Please ask for an “online access” form from reception in order to obtain access to your medical records via the NHS app.  Please bring a form of photo ID with you in order for us to process your request.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) are the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England.

The CQC make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and encourage them to improve.

They monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and publish what is found, including performance ratings to help people choose care.

The latest Highcroft Surgery CQC report has been published.

Click here to view the latest report

When an intimate examination is required you are welcome to ask for a chaperone to be present. This policy explains why and how we have chaperones.

Click here to view out Chaperone Policy

Complaints, Suggestions and Compliments Policy and Procedure

The practice complies with data protection and access to medical records legislation. Identifiable information about you will be shared with others in the following circumstances:

• To provide further medical treatment for you e.g. from district nurses and hospital services.
• To help you get other services e.g. from the social work department. This requires your consent.
• When we have a duty to others e.g. in child protection cases anonymised patient information will also be used at local and national level to help the Health Board and Government plan services e.g. for diabetic care.

If you do not wish anonymous information about you to be used in such a way, please let us know.

Reception and administration staff require access to your medical records in order to do their jobs. These members of staff are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as the medical staff.

Please click here to view our COVID-19 Privacy Notice

Your Data Matters to the NHS

Information about your health and care helps us to improve your individual care, speed up diagnosis, plan your local services and research new treatments. The NHS is committed to keeping patient information safe and always being clear about how it is used.

How your data is used

Information about your individual care such as treatment and diagnoses is collected about you whenever you use health and care services. It is also used to help us and other organisations for research and planning such as research into new treatments, deciding where to put GP clinics and planning for the number of doctors and nurses in your local hospital.  It is only used in this way when there is a clear legal basis to use the information to help improve health and care for you, your family and future generations.

Wherever possible we try to use data that does not identify you, but sometimes it is necessary to use your confidential patient information.

You have a choice

You do not need to do anything if you are happy about how your information is used. If you do not want your confidential patient information to be used for research and planning, you can choose to opt out securely online or through a telephone service. You can change your mind about your choice at any time.

Will choosing this opt-out affect your care and treatment?

No, choosing to opt out will not affect how information is used to support your care and treatment. You will still be invited for screening services, such as screenings for bowel cancer.

What do you need to do?

If you are happy for your confidential patient information to be used for research and planning, you do not need to do anything.

To find out more about the benefits of data sharing, how data is protected, or to make/change your opt-out choice visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters

Click here to download a copy of the patient leaflet

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:

• Who we are, how we use your information, and our Data Protection Officer,
• What kinds of personal information about you do we process?
• What are the legal grounds for our processing of your personal information (including when we share it with others)?
• What should you do if your personal information changes?
• For how long your personal information is retained by us?
• What are your rights under data protection laws?
• The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became law on the 24^th of May 2016. This is a single EU-wide regulation on the protection of confidential and sensitive information. It entered into force in the UK on the 25^th of 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 Highcroft Surgery.

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

Highcroft Surgery 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 holds 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. Information held about you may be used to help protect the health of the public and to help us manage the NHS. 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 a number of sources including NHS Trusts and from this GP Practice. A risk score is then arrived at through an analysis of your de-identified information, and is only provided back to your GP as the 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 do we maintain the confidentiality of your records?

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

• Data Protection Act 2018
• The General Data Protection Regulations 2016
• 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 you 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 Highcroft Surgery 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.

We would however 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 occasions where authorised research facilities would like you to take part on 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 unsubscribe at any time via phone, email or by informing the Practice DPO as below.

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 3^rd 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.

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
• GP’s
• 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

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 for 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 processor for Highcroft Surgery an appropriate contract (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/

How can you access, amend or 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 a 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 directly 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 located with information we hold about you at any time.

What should you do if your personal information changes?

You should tell us so that we can update our records. Please contact the Practice 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 GP 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

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 Paul Couldrey of PCIG Consulting Limited. Any queries regarding Data Protection issues should be addressed to him at:

Mr Paul Couldrey

IG Consultant

PCIG Consulting Limited

PCDC Helpdesk

NBV Enterprise Centre

6 David Lane

Nottingham

NG6 0JU

Tel: 0115 838 6770

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.

Information about the General Practioners and the practice required for disclosure under this act can be made available to the public. All requests for such information should be made to the Practice Manager.

Click here to view our GDPR patient privacy notice

Sharing Your GP Record

Caring by sharing – supporting your healthcare at all times

Many people think their GP Record is available to all healthcare professionals involved in their care; but this is not generally the case. It is very common that each healthcare professional you see keeps a separate electronic record about you. This can mean important information may not be communicated between health services as well as it could be.

From time to time it is therefore helpful for us to be able to share information about your health and care requirements with other health organisations that are providing you with direct healthcare. Across Nottinghamshire we are introducing a local GP Record sharing model which will allow us to make relevant medical information from your GP Record available to other healthcare professionals at the point of need when they are providing care for you. However you will be asked for consent at the point of contact for your GP information to be viewed by a care professional outside your GP practice.

You will always be asked for your explicit consent before healthcare professional accesses your GP Record. If you say “No” the care professional will not be able to see your medical information. However there may be exceptional/emergency situations (e.g. if you were unconscious) where a health professional may access your GP record if deemed in your best interests to provide care.

Examples of organisation that may access your GP health information include Out of Hours Teams, Walk in Centres, Hospitals /A&E Departments and Community Healthcare Teams.

Making your GP record available in this way is designed to ensure that the healthcare professionals looking after you have the most relevant up to date information to enable them to provide you with the most appropriate care. It may also mean that you won’t have unnecessary tests, have to repeat information or be given drugs that you may be allergic to for example.

If you wish to only make certain parts of your GP record available and not all of it then you can ask for sections of your GP Record to be marked as ‘Private’. Private information will never be shared unless it is required by law or you give permission.

Please be assured your personal and sensitive health information will be kept confidential and secure at all times and only be used for your direct care purposes.

We would encourage everyone to make their GP Record available in case they need to be seen in an emergency or Out of Hours. If you have certain health conditions or go to hospital a lot then you should definitely make your record available.

Click here to read more on information and why we share information

Click here to view a leaflet with more information on sharing your GP record

The NHS operate a zero tolerance policy with regard to violence and abuse and the practice has the right to remove violent patients from the list with immediate effect in order to safeguard practice staff, patients and other persons. Violence in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety. In this situation we will notify the patient in writing of their removal from the list and record in the patient’s medical records the fact of the removal and the circumstances leading to it.