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Your Information and the NHS
In order to provide you with the best possible care, GP
Practices, Hospitals and Community Services in collect information about
you.
Doctors and other health professionals
make notes in your medical records about diagnoses, test results,
treatments, medications, prescriptions etc, and about other services you
receive from the National Health Service.
These notes help to ensure you receive
the best possible healthcare. They may be retained as a manual record or
held on computer. The records include:
-
Basic
details about you, such as your name, age, address and next of kin
-
Medical history
-
Dates and details of consultations and
clinic visits
-
Diagnoses, treatments and outcomes
-
Investigation results, such as
pathology tests and x-rays
-
Details of referrals to other
healthcare services
Secretaries, receptionists, and other
administrative staff may have access to your records in order to carry out
essential tasks such as booking appointments, making referrals,
communicating with you.
Patient
confidentiality
Everyone working
for the NHS or anyone receiving information from us, has a legal duty to
keep patient related information strictly confidential. You
may be receiving care from other agencies as well as the NHS, such as the
Social Services. To give you the best care we may need to share some
information about you. We will only pass on information about you if
others involved in your care have a genuine need for it. In such cases
only relevant information will be given.
We will
not disclose any information to third parties without your express
permission, unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as when the
health and safety of others is at risk.
We are
required by law to report certain information to the appropriate
authorities. Occasions when we are obliged to pass on information
include:
-
Notification of new births
-
Infectious diseases which may endanger the safety of others such as
meningitis or measles (but not HIV/AIDS)
-
A formal court order has been issued
Electronic information may be moved from system to system, extracting the
data and modifying it for the next system. System testing is carried out
periodically, to check that data has been transferred correctly.
This is done under secure, carefully controlled conditions.
We are continually reviewing ways in which
confidentiality improvements can be made, and it is important for us to
know and understand the views of patients and users of the service,
including carers.
Only with your agreement may your relatives, friends and carers be kept up to date with the progress of your treatment.
The Law strictly controls the sharing of some types of
very sensitive personal information, by means of:
Some information may be used for
other reasons
Some
information is held centrally, but where this is used for statistics,
careful measures are taken to ensure that patients cannot be identified
individually.
Anonymous
statistical information may be shared with other organisations such as
universities, research institutions and community safety units.
Personal
identifiable information may be used for essential NHS purposes.
This may include research and auditing services, and will only be done
with your written consent, unless the law requires information to be
passed on for improving public health.
The NHS maintains a number of Registries for conditions
such as cancer, which allows the NHS to plan the services it provides. The
registries are used to monitor the effectiveness of treatments, and over time to improve the outcomes for
specific conditions.
Access
to health records.
The Data Protection Act 1998, which
came into force on 1 March 2000, allows you to find out what information
is held about you on computer and in certain manual records. This is known
as the ‘right of subject access’ and applies to your health records.
If you
wish to see the information that we keep about you, then put your request
in writing to the Executive Manager.
An appointment will be made with you, and an administration charge made.
You are entitled to receive copies of any information held, but you should
note that a charge will be made for this.
Further information
If at any
time you would like to know more about how we use and store your
information you can speak to your GP, the Executive Manager, or to:
the
Caldicott Guardian
Eastern Cheshire Primary Trust.
Winterton House
Winterton Way
Macclesfield
SK11 0LP
Or visit
the NHS web site on
www.nhs.uk\confidentiality |
