Privacy Notice

This practice believes that trust underpins our relationship with our patients and will not pass on any information about you, including your address, to any other organisation, including the police and home office, without your consent except in the very rare circumstances when we are presented with a court order or a serious crime, such as murder, has been committed. The home office can sometimes access your address, without our consent, from NHS digital, the central NHS database.

How we use your information

This privacy notice explains why we as a Practice collect information about our patients and how we use that information.

The Mission Practice manages patient information in accordance with existing laws and with guidance from organisations that govern the provision of healthcare in England such as the Department of Health and the General Medical Council.

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

• Data Protection Act 1998
• Human Rights Act 1998
• Common Law Duty of Confidentiality
• Health and Social Care Act 2012
• NHS Codes of Confidentiality and Information Security

As data controllers, GPs have fair processing responsibilities under the Data Protection Act 1998. In practice, this means ensuring that your personal confidential data (PCD) is handled clearly and transparently, and in a reasonably expected way.

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 changed the way that personal confidential data is processed, therefore it is important that our patients are aware of and understand these changes, and that you have an opportunity to object and know how to do so.

The health care professionals who provide you with care maintain records about your health and any NHS treatment or care you have received (e.g. NHS Hospital Trust, GP Surgery, Walk-in clinic, etc.). These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare.

NHS health records may be processed electronically, on paper or a mixture of both; a combination of working practices and technology are used to ensure that your information is kept confidential and secure. Records held by this GP practice may include the following information:

• Details about you, such as address and next of kin
• Any contact the practice has had with you, including appointments (emergency or scheduled), clinic visits, etc.
• Notes and reports about your health
• Details about treatment and care received
• Results of investigations, such as laboratory tests, x-rays, etc.
• Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care for you

The practice collects and holds data for the sole purpose of providing healthcare services to our patients and we will ensure that the information is kept confidential. However, we can disclose personal information if:

a) It is required by law

b) You provide consent – either implicitly or for the sake of their own care, or explicitly for other purposes

• Partners: Dr Tim Rowell, Dr Judith Littlejohns, Dr Louise Vaughan, Dr Will Spiring, Dr Emma Hawkins, Dr Pieter-Bas Spronk, Dr Fiona Kennedy, Dr Amuche Elba, Dr Kirsty Hannah.
• Associates: Dr Judith Main

c) It is justified to be in the public interest

Some of this information will be held centrally and used for statistical purposes. Where we hold data centrally, we take strict and secure measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.

Information may be used for clinical audit purposes to monitor the quality of service provided, and may be held centrally and used for statistical purposes. Where we do this we ensure that patient records cannot be identified.

Sometimes your information may be requested to be used for clinical research purposes – the practice will always endeavour to gain your consent before releasing the information.

Improvements in information technology are also making it possible for us to share data with other healthcare providers with the objective of providing you with better care.

Patients can choose to withdraw their consent to their data being used in this way. When the practice is about to participate in any new data-sharing scheme we will make patients aware by displaying prominent notices in the surgery and on our website at least four weeks before the scheme is due to start. We will also explain clearly what you have to do to ‘opt-out’ of each new scheme.

A patient can object to their personal information being shared with other health care providers but if this limits the treatment that you can receive then the doctor will explain this to you at the time.

Mobile Telephone

If you provide us with your mobile phone number we may use this to send you reminders about any appointments or other health screening information being carried out.

Practice Website

You can be assured that The Mission Practice Website does not use cookies to track your activity online.

My Surgery Website Limited does not set first-party cookies on this website containing any personal data unless specifically instructed to do so by the user. For example, if a user requests to be remembered on a form, then a cookie is set to retain the form data for next time. Using this feature means that you agree to the use of cookies as required by the EU Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC. You have the option to decline the use of cookies on your first visit to the website.

The website uses third-party Cookies to collect anonymous traffic data about your use of this website. This information is stored by Google and is subject to their privacy policy (See the Google Privacy Notice). Google Analytics collects information such as pages you visit on this site, the browser and operating system you use and time spent viewing pages. The purpose of this information is to help us improve the site for future visitors. These cookies are not used to track you or your activity, but if you do not wish these cookies to be stored on your computer, disable cookies in your browser settings.

You may delete Cookies at any time. See the help in your internet browser to find out how to delete your cookies.

Read our cookies policy

Risk Stratification

Risk stratification is a process for identifying and managing patients who are at high risk of requiring emergency or urgent care. Typically this is because patients have a long term condition such as COPD, cancer or other medical condition at risk of sudden worsening. NHS England (the national Commissioning Board) encourages GPs to use risk stratification tools as part of their local strategies for supporting patients with long-term conditions and to provide care plans and planned care with the aim to prevent avoidable admissions or other emergency care.

Information about you is collected from a number of sources including NHS Trusts and from this GP practice. A risk score is then arrived at through an analysis of your de-identified information using software provided by Egton as the data processor and is provided back in an identifiable form to your GP or member of your care team as data controller.

Risk stratification enables your GP to focus on preventing ill health and not just the treatment of sickness. If necessary your GP may be able to offer you additional services.

Invoice Validation

If you have received treatment within the NHS your personal information may be shared within a strictly monitored, secure and confidential environment in order to determine which Clinical Commissioning Group should pay for the treatment or procedure you have received.

Information such as your name, address and date of treatment may be passed on to enable the billing process - these details are held in a secure environment and kept confidential. This information will only be used to validate invoices, and will not be shared for any further commissioning purposes.

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 staff member who works for an NHS organisation has a legal obligation to maintain the confidentiality of patient information.

All of our staff, contractors and committee members receive appropriate and regular training to ensure they are aware of their personal responsibilities and have legal and contractual obligations to uphold confidentiality, enforceable through disciplinary procedures. Only a limited number of authorised staff have access to personal information where it is appropriate to their role and is strictly on a need-to-know basis.

We maintain our duty of confidentiality to you at all times. We will only ever use or pass on information about you if others involved in your care have a genuine need for it. We will not disclose your information to any third party without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances (i.e. life or death situations), or where the law requires information to be passed on.

Who are our partner organisations?

We may also have to share your information, subject to strict agreements on how it will be used, with the following organisations:

• NHS Trusts
• Specialist Trusts
• Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
• Private Sector Providers
• Voluntary Sector Providers
• Ambulance Trusts
• Clinical Commissioning Groups
• Social Care Services
• Local Authorities
• Education Services
• Fire and Rescue Services
• Police
• Other ‘data processors’
• CEG (Clinical Effectiveness Groups)
• GP Federations / CICs

Access to personal information

You have a right under the Data Protection Act 1998 to access/view information the practice holds about you, and to have it amended or removed 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
• 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 may be a charge for this service. Any changes to this notice will be published on our website and on the practice notice board.

The practice is registered as a data controller under the Data Protection Act 1998. The registration number is No.Z6694047 and can be viewed online in the public register on the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) website.

Change of Details

It is important that you tell the person treating you if any of your details such as your name or address have changed or if any of your details such as date of birth is incorrect in order for this to be amended. You have a responsibility to inform us of any changes so our records are accurate and up to date for you.

Notification

The Data Protection Act 1998 requires organisations to register a notification with the Information Commissioner to describe the purposes for which they process personal and sensitive information. This information is publicly available on the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) website. The practice is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Who is the Data Controller?

The Data Controller, responsible for keeping your information secure and confidential is the nominated Calidcott Guardian / Practice Manger. Any changes to this notice will be published on our website and displayed in prominent notices in the surgery.

The Partnership is registered as a data controller under the Data Protection Act 1998 No.Z6694047. Our registration can be viewed online in the public register on the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) website.

Further information

Further information about the way in which the NHS uses personal information and your rights in that respect can be found in:

• The NHS Care Record Guarantee
• The NHS Constitution
• NHS Digital’s Guide to Confidentiality in Health & Social Care gives more information on the rules around information sharing

An independent review of information about patients is shared across the health and care system led by Dame Fiona Caldicott was conducted in 2012. The report, Information: To share or not to share? The Information Governance Review, be found on the Gov UK website.

NHS England – Better Data, Informed Commissioning, Driving Improved Outcomes: Clinical Data Sets provides further information about the data flowing within the NHS to support commissioning.

Please visit the NHS Digital website for further information about their work. Information about their responsibility for collecting data from across the health and social care system can be found.

The Information Commissioner’s Office is the Regulator for the Data Protection Act 1998 and offer independent advice and guidance on the law and personal data, including your rights and how to access your personal information.

Find further information about the Information Commissioner’s Office