable format.  In some circumstances you can opt-out of the surgery sharing any of your information for research purposes - please see 'Your Right's' section below. 

 

WHERE YOUR CONSENT IS REQUIRED

We would like to use your name, contact details and email address to inform you of services that may benefit you, with your consent only.  There may be occassions where authorised research facilities would like you to take part in innovations, research, improving services or identifying trends.

At any stage where we would like to use your data for anything other than the specified purposes and where there is no lawful requirement for us to share or process your data, we will ensure that you have the ability to consent and opt out prior to any data processing taking place.

This information is not shared with third parties or used for any marketing and you can withdraw consent at any time via phone, email or by informing the practice as below.

 

 

How do we contain the confidentiality of your records?

We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with:

*  The General Data Protection Regulations 2016

*  Data Protection Act 2018

*  Human Rights Act 1998

*  Common Law Duty of Confidentiality

*  Health and Social Care Act 2012

*  NHS Codes of Confidentiality, Information Security and Records Management

*  Information: To Share or Not to Share Review

Every member of staff who works for an NHS organisation has a legal obligation to keep information about your 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 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 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.

Our practice policy is to respect the privacy of our patients, their families and our staff and to maintain compliance with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and all UK specific Data Protection Requirements.  Our policy is to ensure all personal data related to our patients will be protected.

All employees and sub-contractors engaged by our practice are asked to sign a confidentiality agreement.  The practice will, if required, sign a separate confidentiality agreement if the client deems it necessary.  If a sub-contractor acts as a data processor for the Hollygreen Practice an appropriate contract (art 24-28) will be established for the processing of your information.

In certain circumstances you may have the right to withdraw your consent to the processing of data. Please contact the Data Protection Officer in writing if you wish to withdraw your consent.  In some circumstances we may need to store your data after your consent has been withdrawn to comply with a legislative requirement.

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 surgery will always gain your consent before releasing the information for this purpose in an identifiable format.  In some circumstances you can opt-out of the surgery sharing any of your information for research purposes.

With your consent however we would like to use your name, contact details and email address to inform you of services that may benefit you, but with your consent only.  There may be occasions where authorised research facilities would like you to take part in innovations, research, improving services or identifying trends.

At any stage where we would like to use your data for anything other than the specified purposes and where there is no lawful requirement for us to share or process you data, we will ensure that you have the ability to consent and opt out prior to any data processing taking place.

This information is not shared with third parties or used for any marketing and you can unsubscribe at any time via phone, email or by informing the Practice Data Protection Officer.

Where do we store your information Electronically?

All the personal data we process is processed by our staff in the UK however for the purposes of IT hosting and maintenance this information may be located on servers within the European Union.

No third parties have access to your personal data unless the law allows them to do so and appropriate safeguards have been put in place. We have a Data Protection regime in place to oversee the effective and secure processing of your personal and or special category (sensitive, confidential) data.

Our records relating to your healthcare are held on a system called Systm One provided by a company called TPP.  This system is one of four nationally accredited systems used by GPs for the purposes of holding records.  The system has numerous safeguards to ensure your records are held securely and confidentially, for example only appropriate authorised members of the care team are able to access your records, and an audit trail is kept showing who has accessed your record.

Recent improvements to the system's functionality mean that GPs and other health professionals working for other organisations providing care in Barnsley can also view your record as long as they are directly involved in your care. This will ensure you receive the highest standards of care since everyone involved in your care will have access to complete and up to date information.  It also means you will not have to repeat details of your medical history multiple times.  All organisations sharing data in this way work to the same high standards of data security and confidentiality. If you do not wish information to be shared in this way please speak to the practice manager.

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
    • Primary Care Networks
    • 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
    • NHS England (NHSE) and NHS Digital (NHSD)
    • 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.
    • Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) - share the full patient record with their clinicians for direct care purposes and demographic details to allow direct appointment booking.  

You will be informed who your data will be shared with and in some cases asked for consent for this to happen when this is required.

We may also use external companies to process personal information, such as archiving purposes.  These companies are bound by contractual agreements to ensure information is kept confidential and secure.  All employees and sub-contractors engaged by our practice are asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. If a sub-contractor acts as a data process for the Hollygreen Practice an appropriate (art 24-28) will be established for the processing of your information.

 

How long will we store your information?

We are required under UK law to keep your information and data for the full retention periods as specified by the NHS Records management code of practice for health and social care and national archives requirements.

More information on records retention can be found online at (https://digital.nhs.uk/article/1202/Records-Management-Code-of-Practice-for-Health-and-Social-Care-2016)

How can you access, amend move the personal data that you have given to us?

Even if we already hold your personal data, you still have various rights in relation to it. To get in touch about these, please contact us. We will seek to deal with your request without undue delay, and in any event in accordance with the requirements of any applicable laws. Please note that we may keep a record of your communications to help us resolve any issues which you raise.

Right to object: If we are using your data because we deem it necessary for our legitimate interests 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), or consent to market to you, you may withdraw your consent at any time.

Right to erasure: In certain situations (for example, where we have processed your data unlawfully), you have the right to request us to "erase" your personal data. We will respond to your request within 30 days (although we may be allowed to extend this period in certain cases) and will only disagree with you if certain limited conditions apply. If we do agree to your request, we will delete your data but will generally assume that you would prefer us to keep a note of your name on our register of individuals who would prefer not to be contacted. That way, we will minimise the chances of you being contacted in the future where your data are collected in unconnected circumstances. If you would prefer us not to do this, you are free to say so.

Right of data portability: If you wish, you have the right to transfer your data from us to another data controller. We will help with this with a GP to GP data transfer and transfer of your hard copy notes.

Access to your personal information:

Data Subject Access Requests (DSAR): You have the right under the Data Protection legislation to request access to view or to obtain copies of what information the surgery holds about you and to have it amended should it be inaccurate. To request this, you need to do the following:

*  Your request should be made to the Practice - for information from the hospital you should write direct to them

*  There is no charge to have a copy of the information held about you

*  We are required to respond to you within one month

*  You will need to give adequate information (for example full name, address, date of birth, NHS number and details of your request) so that your identity can be verified, and your records/information located that we hold about you at any time.

Primary Care Networks (PCN)

The objective of Primary Care Networks (PCNs) is to group practices together to create more collaborative work forces which ease the pressure of GP's, leaving them better able to focus on patient care. The aim is that by July 2019, all areas within England will be covered by a PCN.

PCN's form a key building block of the NHS long-term plan.  Bringing general practices to work at scale has been a policy priority for some years for a range of reasons, including improving the ability of practices to recruit and retain staff; to manage financial and estates pressures; to provide a wider range of services to patients and to more easily integrate with the wide health and care system.

All GP practices are expected to come together in geographical networks covering populations approximately 30-50,000 patients by June 2019 if they are to take advantage of additional funding attached to the GP contract.  This size is consistent with the size of the primary care homes, which exist in many places in the country, but much smaller than most GP Federations.

This means the practice may share your information with other practices within the PCN to provide you with your care and treatment.

What should you do if your personal information changes?

You should tell us so that we can update our records please contact the Practice Manager as soon as any of your details change, this is especially important for changes of address or contact details (such as your mobile phone number), the practice will from time to time ask you to confirm that the information we currently hold is accurate and up-to-date.

Objections / Complaints

Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed at the practice, please contact the Practice Manager or the Data Protection Officer as above. If you are still unhappy following a review by the GP practice, you have a right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority: You have a right to complain to the UK supervisory Authority as below.

Information Commissioner:

Wycliffe house

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel:      01625 545745

https://ico.org.uk/

If you are happy for your data to be extracted and used for the purposes described in this privacy notice, then you do not need to do anything. If you have any concerns about how your data is shared, then please contact the Practice Data Protection Officer.

If you would like to know more about your rights in respect of the personal data we hold about you, please contact the Data Protection Officer as below.

Data Protection Officer:

The Practice Data Protection Officer is Caroline Million of C M Associates. Any queries in regard to Data Protection issues should be addressed to Caroline  at: -

Email:             caroline.million@nhs.net

Postal:            C M Associates

                        44 Cliffe Road

                        Shepley

                        Huddersfield

                        HD8 8DF

Changes:

It is important to point out that we may amend this Privacy Notice from time to time. If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our Privacy Notice, please contact the Practice Data Protection Officer.

Barnsley Integrated Care Privacy Notice

SHARING YOUR INFORMATION TO IMPROVE YOUR CARE

The Practice has signed up to a new system which will allow health and social care professionals from outside the GP practice directly involved in your care to view the most up-to-date information about you. This allows the professionals caring for you to more fully understand your needs and means you only have to tell your history once.

You will be asked for your consent whenever a professional outside the GP practice wishes to view your record. If you do not wish your information to be shared in this way please let us know.

For further information please read our Privacy Notice below or see the Frequently Asked Questions.

Barnsley Integrated Care Privacy Notice

Health and social care organisations across Barnsley are improving the way they work together to give you better care and support. By encouraging the sharing of information and resources we can remove the barriers to providing joined up, effective care. Schemes such as I Heart Barnsley and Barnsley Care Navigation and Telehealth Service are a result of this new integrated approach.

How we use your information to support your care

This privacy notice explains why we collect information about you, and how it may be used. It is Hollygreen Practice’s duty as data controller to let you know this and to make you aware of your rights over your information.

The health and social care professionals who provide you with your care maintain records about your health social care needs, including your previous treatment and care. These records allow them to assess your needs, decide what help or treatment is right for you and provide you with the best possible care. Your records may also include the following information:

•Details about you, such as address, date of birth and next of kin
•Any contact that we have had with you, e.g. appointments, clinic visits, emergency appointments, etc.
•Notes reports and assessments about your health and social care needs
•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

Different health and care professionals involved in your care may make their own notes, so you may have care records in different parts of the NHS and social care services.

We use a combination of working practices and technology to make sure that both your electronic and paper records are kept confidential and secure, this includes audit trails of who has accessed your records.

We may use your information to pay GPs; care providers, dentists or hospitals for the care you receive. We may also use it to make sure you receive quality care; to train and teach health and social care professionals; and for local auditing of NHS services and accounts.

We may also use your information to investigate incidents and complaints. If you are unhappy with your care, having a record of what has happened means your concerns can be properly investigated.

Sharing information to improve your care

We will only ever use or pass on information about you if others involved in your care have a genuine need for it. This may include when you need to see another doctor, be referred to a specialist or other health and social care provider.

Health and Social care organisations across Barnsley are committed to working together to provide joined-up integrated care. To make sure this happens they may create joint records on your behalf or share your information to make sure they provide safe, effective care.

You may receive care from other organisations as well as the NHS and Social Services. We may need to share some information about you so we can all work together for your benefit. These partner organisations are listed in the section below called “Who are our partner organisations”.

Ways we may communicate with you

We may need to contact you for a variety of reasons including to:
•Offer you a new appointment or alter an existing one
•Send you a reminder of an existing appointment
•Arrange for transport to be provided
•Ask your opinion of our services
•Tell you about other health and social care services (such as Flu Jabs)

Our standard way to contact you is by letter or telephone. We may also use automated telephone calls, emails, SMS text messaging and where appropriate, social media. If you do not wish to be contacted by any of these other methods please inform one of our Receptionists.

Keeping your information private

We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, Human Rights Act, the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality, and the NHS Codes of Confidentiality and Security.

Every member of staff who works for an NHS organisation or Social Services has a legal obligation to keep information about you confidential. Anyone who receives information from an NHS organisation or Social Services has a legal duty to keep it confidential.

We will not share your information with third parties without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as when or the health and safety of you or others is at risk, or where or where the law requires information to be passed on.

Accessing Your Own Information

The Data Protection Act allows you to access information that is held about you, and you are able to either view or receive copies of records held in electronic or paper format.

This is known as the “right of subject access”. It applies to all your records held by us. If you want to review your records you should make a request to your care team, or where you are being or have been treated.

You are entitled to receive a copy of your information but should note that a charge will usually be made. In special circumstances your right to see some details in your health records may be limited, to protect you and others mentioned in your records from harm, and to maintain the confidentiality of others.

Blocking Information Sharing

At any time you have the right to object to/withdraw consent from sharing information. The possible consequences will be fully explained to you and could include problems and delays in identifying and providing the most appropriate care.

If you have any questions or concerns about the information we hold on you or the use of your information, please contact the practice and speak to one of our receptionists.

Risk Stratification

Your anonymised information (i.e. with names, addresses etc. removed) from health and social care records is looked at by your local NHS CCG, alongside that of others patients, to identify groups of patients who would benefit from some extra help from their GP or care team. This is known as ‘Risk Stratification’.
The aim is to prevent ill health and possible future hospital stays, rather than wait for you to become sick. Only the GP/ care team is able to see who needs this extra help and all processing of information is carried out under strict rules to make sure this is the case.

Who are our partner organisations?

Where it is in your interest to do so and to support your care, we may share your information with:
•NHS Trusts
•General Practitioners (GPs)
•Local Authorities (including Social Care and Education Services)
•Ambulance Trusts
•Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs)
•‘Data processors’ working on behalf of the NHS and Local Authorities
•Private Sector Providers

* Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) - The practice shares the full patient record to their clinicians for direct care purposes and demographic details to allow direct appointment booking.

When we are required to by law, or under limited circumstances subject to strict agreements on its use, we may share your information with the following organisations.

•Voluntary Sector Providers working on behalf of or with the NHS and Local Authorities
•Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
•Governmental Regulators
•Fire and Rescue Services
•Police Services

More Information on Sharing

Your anonymised information may also be used to help us:
•Look after the health of the wider public
•Audit NHS accounts and services
•Investigate complaints, legal claims or untoward incidents
•Make sure our services can meet service user and carer needs in the future
•Prepare statistics on NHS performance
•Review the care we provide to ensure it is of the highest standard
•Teach and train health and social care professionals
•Conduct health research and development

Where we use your information to gather statistics we will make sure that you cannot be identified from this information and that all individuals remain anonymous.

We may give anonymous statistical information to organisations with a legitimate interest, including universities, community safety units and research institutions.

Where there is a request to use your personal confidential data, such as for research purposes this will only be approved after getting your consent.

Barnsley Clinical Commissioning Group

Putting Barnsley People FirstFrequently Asked Questions

In Barnsley, we are making sure whether you are visiting a GP, attending hospital, or being seen in the community or at home by a care professional, that everyone knows the care you need and how you want to be treated.

Your GP Practice has signed up to a new system which will enable health and social care professionals from outside of the GP practice directly involved in your care to view the most up-to-date information about you.

Why do you need to share my information?

So that health and social care professionals directly involved in your care have access to the most up-to-date information about you. This allows the professionals caring for you to more fully understand your needs and means you only have to tell your history once.

Information is already shared by phone and paper records. The new system simply allows this to happen more efficiently. It does this by enabling other health and social care services in Barnsley to view appropriate information from your GP medical record electronically.

Which organisations are involved?

To begin with the system will be used in ‘i-Heart Barnsley,’ a new service providing flexible appointments with GPs and nurses (www.iheartbarnsley.org.uk). We hope to extend the system to other providers of health and care in Barnsley including hospitals, the ambulance service, the GP out of hours service, Barnsley Hospice, and social care.

Can I access my records?

Yes. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you can request access to all information that organisations hold about you. Please contact the organisations directly to request the information.

Can anybody see my records?

No. Your health and social care records will still be confidential. Only professionals directly involved in your care can see your information through the system and they will only view your information with your permission (consent). We won’t share your information with anyone who doesn’t need it to provide treatment, care and support to you. Your details will be kept safe and won’t be made public, passed on to a third party who is not directly involved in your care, or used for advertising.

How do I know my records are secure?

By law, everyone working in, or for, the NHS and adults’ and children’s social care must respect your privacy and keep your information safe. Your information is stored on secure computer systems connected on a private health & social care network.

Can the service be accessed by health and social care professionals outside of Barnsley?

No. The service is only available to the NHS and social care organisations in Barnsley Borough that have signed up to the system.

Can I opt out of my records being shared?

Yes you can – if you do not wish your information to be shared in this way please contact your GP Practice and they will make sure your record cannot be viewed through this system. Even if you don’t opt out, no one will be able to look at your records unless you say yes. You will be asked to give your consent each time a health or care professional wants to view your record through this system. We believe this system helps us to provide the best quality care and support for you. If all relevant health and social care professionals don’t have access to the most appropriate information it could affect your care.

How will personal data be anonymised and linked for population health analysis?

In Barnsley, a population management programme has been introduced to use linked data from primary, secondary and community care to understand population health more effectively.  This only uses pseudonymised data i.e. where information that identified you has been removed and replaced with a pseudonym.  This will only ever be reidentified if we discover that you may benefit from a particular health intervention, in which case only the relevant staff within your GP practice will be able to see your personal information to offer this service to you.

To carry out this data linkage, your pseudonymised data will be passed to the North of England Commissioning Support unit, who are part of NHS England, who will link this to other local and national data sources to be able to carry out appropriate analyses.  These linked datasets will also be securely shared with Optum and your Clinical Commissioning Group to carry out any further analysis needed to support improvements to the local populations health and to target health and social care resources effectively.

 

Only a small number of staff based within these UK based organisations will be able to access this data and as this will be pseudonymised in accordance with   the ICO Anonymisation Code of Practice, no one will b able to identify you within these organisations.

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.

To find out more or to register your choice to opt out, please visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters

THE NEW NATIONAL DATA OPT OUT

The National data opt-out gives patients more control over how identifiable health and care information is used. The system will offer patients and the public the opportunity to make an informed choice about whether they wish their personally identifiable data to be used for their individual care and treatment or also used for research and planning purposes as detailed below:

* Research - findings ways to improve treatments and identify causes of and cures for illnesses

* Planning - to improve and enable efficient and safe provision of health and care services

All health and care organisations in England must comply with the National data out out policy.

If patients are happy about sharing their personal identifiable information for research and planning they do not need to do anything.

Choosing to Opt Out

Patients and the public who decide they do not want their personally identifiable data used for planning and research purposes will be able to set their national data opt out choice online.  NHS Digital will provide a non-digital alternative for patients and the public who can't or do not want to use an online system. Individuals can change their mind at any time.

If patients would like to opt out of sharing their personal identifiable data for research and planning they can either:

Telephone 0300 303 5678 Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm (excluding bank holidays)

Or manage their choice online at https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/

It will not be possible to set national data opt out preferences via your GP practice.

More information on National data opt out can be found at:

https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-data-opt-out-programme.