ASHCROFT LEADS
- Data Protection Officer: Daljeet Sharry-Khan
- Doctor: Dr Ramesh Mehay (Caldicott Guardian)
- Admin: Carole Middleton
DATE REVIEWED:
October 2023
DATE OF NEXT REVIEW:
October 2024
The Policy/Protocol
The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on 25 May 2018 and will be incorporated into UK data protection laws. It most probably will continue to apply even after the UK leaves the EU, not least because organisations in this country wishing to exchange data with those remaining in the Union will have to comply with its requirements. The GDPR consolidates and strengthens current data protection safeguards as developed under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). The responsible UK authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), considers that, if organisations are already compliant with the current data protection laws, they will find it relatively easy to comply with the GDPR.
Primary care providers should have a raft of policies and procedures that already meet the requirements of the DPA. A privacy notice based on this template, which follows ICO guidelines, will then help to show that the primary care service is serious about protecting the personal information it collects and processes from its patients, employees and others, and will show how it succeeds in doing this by providing an overview of its various policies and procedures.
The privacy notice should be a public document, available to patients and their families, staff and any third parties who might provide their personal information for any purpose, and in whatever ways, including on the organisation’s website and intranet if there is one. It should also feature in any training programme which the organisation introduces to deal with the GDPR. The contents should be tailored to meet individual organisations’ requirements; some might be more detailed than others. The privacy notice should be used in association with the policy on Data Protection Policy for Primary Care Services — GDPR
Primary Care Networks
We are a member of a Primary Care Network (PCN). This means we will be working closely with a number of other Practices and health and care organisations to provide healthcare services to you. During the course of our work we may share your information with these Practices and health care organisations/professionals. We will only share this information where it relates to your direct healthcare needs. When we do this, we will always ensure that appropriate agreements are in place to protect your information and keep it safe and secure. This is also what the Law requires us to do.
If you would like to know more about the PCN we belong to and see the information the PCN holds about you please contact the Data Protection Officer as detailed in the FAQs section below. See also your rights as a patient listed below.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
This is the privacy notice of Ashcroft Surgery
Our registered address is:- Newlands way, Eccleshill, Bradford, BD10 0JE.
Ashcroft Surgery operates a number of services for patients including health promotion, disease prevention, health maintenance, counselling, patient education, diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic illnesses in a variety of health care settings (including office, inpatient, critical care, long-term care, home care, day care, etc.).
Note: This last item will indicate the complexity of the organisation and of the personal information it might be collecting and processing.
The Data Protection Officer is Daljeet Sharry-Khan.
Daljeet Sharry-Khan
Data Protection Officer
Scorex House
1 Bolton Road
Bradford
BD1 4AS
daljeet.sharry-khan@nhs.netDaljeet
Like so many other practices in the UK, we are a member of a Primary Care Network (PCN). In other words, we work closely with a number of other Practices and health and care organisations to provide healthcare services to you. During the course of our work we may share your information with these Practices and health care organisations/professionals. We will only share this information where it relates to your direct healthcare needs.
When we do this, we will always ensure that appropriate agreements are in place to protect your information and keep it safe and secure. This is also what the Law requires us to do. If you would like to see the information the PCN holds about you please contact the Data Protection Officer (contact details under item number 2). See also your rights as a patient listed below.
Ashcroft Surgery is required by law to tell you about your rights and our obligations regarding our collecting and processing any of your personal information, which you might provide to us. We have a range of policies and procedures to ensure that any personal information you supply is only stored and used with your active consent (or with one of the other legal grounds for processing set out in the GDPR and which include legal obligations and the necessity of fulfilling an employment contract). It will always be held securely and treated confidentially in line with the requirements of the GDPR. We have listed the relevant documents in a later section (6) and can make any available.
- a) As a primary care provider, we must collect some personal information on our patients, including personal health information, which is essential to our being able to provide effective care and support. The information is contained in individual files (manual and electronic) and other record systems, all of which are subject to strict security and authorised access policies. Personal information that becomes inactive for any reason is kept securely only for as long as it is needed, before being safely disposed of.
- b) Employees and volunteers. The service operates a safe recruitment policy to comply with the regulations in which all personal information obtained, including CVs and references, is, as with patients’ information, securely kept, retained and disposed of in line with the GDPR. All employees are aware of their right to access any information about them.
c) Third parties. All personal information obtained about others associated with the delivery of the primary care service, including contractors and suppliers will be protected in the same way as information on patients and employees.
The bulk of patients’, employees’ and third parties’ personal information is collected directly from them or through form filling, mainly manually, but also electronically for some purposes, e.g. when contacting the service through its website.
With patients, we might continue to build on the information provided through consultations and in the process of agreeing treatment.
With employees, personal information is obtained directly and with consent through such means as references, testimonials and criminal records (DBS) checks. When recruiting staff, we seek applicants’ explicit consent to obtain all the information needed for us to decide to employ them.
All personal information obtained to meet our regulatory requirements will always be treated in line with our explicit consent, data protection and confidentiality policies.
Our website and databases are regularly checked by experts to ensure they meet all privacy standards, are protected through strong passwords and encryption and comply with our general data protection security and protection policies.
All personal information obtained on service users, employees and third parties is consistent with our purpose of providing a primary care service which meets all regulatory standards and requirements. It will not be disclosed or shared for any other purpose.
Risk Stratification
“Risk stratification involves applying computer searches to your medical records from a number of sources, including NHS trusts and GP practices, to identify those patients who are most at risk of certain medical conditions, such as heart disease, and who will benefit from clinical care to help prevent or better treat their condition. It’s a process for identifying and managing patients who are most likely to need hospital or other healthcare services, so that such patients can receive additional care/support from their GP or care team as early as possible. The aim is to prevent ill health and possible future hospital stays, rather than wait for you to become sick.
Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 provides a statutory legal basis to process personal health related data for risk stratification purposes.
Please be reassured that any information which identifies you – resulting from the aforementioned computer searches – will only be seen by this Practice.
To Opt out of Risk Stratification
If you do not wish information about you to be included in the risk stratification programme, please let us know. We can add a code to your health care record that will stop your information from being used for this purpose. Send us an email by clicking here or alternatively phone us: Telephone 01274 612 279
Risk stratification Opt-out Code (for staff)
It should be noted that the code to be added to the patient record if patients do express a wish to opt out of their health record data being used for risk stratification purposes is:
- “Declind consent use pt data in rsk stratifctn unplnnd admiss XabjB (928671000000101)”
As already stated, the primary care service has a range of policies that enable us to comply with all data protection requirements, including the Data Protection Policy for Primary Care Services — GDPR.
We only share the personal information of patients, employees and others with their consent on a “need to know” basis, observing strict protocols in doing so. Most information sharing of service users’ information is with other professionals and agencies involved with their care and treatment. Likewise, we would not disclose information about our employees without their clear agreement, e.g. when providing a reference.
The only exceptions to this general rule would be where we are required by law to provide information, e.g. to help with a criminal investigation. Under the terms of the GDPR, this is “complying with legal obligations”, an alternative to consent.
Where we provide information for statistical purposes, the information is aggregated and provided anonymously so that there is no privacy risk involved in its use.
There are procedures in place to enable any staff member, employee or third party whose personal information we possess and might process in some ways to have access to that information on request. The right to access includes both the information and any uses which we might have made of the information. There will only be a charge for providing such information in the event that requests are held to be “manifestly unfounded or excessive” (particularly if they are repetitive). Even then this fee will cover only the amount of administrative work involved.
There are strict protocols in place that determine how long the organisation will keep the information, which are in line with the relevant legislation and regulations.
The staff appointed to control and process personal information in our organisation are delegated to assess all privacy risks continuously and to carry out comprehensive reviews of our data protection policies, procedures and protocols at least annually. The main point of contact with regard to data protection is Claire Revitt Telephone: 01274 612279. email: B83062.ashcroftsurgery@nhs.net
Patients who are aged 13 and over can give consent to what we do with their information providing if they have the mental capacity to do so. They have the mental capacity if…
- they are of sound mind and
- they are able to understand what we do with their information, weigh up the pros and cons for themselves, and be able to come a decision.
If patients do no have the mental capacity,it would revert back to Parent or Guardian to give consent.