This notice briefly explains why the doctor’s surgery collects information about you, and how that information may be used.
The health care professionals who provide you with care, maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously (e.g. NHS Trust, GP Surgery, Walk-in clinic, etc.). These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare.
Records may be held in electronic or manual (written down) format, and may include the following information:
- Details about you, such as name, address, date of birth, phone numbers 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 of investigations, such as laboratory tests, x-rays, etc.
- Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care for you and know you well
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 to help us manage the NHS. Information may be used for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service provided.
Where we do this, we take strict measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.
Some of this information will be held centrally and used for statistical purposes. Where we do this, we take strict measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.
Sometimes your information may be requested to be used for research purposes – the surgery will always obtain your consent before releasing the information.
Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed at the surgery, please contact the Practice Manager to discuss how the disclosure of your personal information can be limited. There is a Summary Care Record opt-out form on request.