Practice Policies & Patient Information
Accessing someone else’s information
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.
Carers Policy
Comments, Complaints and Suggestions
We aim to offer a friendly, personal, comprehensive and high standard of family health care to all our patients. We always welcome your feedback and value your comments and suggestions. Please get in touch via our online form, or by telephone and let us know your thoughts. We endeavour to listen to your comments and act appropriately on the constructive feedback to deliver the best for you and your family.
Please keep in mind that it is also nice to receive positive comments about the practice.
Please see “How to complain” and the timeline from the full policy below:
Complaints Procedure Policy
We have a robust complaints procedure, which is summarised here. If you wish to make a complaint you can do so verbally to any member of staff, in writing to the practice manager or email: [email protected]
The Practice follows 6 principles when dealing with complaints:
- Getting it right
- Being open and accountable
- Putting things right
- Being customer focused
- Acting fairly & proportionately
- Seeking continuous improvements
There are four parts to the complaints procedure. Our complaints procedure is based on these four parts:
- The Initial Stage
- The Investigation
- The Informal Meeting/Written Explanation
- Follow-up and Conclusion
There is a dedicated member of staff who is the complaints lead and ensures the complaints process is followed in a timely fashion.
The Practice Manager has overall responsibility for the complaints system.
A Complaint – The Investigation
Presuming that the practice complaints procedure is to be used, the complainant needs to be assured that the Practice will:
- deal with matters promptly – the aim being to complete enquiries within 14 days, with a maximum of four weeks.
- undertake a detailed investigation.
- offer a meeting to discuss the outcome of the investigation if appropriate.
- advise the complainant that they may bring a ‘friend’ to the meeting.
- inform the complainant if there appear to be any delays or problems.
A Complaint – Informal Meeting/Written Explanation
If there is an informal meeting, the practice should reassure the complainant that:
- the matter has been taken seriously
- the complaint has been fully investigated
- they will receive a detailed explanation
- they will receive an appropriate apology if necessary, but will always receive a statement of regret that the incident has occurred
A Complaint – The Follow-up
The action taken is entered in our complaints log and a record of any relevant meeting/s and/or a copy of the letter sent is kept in the complaints file in case further action results.
Learning from Complaints and Patient Feedback
Complaints and patient feedback logs are regularly reviewed in the Clinical Governance and Audit meetings to:
- Determine whether any audits are required as a result
- Determine whether and process needs to be reviewed
- Determine how to measure the effectiveness of any changes already implemented
Sharing of learning and actions from complaints
The information from the annual complaints audit and the anonymised summary of learning & action points from complaints will be shared via the next practice training session and there will be a multi-disciplinary discussion.
If the complainant is not satisfied, they should be alerted to their right (under the practice complaints procedure) to take the matter to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman which is an independent body established to promote improvements in healthcare through the assessment of the performance of those who provide services.
You can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman on 0345 015 4033 or write to them at:
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower,
Millbank,
London
SW1P 4QP
A conciliation service, Independent Complaints advocacy Service (ICAS) – Telephone 01823 275037
GP Earnings
NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is published, and the required disclosure is shown below. However 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 form any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparison with any other practice.
The average pay for GPs working in HYLTON MEDICAL PRACTICE in the last financial year was £63,453 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 1 full time GPs, 0 part time GPs and 0 locum GPs who worked in the practice for more than 6 months for 2019/20.
How we use Your Information
How Data in Your GP Record is Used and How you can Control the use (opt-out)
As a practice, we fully respect your right as a patient to control your data. We outline our privacy policy in more detail on this page and explain how we share data with other providers, including the Great North Care Record and NHS Digital for secondary use.
You have the right to opt-out at any time from data being shared.
Your data is used in broadly two different ways:
1. To provide you with care. This is called “Primary Use“
2. To allow for planning and research to be done. This is called “Secondary Use“
Both uses will only be made where it is considered secure and appropriate to use patient data.
Opting-out of data sharing is an option for all patients, however it is not without potential downsides. For Primary Use data, if you opt-out and need care in a local hospital, for example, it may be much harder for the staff to access important medical information about you needed to provide safe and effective care. For Secondary Use, the downsides are more indirect. If everyone in the country were to opt-out, it would make it much harder to ensure funding is used in the NHS to develop services where they are needed.
It would also be harder to develop new treatments.
It is possible to opt-out of specific parts of data sharing, while keeping some elements of data sharing in place. It is very common, for example, for people who have privacy concerns about Secondary Use, to be happy to continue sharing data for Primary Use/Direct Care.
The below table summarises what opt-outs are possible, and how to request them:
How Data in your GP Record is Used, and How you Can Control the use
Primary Use – sharing your data for your direct care
Who it is shared with: Summary Care Record & Great North Care Record
How it is used: These are used by NHS hospitals and other providers (e.g. midwives) to ensure they have the data needed to provide you with the right care.
How to opt out: Opt out through your GP practice – contact the surgery reception to speak to the practice manager/deputy practice manager to discuss this and we will be able to apply the opt-out.
Secondary Use – Using your data to design health services and do health research
Who it is shared with: Local NHS Organisations (such as Clinical Commissioning Groups), NHS Digital & External research organisation
How is it used: Using data to plan how to design local services around the needs of the population, Using data to plan and design national services around the needs of the population, Using data for various research purposes.
How to opt out: Use a ‘type-1 opt out’ – Please send this form to the practice by emailing to [email protected]
Use the National Data Opt-out – Visit the NHS website, use the NHS App or call 0300 3035678
How to Manage Your Sharing Preferences Using the NHS App
You can view or change your current preference at any time.
To view and change your preference in the NHS App:
1. Go to Your health
2. Select Choose if data from your health and care records is shared for planning and research.
3. Select Make your choice.
4. Review the information on the page, then select Start now.
5. View your preference, then select Change if you want to change it.
6. Update your choice, then select Submit. You can also visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters.
GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (GDPR) 2018
This practice keeps medical records confidential and complies with the General Data Protection Regulation.
We hold your medical record so that we can provide you with safe care and treatment.
We will also use your information so that this practice can check and review the quality of the care we provide. This helps us to improve our services to you.
For more information please click on the link below:
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/
HYLTON MEDICAL GROUP
PRIVACY NOTICE
| This practice keeps data on you relating to who you are, where you live, what you do, your family, possibly your friends, your employers, your habits, your problems and diagnoses, the reasons you seek help, your appointments, where you are seen and when you are seen, who by, referrals to specialists and other healthcare providers, tests carried out here and in other places, investigations and scans, treatments and outcomes of treatments, your treatment history, the observations and opinions of other healthcare workers, within and without the NHS as well as comments and aide memoires reasonably made by healthcare professionals in this practice who are appropriately involved in your health care.
When registering for NHS care, all patients who receive NHS care are registered on a national database, the database is held by NHS Digital, a national organisation which has legal responsibilities to collect NHS data. GPs have always delegated tasks and responsibilities to others that work with them in their surgeries, on average an NHS GP has between 1,500 to 2,500 patients for whom he or she is accountable. It is not possible for the GP to provide hands on personal care for each and every one of those patients in those circumstances, for this reason GPs share your care with others, predominantly within the surgery but occasionally with outside organisations. If your health needs require care from others elsewhere outside this practice we will exchange with them whatever information about you that is necessary for them to provide that care. When you make contact with healthcare providers outside the practice but within the NHS it is usual for them to send us information relating to that encounter. We will retain part or all of those reports. Normally we will receive equivalent reports of contacts you have with non NHS services but this is not always the case. Your consent to this sharing of data, within the practice and with those others outside the practice is allowed by the Law. People who have access to your information will only normally have access to that which they need to fulfil their roles, for instance 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 the GP you see or speak to will normally have access to everything in your record. HYLTON MEDICAL GROUP is one of many organisations working in the health and care system to improve care for patients and the public. Whenever you use a health or care service, such as attending the Practice, Accident & Emergency or using Community Care services, important information about you is collected to help ensure you get the best possible care and treatment and to ensure that the standards of service provided are of the highest quality. Your data may be used to contact you about your experiences of using such services via surveys and questionnaires. The information collected about you when you use these services can also be used and provided to other organisations for purposes beyond your individual care, for instance to help with:
This may only take place when there is a clear legal basis to use this information. All these uses help to provide better health and care for you, your family and future generations. Confidential patient information about your health and care is only used like this where allowed by law. Most of the time, anonymised data is used for research and planning so that you cannot be identified in which case your confidential patient information isn’t needed. 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, please visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters. On this web page you will:
You can also find out more about how patient information is used at: https://www.hra.nhs.uk/information-about-patients/ (which covers health and care research); and https://understandingpatientdata.org.uk/what-you-need-know (which covers how and why patient information is used, the safeguards and how decisions are made) You can change your mind about your choice at any time. Data being used or shared for purposes beyond individual care does not include your data being shared with insurance companies or used for marketing purposes and data would only be used in this way with your specific agreement. Health and care organisations have until 2020 to put systems and processes in place so they can be compliant with the national data opt-out and apply your choice to any confidential patient information they use or share for purposes beyond your individual care. Our organisation ‘is currently’ compliant with the national data opt-out policy. You have the right to object to our sharing your data in these circumstances but we have an overriding responsibility to do what is in your best interests. Please see below. https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-data-opt-out We are required by Articles in the General Data Protection Regulations to provide you with the information in the following 9 subsections. |
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| What we hold about you: | We hold the following types of information about you:· Basic details about you, such as your name, date of birth, NHS Number
|
| 1) Data Controller contact details
|
Dr BGO Al-Khalidi Kelly Hardy Practice Manager |
| 2) Data Protection Officer contact details
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James Carroll 0191 404 1000 Ext 3436 |
| 3) Purpose of the processing | Direct Care is care delivered to the individual alone, most of which is provided in the surgery.
After a patient agrees to a referral for direct care elsewhere, such as a referral to a specialist in a hospital, necessary and relevant information about the patient, their circumstances and their problem will need to be shared with the other healthcare workers, such as specialist, therapists, technicians etc. The information that is shared is to enable the other healthcare workers to provide the most appropriate advice, investigations, treatments, therapies and or care. |
| 4) Lawful basis for processing | 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”*
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| 5) Recipient or categories of recipients of the processed data | The data will be shared with Health and care professionals and support staff in this surgery and at hospitals, diagnostic and treatment centres who contribute to your personal care. For example:Sunderland Royal Hospital
Queen Elizabeth Hospital Royal Victoria Infirmary Freeman Hospital James Cook Hospital All other Clinics used for the purpose of a referral to Secondary Care |
| 6) Rights to object | You have the right to object to some or all the information being processed under Article 21. Please contact the Data Controller or the practice.
You should be aware that this is a right to raise an objection; that is not the same as having an absolute right to have your wishes granted in every circumstance. |
| 7) Right to access and correct | You have the right to access the data that is being shared and have any inaccuracies corrected. There is no right to have accurate medical records deleted except when ordered by a court of Law. |
| 8) Retention period | The data will be retained in line with the law and national guidance. https://digital.nhs.uk/article/1202/Records-Management-Code-of-Practice-for-Health-and-Social-Care-2016or speak to the Practice.
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| 9) Right to Complain | You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, you can use this link https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
or calling their helpline Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate) There are National Offices for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, (see ICO website) |
* “Common Law Duty of Confidentiality”, common law is not written out in one document like an Act of Parliament. It is a form of law based on previous court cases decided by judges; hence, it is also referred to as ‘judge-made’ or case law. The law is applied by reference to those previous cases, so common law is also said to be based on precedent.
The general position is that if information is given in circumstances where it is expected that a duty of confidence applies, that information cannot normally be disclosed without the information provider’s consent.
In practice, this means that all patient information, whether held on paper, computer, visually or audio recorded, or held in the memory of the professional, must not normally be disclosed without the consent of the patient. It is irrelevant how old the patient is or what the state of their mental health is; the duty still applies.
Three circumstances making disclosure of confidential information lawful are:
- where the individual to whom the information relates has consented;
- where disclosure is in the public interest; and
- where there is a legal duty to do so, for example a court order.
This practice keeps medical records confidential and complies with the General Data Protection Regulation.
We hold your medical record so that we can provide you with safe care and treatment.
We will also use your information so that this practice can check and review the quality of the care we provide. This helps us to improve our services to you.
- We will share relevant information from your medical record with other health or social care staff or organisations when they provide you with care. For example, your GP will share information when they refer you to a specialist in a hospital. Or your GP will send details about your prescription to your chosen pharmacy.
More information on how we share your information with organisations who are directly involved in your care can be found here: Summary Care Record, Care.Data Research, Electronic Data Sharing Model EDSM.
What is a Summary Care Record?
A Summary Care Record is a brief electronic (computerized) summary which contains information about the medication you take, allergies you suffer from and any adverse reaction to medications you may have.
This information is shared with emergency services such as A&E or the Out of Hours GP services so that
they may treat you safely but does not give emergency services full access to your medical records.
What is Care.Data Research?
The NHS continually gathers data in order to evaluate health and social care services to ensure that the
best and most appropriate healthcare services are properly funded, and will aim to improve health and
social care services. How does the NHS do this?- the NHS will automatically download information from EMIS WEB about diseases such as diabetes, from medical records but this is controlled by laws and strict confidentiality rules. The kind of information used may include your date of birth, postcode and NHS number but your name would not be included.
What is the Electronic Data Sharing Model (EDSM)?
Patients now have a choice about how GP practices share their full electronic medical records. This means patients can choose who can see their information. You therefore have two choices to make:
1. SHARING OUT– If you are sharing out then you agree to have your full medical record shared with other NHS healthcare professionals who are treating you, e.g. district nurses. The standard setting for your medical records WILL NOT be shared out.
- SHARING IN– If you are sharing in then you agree to share your medical information with your GP from NHS healthcare professionals who are treating you outside of the surgery. Involving your GP in your care outside of the practice will ensure that your GP is kept up-to-date and that you maintain continuity of care. The standard setting WILL be shared in so that your GP can view all the treatment you receive.
- Healthcare staff working in A&E and out of hours care will also have access to your information. For example, it is important that staff who are treating you in an emergency know if you have any allergic reactions. This will involve the use of your Summary Care Record OR Emergency Care Summary / Individual Health Record. For more information see: https://digital.nhs.uk/summary-care-records or alternatively speak to your practice.
- You have the right to object to information being shared for your own care. Please speak to the practice if you wish to object. You also have the right to have any mistakes or errors corrected.
https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-data-opt-out
Other important information about how your information is used to provide you with healthcare
| Registering for NHS care
All patients who receive NHS care are registered on a national database. This database holds your name, address, date of birth and NHS Number but it does not hold information about the care you receive. The database is held by NHS Digital, NHS England Information Services, Business Services Organisation, national organisations which has legal responsibilities to collect NHS data. More information can be found at: https://digital.nhs.uk/or the phone number for general enquiries at NHS Digital is 0300 303 5678 |
| Identifying patients who might be at risk of certain diseases
Your medical records will be searched by a computer programme so that we can identify patients who might be at high risk from certain diseases such as heart disease or unplanned admissions to hospital. This means we can offer patients additional care or support as early as possible. This process will involve linking information from your GP record with information from other health or social care services you have used. Information which identifies you will only be seen by this practice.More information can be found at: http://www.atbsunderland.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/NEW-Risk-Stratification-Guidance-%E2%80%93-July-2017.pdf or speak to the practice. |
Safeguarding
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We are required by law to provide you with the following information about how we handle your information.
| Data Controller contact details | DR KHALIDI AND KELLY HARDY CLINICAL DIRECTOR AND PRACTICE MANAGER |
| Data Protection Officer contact details | JIM CARROLL @ SUNDERLAND CCG01915128484 |
| Purpose of the processing |
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| Lawful basis for processing | These purposes are supported under the following sections 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…’; and
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…” Healthcare staff will also respect and comply with their obligations under the common law duty of confidence. |
| Recipient or categories of recipients of the processed data | The data will be shared with:
|
| Rights to object |
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| Right to access and correct |
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| Retention period | GP medical records will be kept in line with the law and national guidance. Information on how long records are kept can be found at: https://digital.nhs.uk/article/1202/Records-Management-Code-of-Practice-for-Health-and-Social-Care-2016 or speak to the practice. |
| Right to complain | You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. If you wish to complain follow this link https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/ or call the helpline 0303 123 1113 |
| Data we get from other organisations | We receive information about your health from other organisations who are involved in providing you with health and social care.
For example, if you go to hospital for treatment or an operation the hospital will send us a letter to let us know what happens. This means your GP medical record is kept up-to date when you receive care from other parts of the health service. |
What Information Do We Collect?
Your healthcare records contain information about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously (e.g. NHS Trust, GP surgery, Walk-In clinic 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. Your healthcare record may include the following information.
- Details about you, such as address and next of kin
- 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 on investigations, such as laboratory tests, x-rays, etc.
- Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care for you
Why Do We Collect This Information?
To ensure you receive the best possible care, your records are used to facilitate the care you receive. Information held about you may be used to help protect the health of the public and help us manage the NHS. Information may also be used for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service provided. In addition your information will be used to identify whether you are at risk of a future unplanned hospital admission and/or require support to effectively manage a long term condition.
Health Risk Screening
Your local GP Practice in Sunderland is planning to screen patients aged 18 and over already diagnosed with a long term conditions, such as diabetes, dementia, respiratory disease and heart disease. Health risk screening is now a commonly used practice within the NHS that entails accessing healthcare records electronically, and using the data to identify patients who may be at risk of future hospital admissions. The data is used to identify how best to support patients to avoid admission and to manage their conditions more effectively.
How Do We Use This Information?
The results of the screening will enable your GP to decide whether you would benefit from the assistance of a multidisciplinary care team made up of other healthcare providers, social care professionals such as a district nurse or consultant physician and/or support from voluntary sector organisations. Your information will need to be shared with this team to assist your GP to identify the best care for you.
Do I Need to do Anything to Give my Permission?
No. You do not need to anything if you are happy to give permission for health risk screening.
However if details from your healthcare records need to be shared as part of a clinical care discussion within the multidisciplinary care team, we will contact you to obtain your consent.
What if I do not Want to Give my Permission?
If you have any concerns or wish to opt out of health risk screening you should speak our Business /Practice Manager. The practice will ensure your decision is recorded so your records will not be included in any screening process and/or multidisciplinary care team discussion.
Who Will We Share Your Information With?
For the purposes of Health Risk Screening we may need to share your information with the following organisations, with your consent:
Community Link Nurses and/or Community Matrons from Sunderland Community Health Care Trust (SCHC)
Representatives from Adult Community Services, Sunderland County Council (SCC)
Representatives from Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (SNHSTSFT)
Integrated Care Coordinators (ICCs) (employed by NCC and SCHC)
Voluntary Support Organisations commissioned by SCCG
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 the Data Protection Act 1998 (which is overseen by the Information Commissioner’s Office), Human Rights Act, the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality, and the NHS Codes of Confidentiality and Security. Every member of staff who works for an NHS organisation has a legal obligation to keep information about you confidential. Anyone who receives information from an NHS organisation has a legal duty to keep it confidential. We maintain our duty of confidentiality to you at all times.
We will only ever use or pass on information about you if others involved in your care have genuine need for it. We will not disclose your information to any third party without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances (i.e. life or death situations), or where the law requires information to be passed on. Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep this information confidential.
How Your Records are Used to Help the NHS
Your information may be used to help assess the needs of the general population and make informed decisions about the provision of future services. Information can also be used to conduct health research and development, monitor NHS performance, to help NHS plan for the future and to investigate complaints in respect of the services we commission.
We will not publish any information that identifies you or routinely disclose any information about you without your express permission. At any time you have the right to refuse/withdraw consent to information sharing. The possible consequences will be fully explained to you, such as potential delays in receiving care.
There may be circumstances where we are bound to share information about you owing to legal obligation, such as for benefit of public health in the event of a pandemic.
Access to Your Information
You have the right under Data Protection Act 1998 to access, view what information the surgery holds about you, and to have it corrected should it be inaccurate. This is known as ‘the right of subject access’. If we do hold information about you we will:
- Give you a description of it;
- Tell you why we are holding it;
- Tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
- Let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.
If you would like to make a ‘subject access request; please contact the Practice Manager in writing.
There are 2 main record sharing initiatives at the moment.
The Summary Care Record SCR is an electronic record of important patient information, created from GP medical records. It can be seen and used by authorised staff in other areas of the health and care system involved in the patient’s direct care.
The GNR The Great North Care Record is a local version of the summary care record which is data sharing between health agencies in and around Sunderland including Out of Hours, Social Services, Hospitals and ambulance services in the area. This enables them to access your records for direct care – they can see items such as your allergies/past medical history and medication lists.
Please click on the links below for further information.
Non Compliance
Those that DO NOT regularly attend for their Long Term Condition reviews or medication reviews will be subject to our non compliance protocol:
What is the doctor’s role?
A doctor’s primary concern is to do their best for their patients; this includes giving advice and treatment, and arranging investigations in accordance with the current evidence base and the patient’s best interests.
Why can non-compliant patients present difficulties?
All practices will have a cohort of patients whose autonomous choices conflict with the suggested course of action of their doctor. Given that there is no obligation to provide a treatment requested by a patient that is not to their overall benefit, this can give rise to clashes between doctor and patient.
What are the commonest scenarios in relation to non-compliance?
- A patient has been started on a treatment, but declines to attend for subsequent review and/or monitoring checks. This scenario puts a GP in an invidious position, in that a decision has already been taken that it is in the patient’s best interests to commence a particular treatment. This can create a new risk that must be balanced when judging what is in the best interests of the patient.
- A patient who declines the investigation or treatment of symptoms with a potentially serious and/or treatable underlying cause.
After a failed review you will receive a letter regarding your compliance. After your 3rd notification we will seek to remove you from the practice due to breakdown in doctor/patient relationship.
This is of course a last resort, you are a very important member of your healthcare team. To be involved in your own health care may mean for you, or your family member, to take part in every decision possible.
This will give you greater control over your situation. It will also help to ensure your health choices are influenced by what matters most to you.
Privacy Notice
How HYLTON MEDICAL GROUP uses your information to provide you with healthcare
This practice keeps medical records confidential and complies with the General Data Protection Regulation.
We hold your medical record so that we can provide you with safe care and treatment.
We will also use your information so that this practice can check and review the quality of the care we provide. This helps us to improve our services to you.
- We will share relevant information from your medical record with other health or social care staff or organisations when they provide you with care. For example, your GP will share information when they refer you to a specialist in a hospital. Or your GP will send details about your prescription to your chosen pharmacy.
More information on how we share your information with organisations who are directly involved in your care can be found here: Summary Care Record, Care.Data Research, Electronic Data Sharing Model EDSM.
What is a Summary Care Record?
A Summary Care Record is a brief electronic (computerized) summary which contains information about the medication you take, allergies you suffer from and any adverse reaction to medications you may have.
This information is shared with emergency services such as A&E or the Out of Hours GP services so that
they may treat you safely but does not give emergency services full access to your medical records.
What is Care.Data Research?
The NHS continually gathers data in order to evaluate health and social care services to ensure that the
best and most appropriate healthcare services are properly funded, and will aim to improve health and
social care services. How does the NHS do this?- the NHS will automatically download information from EMIS WEB about diseases such as diabetes, from medical records but this is controlled by laws and strict confidentiality rules. The kind of information used may include your date of birth, postcode
and NHS number but your name would not be included.
What is the Electronic Data Sharing Model (EDSM)?
Patients now have a choice about how GP practices share their full electronic medical records. This means patients can choose who can see their information. You therefore have two choices to make:
1. SHARING OUT– If you are sharing out then you agree to have your full medical record shared with other NHS healthcare professionals who are treating you, e.g. district nurses. The standard setting for your medical records WILL NOT be shared out.
- SHARING IN– If you are sharing in then you agree to share your medical information with your GP from NHS healthcare professionals who are treating you outside of the surgery. Involving your GP in your care outside of the practice will ensure that your GP is kept up-to-date and that you maintain continuity of care. The standard setting WILL be shared in so that your GP can view all the treatment you receive.
- Healthcare staff working in A&E and out of hours care will also have access to your information. For example, it is important that staff who are treating you in an emergency know if you have any allergic reactions. This will involve the use of your Summary Care Record OR Emergency Care Summary / Individual Health Record. For more information see: https://digital.nhs.uk/summary-care-records or alternatively speak to your practice.
- You have the right to object to information being shared for your own care. Please speak to the practice if you wish to object. You also have the right to have any mistakes or errors corrected.
Other important information about how your information is used to provide you with healthcare
| Registering for NHS care
· All patients who receive NHS care are registered on a national database.
· This database holds your name, address, date of birth and NHS Number but it does not hold information about the care you receive.
· The database is held by NHS Digital, NHS England Information Services, Business Services Organisation, national organisations which has legal responsibilities to collect NHS data.
· More information can be found at: https://digital.nhs.uk/or the phone number for general enquires at NHS Digital is 0300 303 5678 |
| Identifying patients who might be at risk of certain diseases
· Your medical records will be searched by a computer programme so that we can identify patients who might be at high risk from certain diseases such as heart disease or unplanned admissions to hospital.
· This means we can offer patients additional care or support as early as possible.
· This process will involve linking information from your GP record with information from other health or social care services you have used.
· Information which identifies you will only be seen by this practice.
· More information can be found at: http://www.atbsunderland.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/NEW-Risk-Stratification-Guidance-%E2%80%93-July-2017.pdf or speak to the practice. |
| Safeguarding
· Sometimes we need to share information so that other people, including healthcare staff, children or others with safeguarding needs, are protected from risk of harm.
· These circumstances are rare.
· We do not need your consent or agreement to do this.
· Please see our local policies for more information: |
We are required by law to provide you with the following information about how we handle your information.
| Data Controllers contact details
|
DR KHALIL
CLINICAL DIRECTOR TEL: 0191 6257340 EMAIL: [email protected] |
| Data Protection Officer contact details
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JAMES CARROLL TEL: 0191 404 1000 EXT 3436 EMAIL: [email protected] |
| Purpose of the processing
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· To give direct health or social care to individual patients.
· For example, when a patient agrees to a referral for direct care, such as to a hospital, relevant information about the patient will be shared with the other healthcare staff to enable them to give appropriate advice, investigations, treatments and/or care.
· To check and review the quality of care. (This is called audit and clinical governance). |
| Lawful basis for processing
|
These purposes are supported under the following sections 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…’; and
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…”
Healthcare staff will also respect and comply with their obligations under the common law duty of confidence. |
| Recipient or categories of recipients of the processed data
|
The data will be shared with:
· healthcare professionals and staff in this surgery; • NHS Trusts / Foundation Trusts · or other organisations involved in the provision of direct care to individual patients. |
| Rights to object
|
· You have the right to object to information being shared between those who are providing you with direct care.
· This may affect the care you receive – please speak to the practice.
· You are not able to object to your name, address and other demographic information being sent to NHS Digital.
· This is necessary if you wish to be registered to receive NHS care.
· You are not able to object when information is legitimately shared for safeguarding reasons.
· In appropriate circumstances it is a legal and professional requirement to share information for safeguarding reasons. This is to protect people from harm.
· The information will be shared with the local safeguarding service SUNDERLAND SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN/ADULT BOARD. https://www.sunderland.gov.uk/article/12495/Safeguarding-for-Adults |
| Right to access and correct | · You have the right to access your medical record and have any errors or mistakes corrected. Please speak to a member of staff or look at our ‘subject access request’ policy on the practice website – WWW.HYLTONMEDICALGROUP.NHS.UK
|
| Retention period
|
GP medical records will be kept in line with the law and national guidance. Information on how long records are kept can be found at: https://digital.nhs.uk/article/1202/Records-Management-Code-of-Practice-for-Health-and-Social-Care-2016
or speak to the practice.
|
| Right to complain
|
You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. If you wish to complain follow this link https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/ or call the helpline 0303 123 1113
|
| Data we get from other organisations | We receive information about your health from other organisations who are involved in providing you with health and social care. For example, if you go to hospital for treatment or an operation the hospital will send us a letter to let us know what happens. This means your GP medical record is kept up-to date when you receive care from other parts of the health service. |
Ringing For Results
If you have investigations or tests carried out during a hospital attendance it is their responsibility to inform you of the result. We are responsible for tests and investigations done at our request.
We will try, where possible, to provide the result on behalf of the hospital if they are unable to but results can take longer to reach the Practice. Please do not get upset with staff if the result is not returned within the timescale suggested by the hospital, this is out of our control.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Urgent Prescription Policy
Due to an increasing number of requests for repeat prescriptions to be issued urgently we have had to review how we handle these requests in order to provide safe and consistent service to all of our patients. Requests for prescriptions outside the normal prescription protocol impacts significantly on both doctor and administration staff time, meaning there is less availability to a doctor for other patients and a higher risk of a prescribing error occurring.
We require 2 full working days for prescriptions.
If you ask for an urgent repeat prescription you will need to give a reason for your request. You may also be required to contact the police, in some cases, if the medication has been lost and it is a controlled drug and also provide a crime number.
Many medications can be safely missed for a few days. We will not issue urgent prescriptions for items that can be bought over the counter or for non- essential medication and you may be informed that your medication will be processed following the normal repeat prescription process. If your medication cannot be missed, the item will be issued as required.
All urgent prescriptions must be collected in person from the surgery. We reserve the right to withdraw the service to patients requesting urgent prescriptions on a regular basis.
Medications that WILL NOT be issued urgently
- Anything that can be purchased over the counter eg paracetamol, emollients, ibuprofen, low dose co-codamol
- Nutritional supplements/ vitamins/ iron
- Statins
- Antidepressants
- Sleeping tablets
- Erectile dysfunction drugs
- Skin creams
- Eye drops
- Regular painkillers
- Oral contraceptives
- Oral medications for diabetes
- Prescriptions following discharge from hospital and outpatient clinics
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate that you may find this frustrating. This step has been implemented as a necessity to protect Doctors time for more clinically urgent matters.
You and Your Data
Opt out of sharing your health records
Why your data is important
The NHS uses information about patients (patient data) to research, plan and improve:
- the services we offer
- the treatment and care patients receive
We get this data from your GP surgery, hospitals and other healthcare providers. The organisation that collects your data is called NHS Digital.
To help improve services, NHS Digital shares this data with researchers from organisations such as universities or hospitals. This type of data-sharing has been happening for many years.
All data that is collected and shared is protected by strict rules around privacy, confidentiality and security.
Information:
We never sell patient data or share it with insurance or marketing companies.
Find out more about how NHS Digital is looking after your data.
The National Diabetes Audit (NDA)
The Practice is taking part in the National Diabetes Audit (NDA).
The NDA collects information about diabetes care from GP practices and hospitals and is used to help the NHS to improve care for patients with diabetes.
It is managed by the Heath and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), working with Diabetes UK and Public Health England.
The information that the audit collects is controlled by law and strict rules of confidentiality.
The NDA only uses information about your diabetes care that is already recorded. For example, type of diabetes, latest blood pressure result and results of HbA1c, or eye screening tests. The NDA is not a research project. No extra blood tests, appointments or scans are needed.
YOU CAN CHOOSE NOT TO TAKE PART IF YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS.
If you do not want your information to be used, please inform the receptionist, your GP or nurse. They will make sure that this is noted on your medical records, so your information is not included. This will not affect your care in any way.
A patient leaflet, with more information can be found at
http://www.hscic.gov.uk/media/15870/Leaflet—Information-for-People-With-Diabetes/pdf/Patinfo_CareAudit_leaflet_FINAL2.pdf
For further information please see http://www.hscic.gov.uk/nda and https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Professionals/Resources/National-Diabetes-Audit/
Opting out of sharing your data
You can choose whether or not your data is used for research and planning. There are different types of data-sharing you can opt out of.
- Stop your GP surgery from sharing your data
This is called a Type 1 Opt-out.
- To do this you need to fill in an opt-out form and return it to your GP surgery. Download a Type 1 Opt-out form.
- Only your GP surgery can process your opt-out form. They will be able to tell you if, and when, you have been opted out.
If you choose a Type 1 Opt-out, your GP will not share your data for research and planning. However, NHS Digital will still be able to collect and share data from other healthcare providers, such as hospitals.
Find out more about Type 1 Opt-out from NHS Digital’s transparency notice
- Stop NHS Digital and other health and care organisations from sharing your data for research and planning
This is called the National Data Opt-out.
- To opt out online or find out more, visit Make your choice.
- If you choose this opt-out, NHS Digital and other health and care organisations will not be able to share any of your personal data with other organisations for research and planning, except in certain situations. For example, when required by law.
- If you want to check if you have opted out, you can enter your details again at Make your choice or check your settings in the NHS App.
You can opt out, or opt back in again, at any time.
You can opt out, or opt back in again, at any time.
Data used for your care
If you choose to opt out of sharing your data, your personal health information will still be used to make sure you get the treatment and care you need. For example, your data may be shared so that you can be referred to hospital or get a prescription.
Zero Tolerance
Our practice has signed up to the NHS Zero Tolerance Campaign which makes verbal abuse, threat and physical violence to all NHS staff unacceptable. Any such behaviour from any patients may result in their removal from our practice list.
Hylton Medical Group 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.
GPs and staff have a right to care for others without fear of being attacked, abused or treated badly in any way. To successfully provide our services a mutual respect between staff and patients has to be in place. All 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.
However, 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 read and take note of the occasional types of behaviour we 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.
- Racist, xenophobic, sexist, homophobic or other intolerant Language, discrimination or sexual harassment will never be tolerated.
- 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.