Practice Policies & Patient Information

Chaperones

There are occasions when the doctor or nurse needs to give you a full examination.

All patients are entitled to have a chaperone with them for any physical examination.
The chaperone can be a family member, friend or a member of staff.
If you want a member of staff to accompany you during the visit please let the receptionist know when you arrive for your appointment.

All patients are entitled to have a chaperone present for any consultation, examination or procedure. If you would like a chaperone, however have not been offered one, please ask your GP, nurse or enquire at reception.

If we can’t provide someone straight away, you may need to return for the examination.

CHOOSE IF DATA FROM YOUR HEALTH RECORDS IS SHARED FOR RESEARCH AND PLANNING

Your health records contain a type of data called confidential patient
information. This data can be used to help with research and planning.
You can choose to stop your confidential patient information being used for
research and planning. You can also make a choice for someone else like your
children under the age of 13.
Your choice will only apply to the health and care system in England. This does
not apply to health or care services accessed in Scotland, Wales or Northern
Ireland.
WHAT IS CONFIDENTIAL PATIENT INFORMATION
Confidential patient information is when 2 types of information from your
health records are joined together.
The 2 types of information are:
 something that can identify you
 something about your health care or treatment
For example, your name joined with what medicine you take.
Identifiable information on its own is used by health and care services to
contact patients and this is not confidential patient information.
HOW WE USE YOU CONFIDENTIAL PATIENT INFORMATION:
Your individual care
Health and care staff may use your confidential patient information to help with
your treatment and care. For example, when you visit your GP they may look at
your records for important information about your health.
Research and planning
Confidential patient information might also be used to:
 plan and improve health and care services
 research and develop cures for serious illnesses
You can stop your confidential patient information being used for research and
planning. Find out how to make your choice.
If you’re happy with your confidential patient information being used for
research and planning you do not need to do anything. Any choice you make
will not impact your individual care.

Confidentiality

Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential

Sometimes the law requires the NHS to pass on information, for example, to notify a birth. The NHS Central Register for England and Wales contains basic personal details of all patients registered with a general practitioner. The register does not contain clinical information. You may be receiving care from other people as well as the NHS, so that we can all work together for your benefit we may need to share some information about you. The sharing of sensitive information is strictly controlled by law, and anyone who receives information from us also has a legal duty to keep it confidential.

As required by law, we are registered with the Data Protection Commissioner. You have a right of access to your records under the 2018 Data Protection Act. Please speak to any of the receptionists as there may be a charge for this service.

All patients registered with the practice are automatically offered online access to their medical records, please ask any of the receptionists for details.

The practice is committed to continuously improving its IT systems to enable us to maintain up-to-date information and accurate patient records. All stored data is subject to the data protection act. We only ever use or pass on information about you if people have a genuine need for it in your and everyone’s interests. Whenever we can we shall remove details which identify you. The sharing of some types of very sensitive personal information is strictly controlled by law. If your doctor is requested to report information to external agencies such as solicitors or insurance companies, he/she will only do so with your explicit consent.

This practice uses EMIS Web Software, a computerised medical record system. Storing records on the computer can help us to monitor and audit our performance so that we provide the best possible care. Your registration details are held on the computer, along with the medical information from consultations.

Anonymised health information is sent to NHS England to monitor quality standards and for post-payment verification purposes. All this information is covered by the Data Protection Act. We ask you for information so that you can receive proper care and treatment. We keep this information together with details of your care because it may be needed if we see you again. Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential.

Data Processing

Privacy Notice

What information do we collect about you?

We only collect the information (“data”) that we need to help us keep you healthy – such as your name, address, next of kin, records of appointments, visits, telephone calls, your health record, treatment and medicines, test results, X-rays and any other information to enable us to care for you.

How do we use your information?

- We share your medical records with other health professionals who are involved in providing you with care and treatment. This is only ever on a need-to-know basis and event by event.

- Some of your data is automatically copied to the Shared Care Summary Record.

- We share some of your data with local out-of-hours provider

- Data about you is used to manage national screening campaigns such as flu, cervical cytology and diabetes prevention.

- Your data about you is used to manage the NHS and make payments.

- We share information when the law requires us to, for instance when we are inspected or reporting certain illnesses or safeguarding vulnerable people

- Your data is used to check the quality of care provided by the NHS.

- We may also share medical records for medical research

Enhanced Access Privacy Notice

Streatham PCN is made up of a number of GP Practices and has been created for members practices to work collaboratively to deliver the requirements of the PCN Directed Enhanced Service Contract.

The following practices are part of Streatham PCN:

- Palace Road Surgery

- Streatham Hill Group Practice

- Valley Road Surgery

- The Exchange Surgery

- Streatham Common Practice

- The Vale Surgery

As part of the PCN DES service, we are required to provide Enhanced Access to patients registered with practices in the PCN. Enhanced Access is patient appointments outside core practice hours – that is between 6.30-8.00 pm on weekdays, and on Saturdays 9.00 am till 5.00pm. We have chosen to also offer some appointments between 7.00 am-8.00 am on weekdays. We have also chosen to subcontract some of the provision of these appointments to our local GP federation (Lambeth GP Federation), who have previously provided access hubs in the area.

The Enhanced Access service for our patients requires the following:

An interoperable Clinical IT solution and
Data Sharing between the PCN practices and the GP Federation

To enable us to provide our Enhanced Access Service to you, clinicians from other practices in our PCN and working for our local Federation will at times have access to your full GP record, but only when providing direct care to you.

People who have access to your information will only normally have access to information that they need to fulfil their roles. For example, admin staff will normally only see your name, address, contact details, appointment history and registration details in order to book appointments; the practice nurses will normally have access to your immunisation, treatment, significant active and important past histories, your allergies and relevant recent contacts whilst any GP you see or speak to will normally have access to everything in your record.

1. Controller Contact Details

The controller of your data when it is in your practice clinical record is:

Operations Manager

Anushia Seevaratnam
Palace Road Surgery,
1 Palace Road,
Streatham Hill,
London,
SW2 3DY

020 8674 2083

The controller of your data when it is in the GP Federation clinical record system is Lambeth GP Federation, 1 Alleyn Park, London, SE21 8AU.

2. Data Protection Officer Contact Details

Danielle Gibbons, GP Data Protection Officer, [email protected].

3. Purpose of the Processing

To provide our patients with direct care.

4. The Lawfulness Conditions and Special Categories

The processing of personal data in the delivery of direct care and for providers’ administrative purposes in this surgery and in support of direct care elsewhere is supported under the following Article 6 and 9 conditions of the GDPR:

Article 6(1)(e) ‘…necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority…’.
Article 9(2)(h) ‘necessary for the purposes of preventative 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 and services…”

We will also recognise your rights established under UK case law collectively known as the “Common Law Duty of Confidentiality”.

5. Recipient or Categories of Recipients of the Shared Data

6. Rights to Object

You have the right under Article 21 of the GDPR to object to your personal information being processed. Please contact the Practice if you wish to object to the processing of your data. You should be aware that this is a right to raise an objection which is not the same as having an absolute right to have your wishes granted in every circumstance.

GP Practices process personal data under Article 6(1)(c) on a lawful and legitimate basis where the organisation is obliged under law to comply with:

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)
The Freedom of Information Act
The NHS Constitution
The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009

By complying with these laws, the Practice has compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override the interests, rights and freedoms in the right to object.

7. Right to Access and Correct

Under GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, you have the right to see or be given a copy of any personal data we hold about you. To gain access to a copy of your information, you will need to make a Subject Access Request (SAR) to the Practice you are normally registered with.

You also have the right to have incorrect data held about you corrected.

8. Retention Period

The data will be retained for the period as specified in the national NHS records retention schedule.

9. Right to Complain

You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office or call their helpline on 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate).

The NHS App

We use the NHS Account Messaging Service provided by NHS England to send you messages relating to your health and care. You need to be an NHS App user to receive these messages. Further information about the service can be found at the privacy notice for the NHS App managed by NHS England.

Data Provision Notices

NHS Digital has powers, under sections 259(1)(a) and 259(1)(b) of the 2012 Health and Social Care Act 2012, which requires health and social care bodies in England to provide NHS England with certain datasets.

The DPN makes it clear whether an organisation is legally required to supply the data or is being requested to do so only.

In either case, when data is provided in response to a requirement or a request made under section 259, the data can be supplied without breaching the common law duty of confidentiality.

For more information about Dara Provision Notices, please see https://digital.nhs.uk/about-nhs-digital/corporate-information-and-documents/directions-and-data-provision-notices/data-provision-notices-dpns

COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020

NHS England established the OpenSAFELY service Trusted Research Environment (TRE). It supports the use of data for COVID-19 purposes only including research, clinical audit, service evaluation and health surveillance.

NHS England has been directed by the Government to establish and operate the OpenSAFELY service. This service provides a Trusted Research Environment that supports COVID-19 research and analysis.

Each GP practice remains the controller of its own patient data but is required to let researchers run queries on pseudonymised patient data. This means identifiers are removed and replaced with a pseudonym, through OpenSAFELY.

Only researchers approved by NHS England are allowed to run these queries and they will not be able to access information that directly or indirectly identifies individuals.

For more information about OpenSAFELY

GP Connect Privacy Notice

We use a facility called GP Connect to support your direct care. GP Connect makes patient information available to all appropriate clinicians when and where they need it, to support direct patients care, leading to improvements in both care and outcomes.

GP Connect is not used for any purpose other than direct care.

Authorised Clinicians such as GPs, NHS 111 Clinicians, Care Home Nurses (if you are in a Care Home), Secondary Care Trusts, Social Care Clinicians are able to access the GP records of the patients they are treating via a secure NHS Digital service called GP connect.

The NHS 111 service (and other services determined locally e.g. Other GP practices in a Primary Care Network) will be able to book appointments for patients at GP practices and other local services.

Legal basis for sharing this data

In order for your Personal Data to be shared or processed, an appropriate “legal basis” needs to be in place and recorded. The legal bases for direct care via GP Connect is the same as the legal bases for the care you would receive from your own GP, or another healthcare provider:

for the processing of personal data: Article 6.1 (e) of the UK GDPR: “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”.
for the processing of “Special Category Data” (which includes your medical information): Article 9.2 (h) of the UK GDPR: “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 and services”.

Your rights

Because the legal bases used for your care using GP Connect are the same as used in other direct care situations, the legal rights you have over this data under UK GDPR will also be the same- these are listed elsewhere in our privacy notice.

Find out more about GP Connect

London Care Record – One London

What is the London Care Record?

The London Care Record is a secure view of your health and care information.

It lets health and care professionals involved in your care see important details about your health when and where they need them.

It can show doctors, nurses and other care professionals any conditions you have, your test results, medicines you take, anything you’re allergic to and plans for your care.

Having a single, secure view of your information helps speed up communication between care professionals across London, and beyond

This helps to improve the safety of care and can save lives.

OneLondon is working to ensure as many health and care staff as possible can access the London Care Record and that it provides them with the information they need.

The SEL ICS Privacy Notice for the London Care Record has now been published on the ICS website: The London Care Record – South East London ICS (selondonics.org)

Find out more about the London Care Record see www.onelondon.online.

South East London ICS Privacy Policy

The Exchange Surgery is commissioned by South East London ICS. ICS collects, processes and protects the personal data of its service users.

For more information on the onelondon data sharing framework visit https://www.selondonics.org/who-we-are/our-work/digital-and-data/data-services/

How we use your Health and Care Data

How we use your data

Summary Care Record Supplementary Transparency Notice

During the height of the pandemic changes were made to the Summary Care Record (SCR) to make additional patient information available to all appropriate clinicians when and where they needed it, to support direct patients care, leading to improvements in both care and outcomes.

These changes to the SCR will remain in place, unless you decide otherwise.

Regardless of your past decisions about your Summary Care Record preferences, you will still have the same options that you currently have in place to opt out of having a Summary Care Record, including the opportunity to opt-back in to having a Summary Care Record or opt back in to allow sharing of Additional Information.

You can exercise these choices by doing the following:

Choose to have a Summary Care Record with all information shared. This means that any authorised, registered and regulated health and care professionals will be able to see a detailed Summary Care Record, including Core and Additional Information, if they need to provide you with direct care.
Choose to have a Summary Care Record with Core information only. This means that any authorised, registered and regulated health and care professionals will be able to see limited information about allergies and medications in your Summary Care Record if they need to provide you with direct care.
Choose to opt-out of having a Summary Care Record altogether. This means that you do not want any information shared with other authorised, registered and regulated health and care professionals involved in your direct care. You will not be able to change this preference at the time if you require direct care away from your GP practice. This means that no authorised, registered and regulated health and care professionals will be able to see information held in your GP records if they need to provide you with direct care, including in an emergency.

To make these changes, you should inform your GP practice or complete this form and return it to your GP practice.

Legal basis for sharing this data

In order for your Personal Data to be shared or processed, an appropriate ‘legal basis’ needs to be in place and recorded. The legal bases for direct care via SCR is the same as the legal bases for the care you would receive from your own GP, or another healthcare provider:

for the processing of personal data: Article 6.1 (e) of the UK GDPR: ‘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’.
for the processing of ‘Special Category Data’ (which includes your medical information): Article 9.2 (h) of the UK GDPR: ‘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 and services’.

Your rights

Because the legal bases used for your care via SCR are the same as used in other direct care situations, the legal rights you have over this data under UK GDPR will also be the same- these are listed elsewhere in our privacy notice.

Find out more about SCR.

Don’t want to share?

All our patients can choose not to share their information. Should you wish to opt out of data collection, please contact a member of staff, alternatively,

Patients can set their opt-out preferences at www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters You will need their NHS number and a valid email address or telephone number which is on the GP record or on the Personal Demographics Service database to register their decision to opt out. Patients who are unable to use the online facility can use a phone helpline to manage their choice 0300 303 5678. A paper print-and-post form is also available at www.nhs.uk – Other ways to make a choice about sharing data.

Alternatively, please contact a member of staff for support.

Have a question?

If you have any questions, ask a member of the surgery team. You can:

Contact the practice’s data controller via email at [email protected]. GP practices are data controllers for the data they hold about their patients

Ask to speak to the practice manager Lucie Lehane who is also Data Protection Champion for The Exchange Surgery.

Data Protection Officer (DPO) contact for The Exchange Surgery: [email protected]

GP DPO Service Lead: Danielle Gibbons

If you’re not happy about how we manage your information

We really want to make sure you’re happy, but we understand that sometimes things can go wrong. If you are unhappy with any part of our data-processing methods, you can complain. For more information, visit ico.org.uk and select ‘Raising a concern’.

We always make sure the information we give you is up-to-date. Any updates will be published on our website, in our newsletter and leaflets, and on our posters. This policy will be reviewed in May 2019.

Disability Access

GDPR/Privacy Notice

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a law that determines how your personal data is processed and kept safe, and the legal rights that you have in relation to your own data.

What GDPR Means For Patients

The GDPR sets out the key principles about processing personal data, for staff or patients:

Data must be process lawfully, fairly and transparently
It must be collected for specific, explicit and legitimate purposes
It must be limited to what is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed
Information must be accurate and kept up to date
Data must be held securely
It can only be retained for as long as is necessary for the reasons it was collected

There are also stronger rights for patients regarding the information that practices hold about them. These include:

Being informed about how their data is used
Patients to have access to their own data
Patients can ask to have incorrect information changed
Restrict how their data is used
Move their patient data from one health organization to another
The right to object to their patient information being processed (in certain circumstances)

What is GDPR?

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulations and is a piece of legislation that superseded the Data Protection Act. It not only applies to the UK and EU; it covers anywhere in the world in which data about EU citizens is processed.

The GDPR is similar to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 (which the practice already complies with), but strengthens many of the DPA’s principles. The main changes are:

Practices must comply with subject access requests
Where we need your consent to process data, this consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous
There are new, special protections for patient data
The Information Commissioner’s Office must be notified within 72 hours of a data breach
Higher fines for data breaches

What Is ‘Patient Data’?

Patient data is information that relates to a single person, such as his/her diagnosis, name, age, earlier medical history etc.

What Is Consent?

Consent is permission from a patient – an individual’s consent is defined as “any freely given specific and informed indication of his wishes by which the data subject signifies his agreement to personal data relating to him being processed.”

The changes in GDPR mean that we must get explicit permission from patients when using their data. This is to protect your right to privacy, and we may ask you to provide consent to do certain things, like contact you or record certain information about you for your clinical records.

Individuals also have the right to withdraw their consent at any time.

Who to contact regarding data protection matters:

Taofik Adigun (General Practice Administrator)
Email: [email protected]

For more information about how your data can be used please visit: www.understandingpatientdata.org.uk/what-you-need-know.

GP Earnings

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 Palace Road Surgery in the last financial year was £64,854.00 before tax and national insurance. This is for 2 full time GPs, 1 part time GP and 2 locum GP who worked in the practice for more than 6 months.

It should be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earnings is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much time doctors spend working in the practice, and should not be used to from any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparison with any other practice.

Privacy Notice: Enhanced Access

Streatham PCN is made up of a number of GP Practices and has been created for members practices to work collaboratively to deliver the requirements of the PCN Directed Enhanced Service Contract.

The following practices are part of Streatham PCN:

Palace Road Surgery
Streatham Hill Group Practice
Valley Road Surgery
The Exchange Surgery
Streatham Common Practice
The Vale Surgery

As part of the PCN DES service, we are required to provide Enhanced Access to patients registered with practices in the PCN. Enhanced Access is patient appointments outside core practice hours – that is between 18:30-20:00 on weekdays, and on Saturdays 09:00 till 17:00. We have chosen to also offer some appointments between 07:00-08:00 on weekdays. We have also chosen to subcontract some of the provision of these appointments to our local GP federation (Lambeth GP Federation), who have previously provided access hubs in the area.

The Enhanced Access service for our patients requires the following:

An interoperable Clinical IT solution and
Data Sharing between the PCN practices and the GP Federation

1) Controller contact details	The controller of your data when it is in your practice clinical record will be your registered GP practice. The controller of your data when it is in the GP Federation clinical record system is Lambeth GP Federation, 1 Alleyn Park, London, SE21 8AU
2) Data Protection Officer contact details	Danielle Gibbons GP Data Protection Officer [email protected]
3) Purpose of the processing	To provide our patients with direct care.
4) The Lawfulness Conditions and Special Categories	The processing of personal data in the delivery of direct care and for providers’ administrative purposes in this surgery and in support of direct care elsewhere is supported under the following Article 6 and 9 conditions of the GDPR: Article 6(1)(e) ‘…necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority…’. Article 9(2)(h) ‘necessary for the purposes of preventative 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 and services…” We will also recognise your rights established under UK case law collectively known as the “Common Law Duty of Confidentiality”^*
5) Recipient or categories of recipients of the shared data	The data will be shared with: Palace Road Surgery www.palaceroadsurgery.co.uk Streatham Hill Group Practice www.shgp.co.uk Valley Road Surgery www.valleyroadsurgery.co.uk The Exchange Surgery www.theexchangesurgery.com Streatham Common Practice www.streathamcommonpractice.co.uk The Vale Surgery www.thevalesurgery.co.uk Lambeth GP Federation www.lambethgpfederations.nhs.uk/access-hubs
6) Rights to object	You have the right under Article 21 of the GDPR to object to your personal information being processed. Please contact the Practice if you wish to object to the processing of your data. You should be aware that this is a right to raise an objection which is not the same as having an absolute right to have your wishes granted in every circumstance. GP Practices process personal data under Article 6(1)(c) on a lawful and legitimate basis where the organisation is obliged under law to comply with The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) The Freedom of Information Act The NHS Constitution The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009 By complying with these laws, the Practice has compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override the interests, rights and freedoms in the right to object.
7) Right to access and correct	Under GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, you have the right to see or be given a copy of any personal data we hold about you. To gain access to a copy of your information, you will need to make a Subject Access Request (SAR) to the Practice you are normally registered with. You also have the right to have incorrect data held about you corrected.
8) Retention period	The data will be retained for the period as specified in the national NHS records retention schedule.
9) Right to Complain.	You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. You can use this link www.ico.org.uk/global/contact-us or call their helpline Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate)

Suggestions, Comments and Complaints

The doctors and staff at this practice are committed to providing high quality healthcare and services to patients.

If you would like to give us any feedback or wish to make a complaint, please complete our Feedback and Complaints Form.

We operate a complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints.

The practice complaints procedure meets national criteria.

What If My Complaint Is Personal?

We shall respect your confidentiality. If your concerns are about another person we will need their written permission before discussing anything personal with you.

Tell Us What You Think

It is helpful to have your views about how we run the practice.

If something concerns you or you think we should know about anything, please speak the operations manager. You can write down your comments and suggestions and give to a member of staff or put it in the suggestions box.

The doctors and staff are interested to know what you think about the services we offer here. Your compliments as well as complaints are equally welcomed.

We will provide high quality primary care response to the needs of the local community, to the mutual satisfaction of patients, clinicians and practice staff.

We will respect the needs and beliefs of patients without discrimination, in a supportive and friendly environment.

We will create an atmosphere of professionalised care and accessibility, and to work in partnership with patients and other health care professionals.

How To Complain

It is best to tell a member of staff about any concerns or problems as soon as they arise and we will try and sort them out.

If you wish to make a complaint, please complete our Feedback form as soon as possible so we can find out what happened.

You can ask for an appointment with the operations manager in order to discuss your concerns. She will explain the complaints procedure to you and make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. It helps us if you can give us as the full details about your complaint.

You need to make your complaint within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem OR within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem relating to a specific incident.

Complaining on Behalf of Someone Else

Medical records are protected by the Data Protection Act 2018. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else we need to know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed unless they are incapable (i.e. due to illness) of providing this.

Verbal Complaints

We believe that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they occur with the individuals concerned. Please ask to speak with Sally Knapp, our reception manager, who will try to assist you. If you are unable to resolve your problem at step 1 then please follow step 2 below.

Local Resolution

As part of our resolution process, we wish to deal with complaints as soon as possible after the event. If not resolved in step 1, then a complaint must be made in writing, ideally within 1 year of the date on which the com-plaint occurred.

The complaint letter must be addressed to Operations Manager.

What We Will Do

We shall acknowledge your complaint in writing within 3 working days and shall then proceed to investigate your complaint within 10 working days. After investigating your complaint we should be in a position to offer you an explanation by writing to you. Or we may invite you to a meeting in the practice if this is appropriate. When we look into a complaint we aim to:

Find out what happened and what went wrong
Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if this is appropriate
Make sure you receive an apology where appropriate
Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not arise again
Introduce procedures to ensure that best practice is adopted where necessary.

A written response from the complaints manager will be sent within 30 working days of the complaint being made.

Useful Addresses

If you are not happy with our written response to your concerns, you can contact the NHS England Customer Contact Centre or The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

NHS England Customer Contact Centre

NHS Commissioning Board
P.O. Box 16738
Redditch
B97 9PT

Tel: 0300 311 2233

Voice Ability: 0300 3305 454

Text Phone: 0786 002 2939

Email: [email protected]

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP

Tel: 0345 015 4033

Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk

NHS 111 Service

Medical help fast but not a 999 emergency.

Tel: 111

If you have difficulties communicating or hearing.

Text Phone: 18001 111

Remember

We want you to let us know if you are unhappy or have a suggestion about how we can do things better
All complaints are treated in the strictest confidence
Making a complaint will not affect your treatment at the surgery

SUMMARY CARE RECORD

SUMMARY CARE RECORD
All patients registered with a GP have a Summary Care Record, unless they
have chosen not to have one. The information held in your Summary Care
Record gives health and care professionals, away from your usual GP practice,
access to information to provide you with safer care, reduce the risk of
prescribing errors and improve your patient experience.

Your Summary Care Record contains basic information about allergies and
medications and any reactions that you have had to medication in the past.
Some patients, including many with long term health conditions, have
previously agreed to have Additional Information shared as part of their
Summary Care Record. This additional information includes information about
significant medical history (past and present), reasons for medications, care
plan information and immunisations.

The only people who might see your Summary Care Record are registered and
regulated healthcare professionals, for example doctors, nurses, paramedics,
pharmacists and staff working under their direct supervision. Your Summary
Care record will only be accessed so a healthcare professional can give you
individual care. Staff working for organisations that do not provide direct care
are not able to view your Summary Care Record.

When you are treated away from your usual doctor’s surgery, the health care
staff there can’t see your GP medical records. Looking at your SCR can speed
up your care and make sure you are given the right medicines and treatment.
Before accessing a Summary Care Record healthcare staff will always ask your
permission to view it, unless it is a medical emergency and you are unable to
give permission.

Opting out
Make your choice about sharing data from your health records – NHS
(www.nhs.uk)

The purpose of SCR is to improve the care that you receive, however, if you
don’t want to have an SCR you have the option to opt out. If this is your
preference please inform your GP or fill in an SCR patient consent preferences
form and return it to your GP practice.

Regardless of your past decisions about your Summary Care Record consent
preferences, you can change your mind at any time. You can choose any of the
following options:

1. To have a Summary Care Record with Additional Information shared.
This means that any authorised, registered and regulated health and
care professionals will be able to see a enriched Summary Care Record if
they need to provide you with direct care.

2. To have a Summary Care Record with core information only. This means
that any authorised, registered and regulated health and care
professionals will be able to see information about allergies and
medications only in your Summary Care Record if they need to provide
you with direct care.

3. To opt-out of having a Summary Care Record altogether. This means that
you do not want any information shared with other authorised,
registered and regulated health and care professionals involved in your
direct care, including in an emergency.

To make these changes, you should inform your GP practice or complete
the SCR patient consent preferences form and return it to your GP practice.
RESEARCH AND PLANNING

How confidential patient information is used

The NHS collects confidential patient information from:

 all NHS organisations, trusts and local authorities (including GP
surgeries)
 private organisations, such as private hospitals providing NHS funded
care
Research bodies and organisations can request access to this information. This
includes:
 university researchers
 hospital researchers
 medical royal colleges
 pharmaceutical companies researching new treatments
Who cannot use confidential patient information
Access to confidential patient information will not be given for:
 marketing purposes
 insurance purposes
(unless you request this)
Setting or changing an opt-out choice

The national data opt-out allows a patient to choose if they do not want their
confidential patient information to be used for purposes beyond their
individual care and treatment – for research and planning. Patients, or people
acting for them by proxy, have control over setting or changing their own optout choice, and can change their mind at any time. In most cases health and
care staff won’t be involved – but it’s helpful to understand how the process
works so you can tell patients where to find out more about their choices.
Read more about how patients can opt out, including special arrangements for
people in secure settings.

Find a range of resources you can use to inform patients about their opt-out
choice.

Which data disclosures do national data opt-outs apply to?
National data opt-outs apply to a disclosure when an organisation, for example
a research body, confirms they have approval from the Confidentiality Advisory
Group (CAG) for the disclosure of confidential patient information held by
another organisation responsible for the data (the data controller) such as an
NHS Trust.

The CAG approval is also known as a section 251 approval and refers to section
251 of the National Health Service Act 2006 and its current Regulations, the
Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002. The NHS Act
2006 and the Regulations enable the common law duty of confidentiality to be
temporarily lifted so that confidential patient information can be disclosed
without the data controller being in breach of the common law duty of
confidentiality.

In practice, this means that the organisation responsible for the information
(the data controller) can, if they wish, disclose the information to the data
applicant, for example a research body, without being in breach of the
common law duty of confidentiality. To be clear – it is only in these cases where
opt-outs apply.

In certain cases it has been agreed that the National Data Opt-Out should not
be applied to programmes which have section 251 approval. More information
on these can be found at paragraphs 7 and 8 below and a list of the programmes for which the NDOO should not be applied to is available. This list
is subject to change so please ensure you check the most up to date version.
The organisation requesting the data can also inform you that the National
Data Opt-Out does not apply.

Read more information about CAG and the section 251 approvals process on
the Health Research Authority (HRA) website.

3. Do you have explicit consent for the use or disclosure?
If a patient has agreed to a specific use of data, after being fully informed, then
the national data opt-out does not apply. Even patients who have registered a
national data opt-out can agree to take part in a specific research project or
clinical trial, by giving their explicit consent.

Read more in 6.1: Consent and 7.4: Consent for consent for more details on
consent and finding participants for research projects, in the operational policy
guidance document.

Declaring compliance
If you have worked out that the national data opt-out policy applies to your
change of use or disclosure of data, you need to apply national data opt-outs
by removing the records of anyone who has an opt-out registered before you
use or disclose the information.

Where a patient has a national data opt-out in place alongside any other form
of opt-out(s) the other opt-out(s) must still be applied in accordance with the
policy for each specific opt-out.

See 8: Applying the national data opt-out in the national data opt-out
operational policy guidance for more information.
Even if you have no current uses or disclosures that fall into scope, in order to
declare compliance you still need to amend your procedures to consider the
national data opt-out policy for future uses and disclosures.
Follow our compliance implementation guide to find out how to set up
the Check for national data opt-outs service, and to achieve and declare
compliance

Please see here for the consent form

Teaching and Research Practice

Our practice is a designated training practice. You may be offered a consultation with a GP registrar who is a qualified doctor that spends a year at the practice following their foundation training.

The registrar works closely with our approved GP trainers. We are also a research practice and can be called at times to provide names and addresses of patients with certain illnesses under our studies.

You may receive a letter asking if you would like to participate. In these circumstances, a researcher is allowed to access relevant records in order to gain such a list of approval to carry out research.

Violent abusive patient policy

Your Rights and Responsibilities

Being a patient attending a busy GP practice can be anxious and worrying time for you. We aim to make your time here as short and as simple as possible. The following should help to explain what you, as a patient can expect from our staff and what we, the staff can expect from you.

Your doctor’s responsibilities:

To treat you with respect and courtesy at all times.
To treat you as an individual, and to discuss with you the care and treatment we can provide.
To give you full information on the services we offer.
To give you the most appropriate care by suitably qualified staff.
To provide you with emergency care when you need it.
To refer you to a suitable consultant when necessary.
To give you access to your health records, subject to any limitations in the law.

Your responsibilities as a patient:

To treat all staff with respect and courtesy at all times.
To tell us if you are unsure about the treatment we are offering you.
To ask for a home visit, only when you are unable to attend the practice through illness or infirmity.
To request such a visit if at all possible before 10:00.
To ask for an out-of-hours visit only when necessary.
To keep your appointments and contact the practice in advance if you cannot attend.

Zero Tolerance policy