Harcourt Medical Centre is a well-established GP Practice. Our General Practitioners and allied healthcare professionals provide primary medical care services to our practice population and are supported by our administrative and managerial team in providing care for patients.
This privacy notice explains how we as a data controller use any personal information, we collect about you as a patient of health care services provided by Harcourt Medical Centre
Why do we collect your personal information?
Health care professionals who provide you with care are required by law to maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received within any NHS organisation. These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare and help us to protect your safety.
We collect and hold data for the purpose of providing healthcare services to our patients and running our organisation which includes monitoring the quality of care that we provide. In carrying out this role we will collect information about you which helps us respond to your queries or secure specialist services. We will keep your information in written form and/or in digital form. The records will include both personal and special categories of data about your health and wellbeing.
What types of personal information do we collect about you?
We may collect the following types of personal information:
- Your name, address, email address, telephone number and other contact information
- Gender, NHS Number and date of birth and sexual orientation
- Details of family members and next of kin details
- Health (Medical) information, including information relating to your sex life
- Details of any contact the surgery has had with you, such as appointments, clinic visits, emergency appointments and telephone calls.
- Results of investigations such as laboratory tests or x-rays
- Biometric data
- Genetic information
How will we use the personal information we collect about you?
We may use your personal information in the following ways:
- To help us assess your needs and identify and provide you with the health and social care that you require
- To determine the best location to provide the care you require
- To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
- To help us monitor and manage our services
- To support medical research
Text (SMS) messages
If you have provided your mobile telephone number, we may use this to send automatic appointment reminders, requests to complete surveys or to make you aware of services provided by the surgery that we feel will be to your benefit.
If you do not wish to receive these text messages, please let the reception team know.
Call recording
Recordings of calls made and received by Harcourt Medical Centre may be used to support the learning and development of our staff and to improve the service we provide to our patients.
They may also be used when reviewing incidents, compliments or complaints.
Call recordings will be managed in the same way as all other personal information processed by us and in line with current data protection legislation.
Data processors
We may use the services of a data processor to assist us with some of our data processing, but this is done under a contract with direct instruction from us that controls how they will handle patient information and ensures they treat any information in line with the General Data Protection Regulation, confidentiality, privacy law, and any other laws that apply.
How will we share your personal information?
We may share your personal information with other health and social care professionals and members of their care teams to support your ongoing health and or social care and achieve the best possible outcome for you. This may include:
· Primary Care Network
Harcourt Medical Centre is a member of the Sarum Cathedral Primary Care Network (PCN) so you may be contacted by or treated by one of the other practices within the PCN. In order to support and provide healthcare services to you, they will require access to your patient record.
· Patient Referrals
With your agreement, we may refer you to other services and healthcare providers for services not provided by Harcourt Medical Centre.
· Other Providers of Healthcare
We will share your information with other providers of healthcare services to enable them to support us in providing you with direct healthcare. This may include NHS organisations or private companies providing healthcare services for the NHS.
· Care Homes or Social Care Services
Sometimes the clinicians caring for you may need to share some of your information with others who are also supporting you outside of the practice.
· Local Authority
The local authority (council) provides health or social care services or assists us in providing direct healthcare services to you. We will share your personal information with them to enable this to take place.
· Safeguarding
We will share your personal information with the safeguarding teams of other health and social care providers where there is a need to assess and evaluate any safeguarding concerns. Your personal information will only be shared for this reason when it is required for the safety of the individuals concerned.
· Summary Care Record (SCR)
Your Summary Care Record is an electronic record of important patient information created from the GP medical records. It contains information about medications, allergies and any bad reactions to medications in the past. It can be seen by staff in other areas of the health and care system involved in your direct care.
· Integrated Care Records (ICR)
An Integrated Care Record allows other health and care providers who are directly involved with your care to access appropriate, timely and relevant information about you to enable them to support your heath and care. Further details about the ICR can be found by clicking here:
· GP Connect
GP Connect is a system that allows other health and care providers access to your GP medical records to enable them to support your heath and care when you are seen outside your normal GP surgery.
· NHS Digital
In order to comply with its legal obligations this practice may send data to NHS Digital when directed by the Secretary of State for Health under the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
This practice contributes to national clinical audits and will send the data, which are required by NHS Digital when the law allows. This may include demographic data, such as date of birth and information about your health, which is recorded in coded form. For example, the clinical code for diabetes or high blood pressure.
· National Services
There are some national services like the national Cancer Screening Programme that collect and keep information from across the NHS. This is how the NHS knows when to contact you about services like cancer screening.
· Risk Stratification
Risk Stratification, also known as ‘Health Risk Screening’, is a process that helps your GP determine whether you are at risk of any unplanned admission or sudden deterioration in health. By using information such as age, gender, diagnosis, and consideration of existing long-term conditions, medication history, patterns of attendance at hospital, admissions and periods of access to community care, your GP supported by the local Clinical Commissioning Group will be able to judge if you are likely to need more support and care from time to time, or if the right services are in place to support the local population’s needs.
As part of the automated Risk Stratification process your pseudonymised personal data (anything that can identify an individual is replaced with code) will be shared with the Bath, Northeast Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group.
You have the right to object to your information being used in this way. However, you should be aware that your objection may have a negative impact on the timely and proactive provision of your direct care. Further details about Risk Stratification can be found by clicking here: