Accessing someone else’s information

As a parent, family member or carer, you may be able to access services for someone else. We call this having proxy access. We can set this up for you if you are both registered with us.

To requests proxy access:

• collect a proxy access form from reception from 10am to 6pm

Linked profiles in your NHS account

Once proxy access is set up, you can access the other person’s profile in your NHS account, using the NHS App or website.

The NHS website has information about using linked profiles to access services for someone else.

Occasionally things do not go as smoothly as we would like.  This is often due to matters beyond our control, such as emergencies. We offer a Practice Complaints Procedure to deal with comments, suggestions, and complaints about the service we provide. Our Practice Manager will give you further information. Our aim is to give you the highest possible standard of service and we try to deal swiftly with any problems that may occur.

You can download our Complaints leaflet

If you feel you cannot speak with us directly you may seek independent advice from the Customer Care Contact Centre:

NHS England
PO Box 16738
Redditch, B97 9PT
Email: england.contactus@nhs.net
Tel: 0300 311 2233

Or 

The Parliamentary & National Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London, SW19 4QP
Email: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk
Tel: 0345 015 4033

The complaints procedure should ensure all complaints are dealt with swiftly and fairly and hopefully to the satisfaction of all concerned.

Policy on Violent or Abusive behaviour

This Practice adopts a ZERO TOLERANCE approach to violence and aggression.  Aggressive and violent behaviour is considered to be any personal, threatening or abusive language (cursing or swearing), gestures (including sexual), physical contact, derogatory sexual or racial remarks, shouting at any persons or applying force to any Practice property or the property of any persons within the Practice.  This includes people banging on desks or counters or shouting loudly in an intimidating manner.

This approach applies to any patients, visitors and any persons working within the Practice demonstrating any of the above behaviour towards patients, visitors or staff.  The Partners are committed to doing everything possible to protect Staff, patients and visitors from unacceptable behaviour and to support zero tolerance to any incident that causes hurt, alarm, damage or distress.  It also applies to any Partner or Employee of the Practice whilst on duties away from the Surgery if their duties are related to the business of the Practice.

Patients who are violent or aggressive towards any person on Surgery premises will be removed from the Practice list.

We ask you for information about yourself so that you can receive the best possible care and treatment.

We keep this information, together with details of your care, to ensure that your doctor or nurse has accurate and up to date information it also may be needed if we see you again. We only pass information on about you to people who have a genuine need for it. Whenever we can we shall remove details that identify you as an individual.

Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to maintain the highest level of confidentiality about patient information. If at any time you would like to know more about how we use your information you can speak to our Practice Manager.

We respect your right to privacy and keep all your health information confidential and secure.

NHS Care Data Programme

Information about you and the care you receive is shared, in a secure system, by healthcare staff to support your treatment and care. It is important that the NHS keeps accurate and up-to-date records about your health and treatment so that those treating you can provide the best possible care.

It is important that the NHS can use this information to plan and improve services for all patients.

The NHS would like to link information from all the different places where you receive care, such as your GP, hospital and community service, to help us provide a full picture. This will allow the NHS to compare the care you received in one area against the care you received in another, so the NHS can see what has worked best.

Information such as your postcode and NHS number, but not your name, will be used to link your records in a secure system, so your identity is protected. Information which does not reveal your identity can then be used by others, such as researchers, and those planning health services, to make sure the NHS provides the best possible care for everyone. How your information is used and shared is controlled by law and strict rules are in place to protect your privacy. If you do not want information to be shared outside your GP practice, please complete the patient opt out form which is available at reception.

We have a fully computerised medical record system which means information about your healthcare is held on a secure server.

All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice. The average pay for GPs working in Portcullis Surgery in the last financial year was £57,421 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 2 full time GPs and 5 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.

From 4th October 2023, most of our patients over 16 can see any new information added to their health record. This includes notes from your GP appointments, test results, medications, and letters from hospitals added to your record since 4th October 2023. This means that you will be able to see any notes from your appointments with your GP, as well as test results and any letters that are saved on your records.

This only applies to records from your doctor (GP), not from hospitals or other specialists. For most people, access will be automatic, and you won’t need to do anything. General practice will be able to customise or remove access for individuals if this is deemed inappropriate.

You can view this via the NHS App, NHS website, or another GP online app you use.

Medical Disclaimer regarding Online Access to Notes

The health information on your patient access notes is intended for use solely by patients. If you are ever in any doubt about information you read or you are unsure what to do, you should email us with your question on the link below. While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in your online records is correct and up-to-date, this cannot be guaranteed. The Practice cannot be held responsible for harm, loss or damage resulting from inaccuracies in their patients online records, or actions taken by persons in response to reading information on their medical records.

If you don’t want to be able to see your record, send us a message to let us know that you do not wish to see your records.

https://florey.accurx.com/p/M82043

For non-urgent enquiries about your medical notes, we reserve the right to take upto 40 working days (2 months) to answer any questions you may have about your online records.

The Practice reserves the right to change its systems and procedures at any time without notice

Send us a message about your concern or query regarding your medical records on the link below:

https://florey.accurx.com/p/M82043

Terms and Conditions of Online Access to Records

1. Only patients over the age of 16 will be allowed to have full online access to their notes. Proxy access for parents may be allowed for patients on or under the age of 12 years of age following a request. (see online access registration to download consent form needed for proxy access)
2. Use of your security details by an unauthorised person may allow them access to confidential medical information about you; therefore these details must be kept confidential at all times.
3. Your security details must be kept safe and secure at all times. Patients must NOT share their security details to any other person including family and practice staff. We will NEVER ask you for your security details. If someone asks you for these details please inform the practice immediately.
4. You must use all reasonable precautions to protect your security details. This includes not using a public computer for access to the service and using the log off icon when you have finished with the service.

Some of the problems regarding online access to records-Concerns about Safeguarding

While enabling patients to view their medical records through the NHS App will be beneficial to the majority of patients, there may be challenges for a minority. This is especially true in relation to safeguarding vulnerable adults, as the record may contain information that is confidential and sensitive, which the patient must not see, or could be harmful if the patient is unable to keep their record secure, such as in cases of coercion.

The importance of safeguarding patients from harm is paramount. It may be appropriate to redact specific information entered into the GP medical record or prevent the patient from having access.  Harmful and confidential third-party information needs to be redacted as it is being entered into systems.

Ahead of the change, where there may be safeguarding concerns, healthcare workers can prevent patients from having automatic access to new information by adding a code to their record.

Records with the code “Enhanced review indicated before granting access to your own health record” will be excluded from the changes if applied before switch-on.

They should then be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to identify if access can be provided without a risk of serious harm. A code will only work automatically before the switch-on. Applying a code after the change or switch-on will not automatically exclude access; this must be done manually on the record access settings.

https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-app/nhs-app-guidance-for-gp-practices/guidance-on-nhs-app-features/accelerating-patient-access-to-their-record

Removal or redaction/partial access of Online Access to records

The practice reserves the right to remove or partially remove online access to any patient who abuses or fails to follow any of these guidelines. Abuse of the system includes, but is not exclusive to, the following:

• Repeatedly sending needless, repetitive or abusive messages to the practice.
• Repeatedly booking and cancelling appointments.
• Repeatedly booking appointments and not attending them.
• Any kind of foul or abusive language being sent through any of the services.
• Booking appointments for patients other than the owner of the account. It is not permitted to book an appointment through an account for a different person to attend.
• Repeatedly requesting prescriptions that you do not need.

There are certain circumstances in which full access to a patient’s health record may be denied. These include cases where the release is likely to cause serious harm to the physical or mental health of the subject or another individual.

The practice reserves the right to remove access or limit information from their online records service to any patient who we believe may suffer harm from having automatic access to their online patient records. This includes, but is not exclusive to, the following:

• Patients we have significiant safeguarding concerns about or who could be subject to coercion due to their health or any other vulnerable status.
• Patients who have significant amounts of third party information in their notes relating to other family members.
• Patients who are known to suffer from health related anxiety or any other significant mental health concerns or issues and who may suffer as a result of having online open access to their records.
• Patient who lack capacity and are unable to understand how to keep their data safe. Proxy access may be allowed in these circumstances to official guardians.
• Patients who have had a recent diagnosis which has not yet been explained to them in detail by either the consultant to a GP.

Access to your full Retrospective and Prospective Records prior to aswell as post  4th October 2023

You have the right to know what information we hold about you. All manual and computerised health records about living people are accessible under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Competent patients may apply for access to their own records, or may authorise a third party, such as their lawyer, to do so on their behalf. 

Parents may have access to their child’s records if this is in the child’s best interests and not contrary to a competent child’s wishes.

People appointed by a Court to manage the affairs of mentally incapacitated adults may have access to information necessary to fulfil their function. There are exemptions to this service.

Please send us a message if you wish to see or obtain a copy of your record. If you are referred to a hospital specialist you are also welcome to request a copy of the referral letter. A fee (up to £50) may be charged depending on the type of record and whether you require any copies.

https://florey.accurx.com/p/M82043

Your Doctors and their Staff will always do their best for you. However they need your help provide the best care for all their patients.  Please support us by following these simple guidelines.

Our responsibility to each other:

• You will be treated with courtesy and respect by all Practice personnel.
• An urgent appointment with a Doctor or Nurse will be available the same day.
• Our standard is to see 80% of patients within 20 minutes of their appointment time. If you have waited longer than this please ask the Receptionist for an explanation
• An appointment with the Practice Nurse will be available within 3 working days.
• Requests for repeat prescriptions will be dealt with within 48 working hours.
• All comments and suggestions about the service are welcome. Please use the box provided in the waiting area.
• If you have a complaint please speak to a member of staff. Your complaint will be dealt with in a professional and efficient manner.
• We wish to make Portcullis Surgery as accessible as possible. If you have hearing, visual or physical difficulties please let the receptionist know so that we can enable you to fully use our services.

Sharing Your Information with other health and social care organisations

You can decide how your personal information is used across the NHS and other health and social care organisations in 3 different ways.

RECORD 1. Summary Care Record (SCR)

Information about your healthcare may not be routinely shared across different healthcare organisations and systems. You may need to be treated by health and care professionals who do not know your medical history. Essential details about your healthcare can be difficult to remember, particularly when you are unwell or have complex care needs.

Having a Summary Care Record can help by providing healthcare staff treating you with vital information from your health record. This will help the staff involved in your care make better and safer decisions about how best to treat you.

If you are registered with a GP practice in England, you will already have a Summary Care Record (SCR), unless you have previously chosen not to have one. It will contain key information about the medicines you are taking, allergies you suffer from and any adverse reactions to medicines you have had in the past. The default core Summary Care Records is created for you with the following basic information but you can choose to share additional information if you wish or opt out of sharing any information.  You are free to change your decision at any time by informing your GP practice.

You have a choice!

You have the choice of what information you would like to share and with whom. Authorised healthcare staff can only view your SCR with your permission. The information shared will solely be used for the benefit of your care.

Your options are outlined below; please indicate your choice on the form attached.

A. Basic SCR – This is the core SCR created unless you opt out. Express consent for medication, allergies and adverse reactions only. You wish to share information about medication, allergies for adverse reactions only.

B. Enriched SCR – Express consent for medication, allergies, adverse reactions and additional information. You wish to share information about medication, allergies for adverse reactions and further medical information that includes: your illnesses and health problems, operations and vaccinations you have had in the past, how you would like to be treated (such as where you would prefer to receive care), what support you might need and who should be contacted for more information about you.

C. Opt out – Express dissent for Summary Care Record. Select this option, if you DO NOT want any information shared with other healthcare professionals involved in your care.

RECORD 2. One Health and Care Local Integrated Care Record – Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent One Health and Care is a confidential digital shared care record for people living in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.

This is a local initiative which brings data together from the different organisations involved in health and social care and allows doctors, nurses and other health and social care professionals directly involved in patient/client care to see relevant information in order to provide better, safer care. When a patient/client visits any of the organisations listed below, or use services provided by them, staff directly involved in your care will have access to the important information from health and social care records.
• Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent GP practices
• University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (Royal Stoke)
• University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust
• Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
• North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust
• Staffordshire County Council (Social Care)
• Stoke-on-Trent City Council (Social Care)
• Continuing Healthcare services
• West Midlands Ambulance Service

The information that the staff directly involved in patient care will be able to view is listed below:
• Name, date of birth, sex, address, telephone number, NHS number
• The name of their GP practice and GP
• Medications, allergies, ongoing and historic conditions, immunisations and diagnoses
• Test results, hospital referrals, admissions, discharges and clinics attended
• Social and mental health information and care plans

Information will be held securely and only shared with staff members in the partnership organisations who are directly involved in your care and support. All staff are bound by professional confidentiality. Sensitive information such as attendance at sexual health clinics, fertility treatment records, and records relating to gender reassignment will not be included. You have the choice to opt out of this service if you wish. If you opt out your health and care information will not be visible to One Health and Care users, just a statement to show you have dissented and your name, Date of Birth and NHS Number.

If you wish to have this record, you do not have to do anything. One will be created for organisations listed above to see.

If you choose to opt out of the Summary Care Record (SCR) in item 1C, you will automatically be opted out of the One Health and Care. You can change your mind and opt back in at any time by
contacting your GP practice.

Please consider carefully before opting out as it could mean that vital information about you is not immediately available when you require health or social care support. If you do choose to opt out, your information will continue to be shared by the listed organisations by phone, email and on paper where required as part of your direct care.

RECORD 3. NHS Digital record
NHS Digital uses and shares personal information to help research new treatments, plan where to put local clinics and the number of Drs and nurses to have at your local hospital. If you DO NOT wish your information to be used for these purposes, you need to opt out by contacting NHS Digital on visit nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters or call 0300 303 5678 . Your GP surgery cannot do this for you. You can also opt out on the NHS app.

HOW CAN I OPT IN OR OPT OUT?

If after reading all the information below you choose to opt in or out of one or all three types of records you need to do as follows

OPT IN

• Basic SCR (Record 1A) -no need to opt in it will be created automatically

• Enriched SCR-please fill in the form below and send to the practice

• One Health and Care Local Integrated Care Record (RECORD 2)-no need to opt in it will be created automatically

• NHS digital record (RECORD 3)-no need to opt in it will be created automatically

OPT OUT

• Basic SCR (Record 1A) -please fill in the form below and send to the practice

• Enriched SCR-please fill in the form below and send to the practice

• One Health and Care Local Integrated Care Record (RECORD 2)-please fill in the form below and send to the practice

• NHS digital record (RECORD 3)-you need to opt out by contacting NHS Digital on visit nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters or call 0300 303 5678 . Your GP surgery cannot do this for you. You can also opt out on the NHS app.

FORM TO OPT IN OR OUT

You can fill in the website return form below or download the form attached and send to our email portcullis.surgery@nhs.net or opt out of NHS Digital by visiting nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters or call 0300 303 5678 .

Sharing Care Records Information and Opt Out Form – v1.0 (1)

There are advantages of sharing information with other organisations.

• These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare.

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.

• Risk Stratification

Information about you can be 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.

“Information from care records may be used to identify individual patients from the risk stratified data when it is necessary to discuss the outcome and consider preventative care. Risk stratified information specifically relating to children and young people’s asthma is shared with specialist children’s Asthma care providers in Shropshire Community Healthcare Trust and Shropshire and Telford Hospitals to enhance the delivery of our services”

• 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.

• Patient Communication

The Practice will use like to use your name, contact details and email address to inform you of NHS services, or provide inform about your health/information to manage your healthcare or information about the management of the NHS service. There may be occasions were authorised research facilities would like you to take part in research in regard to your particular health issues, to try improve your health, your contact details may be used to invite you to receive further information about such research opportunities.

• Safeguarding

The Practice is dedicated to ensuring that the principles and duties of safeguarding adults and children are holistically, consistently and conscientiously applied with the wellbeing of all, at the heart of what we do.

Our legal basis for processing For the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) purposes is: –

Article 6(1)(e) ‘…exercise of official authority…’.

For the processing of special categories data, the basis is: –

Article 9(2)(b) – ‘processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising specific rights of the controller or of the data subject in the field of employment and social security and social protection law…’

• Research

Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) collects de-identified patient data from a network of GP practices across the UK. Primary care data are linked to a range of other health related data to provide a longitudinal, representative UK population health dataset. You can opt out of your information being used for research purposes at any time, full details can be found here: –

https://cprd.com/transparency-information

The legal bases for processing this information for research purposes.

NHS Digital (formally the Health and Social Care Centre) may process ‘personal data’ for us as an accredited ‘safe haven’ or ‘trusted third-party’ within the NHS when linking GP data with data from other sources. The legal bases for processing this data are:

• Medicines and medical device monitoring: Article 6(e) and Article 9(2)(i) – public interest in the area of public health
• Medical research and statistics: Article 6(e) and Article 9(2)(j) – public interest and scientific research purposes

Any data CPRD hold or pass on to bona fide researchers, except for clinical research studies, will have been anonymised in accordance with the Information Commissioner’s Office Anonymisation Code of Practice. We will hold data indefinitely for the benefit of future research, but studies will normally only hold the data we release to them for twelve months.

Additional information about your data

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 Notice explains

• Who we are, how we use your information and information about our Data Protection Officer?
• What kinds of personal information about you do we process?
• Why do we need this information from you?

• How do we lawfully use your data? (What are the legal grounds for our processing of your personal information (including when we share it with others)?
• Categories of personal data (What are the types of personal data that are shared with others?)
• How do we maintain the confidentiality of your records?
• Where do we store your information Electronically?
• Who are our partner organisations?
• Sharing your information without consent
• How long will we store your information?

• Why can sharing data with other organisations be helpful?
• What is changing regarding sharing of data with others?

• Do GPs have to share our data with other organisations?
• What are the concerns regarding the mass extraction of data?

• How you can opt out of sharing data with other organisations if you wish to do so

Who we are, how we use your information and information about our Data Protection Officer?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 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 previous 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 the practice responsible for your personal data is Portcullis Practice. Portcullis Surgery will be what’s known as the ‘Controller’ of the personal data you provide to us.

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

What kinds of personal information about you do we process?

We collect basic personal data about you which does include special types of information and location-based information. This does include name, address, medical conditions, contact details such as email and mobile number etc.

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
• Contact details (including email address, mobile telephone number and home telephone number)

We will 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.

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.

Categories of personal data

The data collected by Practice staff in the event of a safeguarding situation will be as much personal information as is necessary or possible to obtain in order to handle the situation. In addition to some basic demographic and contact details, we will also process details of what the safeguarding concern is. This is likely to be special category information (such as health information).

Sources of the data

The Practice will either receive or collect information when someone contacts the organisation with safeguarding concerns, or we believe there may be safeguarding concerns and make enquiries to relevant providers.

Recipients of personal data

The information is used by the Practice when handling a safeguarding incident or concern. We may share information accordingly to ensure duty of care and investigation as required with other partners such as local authorities, the police or healthcare professionals (i.e. their GP or mental health team).

Third party processors

In order to deliver the best possible service, the practice will share data (where required) with other NHS bodies such as other GP practices and hospitals. In addition, the practice will use carefully selected third party service providers. When we use a third party service provider to process data on our behalf then we will always have an appropriate agreement in place to ensure that they keep the data secure, that they do not use or share information other than in accordance with our instructions and that they are operating appropriately. Examples of functions that may be carried out by third parties includes:

• Companies that provide IT services & support, including our core clinical systems; systems which manage patient facing services (such as our website and service accessible through the same); data hosting service providers; systems which facilitate appointment bookings or electronic prescription services; document management services etc.

• Delivery services (for example if we were to arrange for delivery of any medicines to you).

• Payment providers (if for example you were paying for a prescription or a service such as travel vaccinations).

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 [Practice Name] 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. If 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.

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 3rd parties have access to your personal data unless the law allows them to do so and appropriate safeguards have been put in place Such as a Data Processor as above). 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.

EMIS Web

The Practice uses a clinical system provided by a Data Processor called EMIS, with effect from 10^th June 2019, EMIS will start storing your practice’s EMIS Web data in a highly secure, third party cloud hosted environment, namely Amazon Web Services (“AWS”).

The data will remain in the UK at all times and will be fully encrypted both in transit and at rest. In doing this, there will be no change to the control of access to your data and the hosted service provider will not have any access to the decryption keys. AWS is one of the world’s largest cloud companies, already supporting numerous public sector clients (including the NHS), and it offers the very highest levels of security and support.

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
• Primary Care Network
• 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)
• Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)
• 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.

Primary Care Network

The objective of primary care networks is for group practices together to create more collaborative workforces 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.

Primary care networks form a key building block of the NHS long-term plan. Bringing general practices together 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 wider health and care system.

All GP practices are expected to come together in geographical networks covering populations of 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.

Computer System This practice operates a Clinical Computer System on which NHS Staff record information securely. This information can then be shared with other clinicians so that everyone caring for you is fully informed about your medical history, including allergies and medication.

To provide around the clock safe care, unless you have asked us not to, we will make information available to trusted organisations. Wherever possible, their staff will ask your consent before your information is viewed.

We consider patient consent as being the key factor in dealing with your health information.

Shared Care Records

To support your care and improve the sharing of relevant information to our partner organisations when they are involved in looking after you, we will share information to other systems. The general principle is that information is passed to these systems unless you request this does not happen, but that system users should ask for your consent before viewing your record.

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 [Practice Name] an appropriate contract (art 24-28) will be established for the processing of your information.

Sharing your information without consent

We will normally ask you for your consent, but there are times when we may be required by law to share your information without your consent, for example:

• where there is a serious risk of harm or abuse to you or other people;
• where a serious crime, such as assault, is being investigated or where it could be prevented;
• notification of new births;
• where we encounter infectious diseases that may endanger the safety of others, such as meningitis or measles (but not HIV/AIDS);
• where a formal court order has been issued;
• where there is a legal requirement, for example if you had committed a Road Traffic Offence.

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)

Why can sharing data with other organisations be helpful?

There are advantages of sharing information with other organisations.

• These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare.

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.

• Risk Stratification

Information about you can be 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.

“Information from care records may be used to identify individual patients from the risk stratified data when it is necessary to discuss the outcome and consider preventative care. Risk stratified information specifically relating to children and young people’s asthma is shared with specialist children’s Asthma care providers in Shropshire Community Healthcare Trust and Shropshire and Telford Hospitals to enhance the delivery of our services”

• 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.

• Patient Communication

The Practice will use like to use your name, contact details and email address to inform you of NHS services, or provide inform about your health/information to manage your healthcare or information about the management of the NHS service. There may be occasions were authorised research facilities would like you to take part in research in regard to your particular health issues, to try improve your health, your contact details may be used to invite you to receive further information about such research opportunities.

• Safeguarding

The Practice is dedicated to ensuring that the principles and duties of safeguarding adults and children are holistically, consistently and conscientiously applied with the wellbeing of all, at the heart of what we do.

Our legal basis for processing For the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) purposes is: –

Article 6(1)(e) ‘…exercise of official authority…’.

For the processing of special categories data, the basis is: –

Article 9(2)(b) – ‘processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising specific rights of the controller or of the data subject in the field of employment and social security and social protection law…’

• Research

Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) collects de-identified patient data from a network of GP practices across the UK. Primary care data are linked to a range of other health related data to provide a longitudinal, representative UK population health dataset. You can opt out of your information being used for research purposes at any time, full details can be found here: –

https://cprd.com/transparency-information

The legal bases for processing this information for research purposes.

NHS Digital (formally the Health and Social Care Centre) may process ‘personal data’ for us as an accredited ‘safe haven’ or ‘trusted third-party’ within the NHS when linking GP data with data from other sources. The legal bases for processing this data are:

• Medicines and medical device monitoring: Article 6(e) and Article 9(2)(i) – public interest in the area of public health
• Medical research and statistics: Article 6(e) and Article 9(2)(j) – public interest and scientific research purposes

Any data CPRD hold or pass on to bona fide researchers, except for clinical research studies, will have been anonymised in accordance with the Information Commissioner’s Office Anonymisation Code of Practice. We will hold data indefinitely for the benefit of future research, but studies will normally only hold the data we release to them for twelve months.

NHS Digital Information

NHS Digital has been collecting data from GPs to meet bespoke data requests for these purposes for over ten years, through the General Practice Extraction Service (GPES). This system is now being replaced with their new General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR) service, a broader general-purpose collection which will enable faster access to pseudonymised patient data for planners and researchers.

GPs have been informed that there will be a planned mass extraction of data but the date is not finalised yet. With regards to GPDPR specifically, the data will start to flow from the 1 September and patients would need to opt out ahead of this date if they do not want their data to be shared. Any opt-outs received after this date will still be applied, but the data extracted to date will not be retrievable. For every NHS patient in England, entire records will be downloaded. Under GPDPR, NHS Digital will collect medication, referral and appointment data for the previous 10 years, as well as other medical record data for the patients’ entire history, including symptoms, diagnoses and immunisations. This includes sensitive diagnoses of mental health problems, sexually transmitted infections or terminations of pregnancy, and every test result and medication prescribed. These records will be “pseudonymised” – which means that the identifiers such as date of birth, NHS number and exact postcode will be replaced by a code.

Do GPs have to share our data with other organisations when this is implemented?

The short answer is “Yes we have to”. GPs are in a difficult position: we are the legal guardians of our patients’ confidential information, given to us in trust. We also have a legal duty to pass on this information to NHS Digital unless patients have opted out.

What are the concerns regarding the mass extraction of patient data from GP records?

The nationally mandated, planned mass extraction of patient data from GP records has already been delayed from July to September following concerns raised regarding the lack of clear guidance and information, and the very short notice period to opt-out.

As discussed in the guardian article by Dr Ameen Kamlana and Pulse articles by Dr Awil Mohamoud (see links below) there are a number of concerns regarding this new GPDPR system.

• There has been no public awareness campaign arranged by the Government.
  • In 2013 every patient in the UK was sent a letter by the Government about the scheme to extract GP medical records, “data”, to inform them about their choice to opt out of the scheme. This has not been repeated for GPDPR.

• Extraction of data following the 1^st September 2021 is IRREVERSIBLE unless you opt out prior to this date.
  • An NHS Digital spokesperson said: ‘Patients are able to register an opt out at any time and the data will cease to flow. This does not apply retrospectively to data that has already been collected prior to the individual opting out. With regards to GPDPR specifically, the data will start to flow from the 1 September and patients would need to opt out ahead of this date if they do not want their data to be shared.’

• The National Care. Data Scheme in 2013, was scrapped following concerns about the security and confidentiality of “pseudonomised” data sharing and a lack of clarity and transparency about who could access this data and how it would be used. GPDPR data will also be “pseudonomised” with similar concerns.
  • In 2016, Google DeepMind established a data-sharing agreementwith the Royal Free hospital in London. The hospital was found to have failed to comply with the Data Protection Act in handing over the personal information of 1.6 million patients without adequately informing them.

• The scale of data extracted for GPDPR is unprecedented and bigger than the care data scheme and includes sensitive data that was excluded from the scrapped care data scheme.
  • Phil Booth, coordinator of MedConfidential, a data confidentiality advocacy group, told Pulse that the new GPDPR system is ‘far bigger’ than the controversial data sharing scheme, care.data, which was scrappedin 2016, following concerns about patient confidentiality and how the data would be used. He said: ‘Care.data was only prospective, from the point it would have collected, it would have collected going forwards. This is people’s entire coded GP history on first upload and then daily thereafter for any changes. It’s far bigger than care.data. It’s also taking thousands of sensitive codes, which care.data specifically excluded.’

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/03/gp-nhs-digital-data-patients-records-england

https://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/workload/new-gp-data-extraction-far-exceeds-care-data-plans-warn-privacy-campaigners/

https://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/technology/nhs-digital-gave-gpdpr-opt-out-deadline-in-error-says-gps-must-set-own-dates/

How you can opt out of sharing data with other organisations if you wish to do so?

If after reading all the information you choose to opt in or out of one or all three types of records you need to do as follows

OPT IN

• Basic SCR (Record 1A) -no need to opt in it will be created automatically

• Enriched SCR-please fill in the form below and send to the practice

• One Health and Care Local Integrated Care Record (RECORD 2)-no need to opt in it will be created automatically

• NHS digital record (RECORD 3)-no need to opt in it will be created automatically

OPT OUT

• Basic SCR (Record 1A) -please fill in the form below and send to the practice

• Enriched SCR-please fill in the form below and send to the practice

• One Health and Care Local Integrated Care Record (RECORD 2)-please fill in the form below and send to the practice

• NHS digital record (RECORD 3)-you need to opt out by contacting NHS Digital on visit nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters or call 0300 303 5678 . Your GP surgery cannot do this for you. You can also opt out on the NHS app.

You have a right to choose who your data is shared with and can opt out if you wish to do so.

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.

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/general-practice-data-for-planning-and-research#opting-out

If you don’t want your identifiable patient data to be shared for purposes except for your own care, you can opt-out by registering a National Data Opt-out .

National Data Opt-out

This system has been in place for some time and applies to opting out of your confidential patient information being used or shared for research and planning only, you can choose to opt out securely online or through a telephone service. You can change your choice at any time. To find out more or to make your choice visit nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters or call 0300 303 5678

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. However with GPDPR this erasure of data once uploaded on 1st September may no longer be possible.

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 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 located 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 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 GP, please contact the GP 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 Paul Couldrey of PCIG Consulting Limited. Any queries regarding Data Protection issues should be addressed to him at: –

Email:   Couldrey@me.com

Postal: PCIG Consulting Limited, 7 Westacre Drive, Quarry Bank, Dudley, West Midlands, DY5 2EE

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.

We want to ensure patients, their families and carers are represented and heard from at all stages of their treatment at our practice.

We have a Patient Participation Group chaired by Mr Alistair Barton

What is a PPG?

Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) are generally made up of a group of volunteer patients, the practice manager and one or more of the GPs from a practice. PPGs meet on a regular basis to discuss the services on offer, and how improvements can be made for the benefit of patients and the practice.

If you would like to join the Patient Participation Group please email our Duty Manager (portcullis.dutymanager@nhs.net) who will put you in contact with our Chair Alistair.

The PPG have a surgery equipment fund aswell as a Carers group fund for all donations received, which is governed by some of our patients for the benefit of the practice.

The money donated to the surgery fund is greatly appreciated as it enables us to buy equipment that would not normally be available for our surgery.

We try to buy equipment that will be of benefit to the wide range of our patients.

From donations received, the equipment fund is able to purchase the following types of equipment and services:

• Portable oxygen for the Doctors’ cars
• Replacement canisters for Cryotherapy
• Spirometer machine
• Oxygen saturation monitors for loaning to patients
• Blood pressure monitors for loaning to patients
• Financial help needed for our volunteers to visit our patients in our befriending scheme
• Funding for carers group activities

Our sincere thanks to everyone who has helped us make these purchases and services possible.

Donations

If you would like to make a donation to the Medical Practice Equipment Fund or the Medical Practice Carers Group Fund then please either make a cheque payable to ‘Portcullis Surgery’ or we are happy to accept cash and coin collections and place it in an envelope marked for the attention of our Practice Manager Mrs Rachel Wilding specifying if your donation is a general fund donation or a specific donation for the carers group fund.

If you prefer you can make donations anonymously, otherwise please ensure we have the details of whom the donation is from (or on behalf of) as we always like to write and thank all who donate.
We will then pass your donation to the Treasurer of the Surgery Equipment Fund so they can contact and thankyou.

COVID-19 Privacy Notice

(This Privacy Notice is to run alongside our standard Practice Privacy Notice)

Due to the unprecedented challenges that the NHS and we, Portcullis Surgery face due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, there is a greater need for public bodies to require additional collection and sharing of personal data to protect against serious threats to public health.

In order to look after your healthcare needs in the most efficient way we, Portcullis Surgery may therefore need to share your personal information, including medical records, with staff from other GP Practices including Practices within our Primary Care Network, as well as other health organisations (i.e. Clinical Commissioning Groups, Commissioning Support Units, Local authorities etc.) and bodies engaged in disease surveillance for the purposes of research, protecting public health, providing healthcare services to the public and monitoring and managing the Covid-19 outbreak and incidents of exposure.

The Secretary of State has served notice under Regulation 3(4) of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (COPI) to require organisations to process confidential patient information in the manner set out below for purposes set out in Regulation 3(1) of COPI.

Purpose of this Notice

The purpose of this Notice is to require organisations such as Portcullis Surgery to process confidential patient information for the purposes set out in Regulation 3(1) of COPI to support the Secretary of State’s response to Covid-19 (Covid-19 Purpose). “Processing” for these purposes is defined in Regulation 3(2) and includes dissemination of confidential patient information to persons and organisations permitted to process confidential patient information under Regulation 3(3) of COPI. This Notice is necessary to require organisations such as Portcullis Surgery to lawfully and efficiently process confidential patient information as set out in Regulation 3(2) of COPI for purposes defined in regulation 3(1), for the purposes of research, protecting public health, providing healthcare services to the public and monitoring and managing the Covid-19 outbreak and incidents of exposure.

Requirement to Process Confidential Patient Information

The Secretary of State has served notice to recipients under Regulation 3(4) that requires Portcullis Surgery to process confidential patient information, including disseminating to a person or organisation permitted to process confidential patient information under Regulation 3(3) of COPI.

Portcullis Surgery is only required to process such confidential patient information:

• where the confidential patient information to be processed is required for a Covid-19 Purpose and will be processed solely for that Covid-19 Purpose in accordance with Regulation 7 of COPI
• from 20^th March 2020 until 30th September 2020.

Covid-19 Purpose.

A Covid-19 Purpose includes but is not limited to the following:

• understanding Covid-19 and risks to public health, trends in Covid-19 and such risks, and controlling and preventing the spread of Covid-19 and such risks
• identifying and understanding information about patients or potential patients with or at risk of Covid-19, information about incidents of patient exposure to Covid-19 and the management of patients with or at risk of Covid-19 including: locating, contacting, screening, flagging and monitoring such patients and collecting information about and providing services in relation to testing, diagnosis, self-isolation, fitness to work, treatment, medical and social interventions and recovery from Covid-19
• understanding information about patient access to health services and adult social care services and the need for wider care of patients and vulnerable groups as a direct or indirect result of Covid-19 and the availability and capacity of those services or that care
• monitoring and managing the response to Covid-19 by health and social care bodies and the Government including providing information to the public about Covid-19 and its effectiveness and information about capacity, medicines, equipment, supplies, services and the workforce within the health services and adult social care services
• delivering services to patients, clinicians, the health services and adult social care services workforce and the public about and in connection with Covid-19, including the provision of information, fit notes and the provision of health care and adult social care services
• research and planning in relation to Covid-19.

Recording of processing

A record will be kept by Portcullis Surgery of all data processed under this Notice.

Sending Public Health Messages

Data protection and electronic communication laws will not stop Portcullis Surgery from sending public health messages to you, either by phone, text or email as these messages are not direct marketing.

Digital Consultations

It may also be necessary, where the latest technology allows Portcullis Surgery to do so, to use your information and health data to facilitate digital consultations and diagnoses and we will always do this with your security in mind.

Research and Pandemic Planning

The Secretary of State has directed NHS Digital to collect, process and analyse data in connection with COVID-19 to support the Secretary of State’s response to COVID-19 and support various COVID-19 purposes set out in the COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020, 17 March 2020 (as amended) (COVID-19 Direction) and below. This enables NHS Digital to collect data and analyse and link the data for COVID-19 purposes with other data held by NHS Digital.

The purpose of the data collection is also to respond to the intense demand for General Practice data to be shared in support of vital planning and research for COVID-19 purposes, including under the general legal notice issued by the Secretary of State under Regulation 3(4) of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (COPI).

NHS Digital has therefore been requested by the joint co-chairs of the Joint GP IT Committee (JGPITC) (the BMA and RCGP) to provide a tactical solution during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic to meet this demand and to relieve the growing burden and responsibility on General Practices. On 15 April 2020 the BMA and RCGP therefore gave their support via JGPITC to NHS Digital’s proposal to use the General Practice Extraction Service (GPES) to deliver a data collection from General Practices, at scale and pace, as a tactical solution to support the COVID-19 response in the pandemic emergency period.

It is a requirement of the JGPITC that all requests by organisations to access and use this data will need to be made via the NHSX SPOC COVID-19 request process, that will triage and prioritise these requests and refer appropriate requests on to the NHS Digital Data Access Request Service (DARS).   NHS Digital will consult with representatives of the BMA and the RCGP on all requests for access to the data. An outline of the process for this agreed with the BMA and the RCGP is published here. Requests by organisations to access record level data from this collection will also be subject to Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD) consideration. Data applicants will need to demonstrate they have a lawful basis to access the data for COVID-19 purposes.

Benefits of this sharing

Organisations, including the Government, health and social care organisations and researchers need access to this vital data for a range of COVID-19 purposes, to help plan, monitor and manage the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which will help save lives. COVID-19 purposes for which this data may be analysed and used may include:

• understanding COVID-19 and risks to public health, trends in COVID-19 and such risks, and controlling and preventing the spread of COVID-19 and such risks
• identifying and understanding information about patients or potential patients with, or at risk of COVID-19, information about incidents of patient exposure to COVID-19 and the management of patients with or at risk of COVID-19 including: locating, contacting, screening, flagging and monitoring such patients and collecting information about and providing services in relation to testing, diagnosis, self-isolation, fitness to work, treatment, medical and social interventions and recovery from COVID19
• understanding information about patient access to health services and adult social care services as a direct or indirect result of COVID-19, and the availability and capacity of those services • monitoring and managing the response to COVID-19 by health and social care bodies and the Government including providing information to the public about COVID-19 and its effectiveness and information about capacity, medicines, equipment, supplies, services and the workforce within the health services and adult social care services
• delivering services to patients, clinicians, the health services and adult social care services workforce and the public about and in connection with COVID-19, including the provision of information, fit notes and the provision of health care and adult social care services; and
• research and planning in relation to COVID-19.        
• Where it is necessary for us to collect information and specific health data about visitors to our practice, we will not collect more information than we need, and we will ensure that any information collected is treated with the appropriate safeguards.
• We have an obligation to protect our staff and employees’ health, so it is reasonable for staff at Portcullis Surgery to ask any visitors to our practice to tell us if they have visited a particular country, or are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. This must only be in pre-approved circumstances and we would also ask all patients to consider government advice on the NHS 111 website and not attend the practice.

Visitors to The Practice

• This information is required by NHS Digital under section 259(1)(a) of the 2012 Act to comply with the COVID-19 Direction. In line with section 259(5) of the 2012 Act, all organisations in England that are within the scope of this Notice, as identified below under Health and Social Care Bodies within the scope of the collection, must comply with the requirement and provide information to NHS Digital in the form, manner and for the period specified in this Notice.   This Notice is issued in accordance with the procedure published as part of NHS Digital’s duty under section 259(8) of the 2012 Act.
• Details of the information to be collected can be found on the NHS Digital website – Specification of this DPN. Type 1 objections will be upheld in collecting this data from General Practices and therefore the data for those patients who have registered a Type 1 objection with their GP will not be collected. The Type 1 objection prevents an individual’s personal identifiable confidential information from being shared outside of their GP Practice except when it is being used for the purposes of their direct care. The National Data Opt-Out will not apply to the collection of the data, as this is a collection which is required by law.
• NHS Digital has been directed by the Secretary of State under section 254 of the 2012 Act under the COVID-19 Direction to establish and operate a system for the collection and analysis of the information specified for this service: GPES Data for Pandemic Planning and Research (COVID-19). A copy of the COVID-19 Direction is published here: https://digital.nhs.uk//about-nhs-digital/corporate-information-and-documents/directions-anddata-provision-notices/secretary-of-state-directions/covid-19-public-health-directions-2020.

Legal Basis for this collection

• Data will be collected nationally from all GP Practices by NHS Digital every fortnight. All requests to access this data will be triaged through the NHSX SPOC COVID-19 request process and assessed and fulfilled by NHS Digital through DARS. This will significantly reduce the burden on General Practice at a time when demand on resources is high, enabling General Practice to focus on delivering health care and support to patients. It will also reduce compliance burden and risk for General Practice associated with sharing data and complying with the terms of the general legal notice issued under COPI, which applies to General Practices.
• Data may be analysed and linked to other data held by NHS Digital or held by other organisations to which access to the data is granted for COVID-19 purposes, through the process described above.

Review and Expiry of this Notice

This Notice will be reviewed on or before 30 September 2020 and may be extended by The Secretary of State. If no further notice is sent to Portcullis Surgery by The Secretary of State this Notice will expire on 30 September 2020.

Use of Benzodiazepines (and related medications) for flying

All UK medical schools now require applicants to have experience in a caring or service role, either paid or voluntarily, in health or related field, as well as direct observation healthcare. Portcullis is very keen to promote students to follow a career in Medicine, Nursing or related fields and we are more than happy to accept students for work experience at the practice.

Work experience is incredibly useful for finding out if you’re suited to medicine and where your specialty interests may lie. It also shows your commitment to becoming a doctor and is a valuable part of your medical school application.

You can get a placement in a range of healthcare settings, such as a GP practice, hospital or even internationally.

What do you need to do to get a placement at Portcullis Surgery?

You will need to be at least 16-years-old for a work placement at our practice.

We will give priority to local students if demand is very high.

We prefer placements to be in the summer months June-September as the practice is less busy then.

Send an email to the practice for the attention of Dr Catherine Beanland and we will be in touch. Please give us some information about yourself and what your career plans and interests are so we can tailor the experience to your needs.

Email: portcullis.dutymanager@nhs.net

Top tips when on a placement at Portcullis Surgery

• Dress smartly we would like students to wear black trousers or skirt and a white, black or red top. Alternatively if you have them you can wear scrubs.
• Be aware that some patients may wish to be seen without a student present. Don’t take this personally.
• Remember that patient confidentiality is important. You must not, under any circumstances, discuss patient issues outside of the department or practice you are based in. Be aware that you will be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement.
• It would be inappropriate for you to see a patient that is known to you socially, whether it be a family member or friend. If this happens you should tell the person who is supervising you and leave the room.
• Make sure you tell your placement what you expect to get out of it and let them know if there is anything that you would like to do or learn whilst you’re there.
• Keep a log/ daily diary of what you did and saw. This can help solidify what you learn, but is also an important reference tool when you are writing a personal statement and preparing for your medical school interviews.
• Try to speak to a diverse range of staff. Time with other healthcare workers can offer a great insight into the multi-disciplinary approach to healthcare.
• Ask questions and show enthusiasm. Ask the doctors about what they think are the qualities of a good doctor, ask them about their work patterns, lifestyle or whether they would choose medicine again as a career.
• Talk to patients – remember to be polite and introduce yourself as a medical school applicant on work experience.
• Be proactive and offer a pair of helping hands at every opportunity.

The NHS operates 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.

Portcullis Surgery is a training practice and takes pride in the quality of our teaching and training ethos. For many years we have welcomed medical students and GP Trainees at this practice, many of whom are multi-cultural  and we are very fortunate that our patients have always been very welcoming and supportive of all our students and trainee doctors. We have an active zero-tolerance policy in place for dealing with racism, violence, and intimidation – of all forms.

We are very aware that visiting your GP can, at times, be stressful and concerning for patients. Delays in obtaining appointments and delays in surgery times, due to unforeseen emergency appointments, can also add to these concerns.

To successfully provide our services a mutual respect between staff and patients has to be in place. GPs and staff have a right to care for others without fear of being attacked, abused or treated badly in any way. Our staff aim to be polite, helpful, and sensitive to all patients’ individual needs and circumstances. We would respectfully remind patients that very often staff could be confronted with a multitude of varying and sometimes difficult tasks and situations, all at the same time.

Portcullis Surgery operates a zero tolerance policy to any abuse or bad behaviour towards its staff, doctors or other patients; this could be physical, verbal or online abuse. Aggressive behaviour, be it physical, verbal or online, will not be tolerated and may result in you being removed from the practice list and, in extreme cases, the police being contacted.

In order for the practice to maintain good relations with our patients we would like to ask all our patients to be aware of the types of behaviour we occasionally see that are unacceptable:

• Using bad language, shouting or raising of voices at practice staff
• Any physical violence towards any member of our team or other patients
• Verbal abuse towards staff or patients in any form including shouting
• Persistent or unrealistic demands that cause stress to staff will not be accepted. Requests will be met wherever possible and explanations given when they cannot be met
• Being perceived to bully or manipulate a staff member to obtain something
• Causing damage to, stealing or not returning practice equipment from the practice’s premises, staff or patients
• Obtaining drugs and/or medical services fraudulently
• Racist, xenophobic, sexist, homophobic or other intolerant language, discrimination or sexual harassment will not be tolerated.