Patient Privacy Policy

Your information, what you need to know

This privacy notice explains why we collect information about you, how that information may be used and how we keep it safe and confidential.

Why we collect information about you

Healthcare professionals that provide you with care are required by law to maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received within any NHS organisation. These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare.

We collect and hold data for the sole purpose of providing healthcare services to our patients. In carrying out this role we may collect information about you which helps us respond to your queries or secure specialist services. We may keep your information in written form and/or in digital form. The records may include basic details about you, such as your name and address. They may also contain more sensitive information about your health and also information such as outcomes of needs assessments.

Details we collect about you

Primary Care Sheffield provides a number of different healthcare services. We have broken down this privacy notice on subsequent pages so that you can see the specific details we hold, dependent upon which of our services you have accessed. However, in general, we hold the information which is pertinent to our providing care to you.

How we keep your information confidential and safe

Everyone working for the NHS is subject to the Common Law Duty of Confidence. Information provided in confidence will only be used for the purposes advised with consent given by the patient, unless there are other circumstances covered by the law. Primary Care Sheffield complies with the NHS Confidentiality Code of Conduct. All our staff are required to protect your information, inform you of how your information will be used and allow you to decide if and how your information can be shared. We hold information in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation. We maintain our duty of confidentiality to you at all times. 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), or where the law requires information to be passed on.

How we use your information

We primarily use information to enable our clinicians to better treat you and provide your healthcare. However, we also use your information to improve our services by:

  • Reviewing the care we provide through clinical audit
  • Investigating patient queries, complaints and legal claims
  • Ensuring we receive payment for the care you receive
  • Preparing statistics on NHS performance
  • Auditing NHS accounts and services
  • Undertaking health research and development (with your consent – you may choose whether or not to be involved)
  • Training and educating healthcare professionals.
Sharing your information

We share your personal information with other NHS organisations. For example, we may share your information for healthcare purposes with NHS trusts, General Practitioners and Ambulance Services where they are directly involved in your care. We may need to share information from your health records with other non-NHS organisations, including Social Services. However, we will not disclose any health information to third parties without your explicit consent to do so, unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as when the health and safety of others is at risk or where the law requires it.

We may also be asked by other statutory bodies to share basic information about you, such as your name and address, but not sensitive information from your health records. This would normally be to assist them to carry out their statutory duties. In these circumstances, where it is not practical to obtain your explicit consent, we are informing you through this notice, which is referred to as a Fair Processing Notice, under the Data Protection Act that we may share that data.

These non-NHS organisations may include, but are not restricted to:

  • Social Services
  • Education services
  • Local authorities
  • Police
  • Voluntary sector providers
  • Private sector providers

Sharing of information is, again, dependent upon which of our services you have accessed and this notice therefore breaks that information down by service over subsequent pages. However there are some common areas which apply to all our services.

Invoice Validation

Invoice validation is an important process. It involves using your NHS number to check that the ICB is responsible for paying for your treatment. We can also use your NHS number to check whether your care has been funded through specialist commissioning, which NHS England will pay for. The process makes sure that the organisations providing your care are paid correctly.

The legal basis to use information for invoice validation is provided under Regulations made under section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 and is based on the advice of the Health Research Authority’s Confidentiality and Advisory Group (reference CAG 7-07(a) and (b)/2013).

Fraud Prevention

We are required by law to protect the public funds we administer. Primary Care Sheffield may share information provided to it with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, in order to prevent and detect fraud.

Clinical Audit

Information may be used for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service provided. Some of this information may be held centrally and used for statistical purposes e.g. the National Diabetes Audit. Where we do this we take strict measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.

Clinical Research

The NHS is a research organisation, and by extension so are GP practices.  Research is therefore part of business as usual and accessing data for research by staff is part of clinical care. 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 your data, we will ensure that you have the ability to consent and opt out prior to any data processing taking place.

Cabinet Office

The use of data by the Cabinet Office for data matching is carried out with statutory authority under Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Data matching by the Cabinet Office is subject to a Code of Practice. You can view further information on the Cabinet Office’s legal powers and the reasons why it matches particular information.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-data-matching-practice-for-nationalfraud-initiative

Safeguarding

To ensure that adult and children’s safeguarding matters are managed appropriately, access to identifiable information will be shared in some limited circumstances where it is legally required for the safety of the individuals concerned.

Data Retention

We will approach the management of patient records in line with the Records Management NHS Code of Practice for Health and Social Care. This sets the required standards for managing records for those who work within or under contract to NHS organisations in England, based on current legal requirements and professional best practice. Any specific details of data retention by service are detailed in subsequent pages.

Access to your information

Under the General Data Protection Regulation everybody has the right to see, or have a copy of data we hold that can identify you, with some exceptions. You do not need to give a reason to see your data. If you want to access your data you must make the request in writing. Under special circumstances, some information may be withheld. If you wish to have a copy of the information we hold about you, please contact us in writing at:

Subject Access Requests
Primary Care Sheffield
Fifth Floor
722 Prince of Wales Road
Darnall
Sheffield
S9 4EU

Our Data Privacy Impact Assessments are available upon request.  If you would like to have access please email pcs.dataprotection@nhs.net detailing which system you wish to see the detail for.

Your right to withdraw consent for us to share your personal information

At any time you have the right to refuse/withdraw consent to information sharing. The possible consequences will be fully explained to you and could include delays in receiving care. If you wish to discuss this, please contact either the reception at the service you are accessing or by emailing  pcs.enquiries@nhs.net detailing which services you currently access and the best way for us to contact you to discuss the consent withdrawal.

Mobile telephone number
If you provide us with your mobile phone number we may use this to send you reminders about your appointments or other health screening information. Please let us know if you do not wish to receive reminders on your mobile.
Notification

The General Data Protection Regulation requires organisations to register a notification with the Information Commissioner to describe the purposes for which they process personal and sensitive information. We are registered as a data controller and our registration can be viewed online in the public register at: http://ico.org.uk/what_we_cover/register_of_data_controllers
Any changes to this notice will be published on our website and in a prominent area at the Practice.

Complaints & Compliments

If you have concerns or are unhappy about any of our services, or should you wish to pass on compliments please contact us using the details below:

Complaints
Primary Care Sheffield
Fifth Floor
722 Prince of Wales Road
Darnall
Sheffield
S9 4EU

0114 322 3100

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data-sharing issues, you can contact:

The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
0303 123 1113     www.ico.gov.uk

Responsible Individuals

The following individuals are our named leads for information handling within Primary Care Sheffield.

  • Senior Information Responsible Officer: Dr Andy Hilton, Chief Executive Officer.
  • Caldicott Guardian: Dr Lucy Cormack, Medical Director.
  • Information Governance Lead: Laura Pattman, Director of Finance.
  • Data Protection Officer: Caroline Million

Contact the Primary Care Sheffield Caldicott Guardian by email: pcs.caldicott@nhs.net

For questions or concerns about data protection at Primary Care Sheffield email: >Caroline.million@outlook.com

 

For information on specific data sharing purposes relating to the services we provide, please choose from the links below.

GP Practices

Satellite Hubs

CASES

Vasectomy Service

ECG Service

Clinical Pharmacist Service

Care Home Service

Health Check Scheme

The NHS Care Record Guarantee

The NHS Care Record Guarantee for England sets out the rules that govern how patient information is used in the NHS, what control the patient can have over this, the rights individuals have to request copies of their data and how data is protected under the Data Protection Act 1998.

The NHS Constitution

The NHS Constitution establishes the principles and values of the NHS in England. It sets out the rights patients, the public and staff are entitled to. These rights cover how patients access health services, the quality of care you’ll receive, the treatments and programmes available to you, confidentiality, information and your right to complain if things go wrong.