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.

PRIVACY NOTICE – DIRECT CARE

Document Details

Author and Role: Jim Carrol

Organisation: SCCG DPO

Current Document Approved By: Lisa Richardson

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 each 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.

Shared PCN Clinical Services

As a partner practice in East Primary Care Network (PCN) we will share your information with other shared services within the PCN who are part of your care provision and ongoing support. Where you engage with these services, your healthcare information will be held within a common system that can be accessed by all practices within the PCN.

All individuals who will have access to your records via PCN shared services are bound be the same requirements to maintain the confidentiality of your information as the staff within your practice.

The information held about you is used to provide health and social care, for the management of the services that the PCN provide, the management of the NHS, and also for public health reasons. It may also be used to contact you regarding the provision of these services.

Where you are receiving care from PCN shared services, information relating to the care provided will be added to your practice clinical record.

Information about you held within the PCN Clinical system will be accessed by authorised individuals who are involved in providing direct care to you or who support the provision of direct care or the management of these services. This will include:

• Doctors and nurses who provide you with treatment

• Other clinical staff such as Pharmacists and Radiologists

• Clinical Managers

The East PCN consists of the following practices:

Deerness Medical Group

Riverview Surgery

Villette Surgery

The New City Medical Centre

Ashburn Medical Centre

Park Lane Practice

Southlands Medical Group

To access any of your healthcare information held within the PCN Shared services, please contact the Practice Manager at your own surgery.

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.

We are required by Articles in the General Data Protection Regulations to provide you with the information in the following 9 subsections.

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

• Contact details such as your address, telephone numbers, email address

• Contact details of your ‘Next of Kin’, a close relative, friend or advocate

• Contacts we have had with you; scheduled and unscheduled appointments

• Details about your care; treatment and advice given and referrals made

• Results of investigations, eg blood tests

• Relevant information from people who care for you and know you well

1) Data Controller contact details

Lisa Richardson Practice Manager

Riverview Surgery, Riverview Health Centre, Borough Road, Sunderland. SR1 2HJ

2) Data Protection Officer contact details

James Carroll

0191 404 1000 Ext 3436

[email protected]

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”*

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-2016

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.

Introduction to Summary Care Records

Presently, records are kept in all of the places where you receive care. These places can usually only share information from your records by letter; e-mail; fax or phone. At times, this can slow down treatment and sometimes make it hard to healthcare professionals to access information.

Summary Care Records are being introduced to improve the safety and quality of patient care. Because the Summary Care Record is an electronic record it will give healthcare staff faster, easier access to essential information about you, and help to give you safe treatment during an emergency or when your GP surgery is closed.

For example, if a person who lives in Sunderland and is on holiday in Norfolk requires emergency medical attention, under the current system of storing health records, it would be difficult for A&E staff to find out whether there are any important factors to consider when treating the person (such as any serious allergies to medications), especially as their GP surgery is likely to be closed. If healthcare staff cannot get the relevant health information quickly, some patients may be at risk.

A Summary Care Record is an electronic record that is stored at a central location. As the name suggests, the record will not contain detailed information about your medical history, but will only contain important health information, such as:

• Medication
• Allergies
• Significant past medical history

Access to your Summary Care Record will be strictly controlled. The only people who can see the information will be healthcare staff directly involved in your care who have a special smartcard and access number (like a chip-and-pin credit card).

Healthcare staff will ask your permission every time they need to look at your Summary Care Record. If they cannot ask you e.g. because you’re unconscious, healthcare staff may look at your record without asking you. If they have to do this, they will make a note on your record.

Commonly Asked Questions

Q: Do I have a choice whether I have a Summary Care Record or not?

A: Yes you do have a choice, if you would like one, you won’t need to do anything, it will happen automatically.

If you choose not to have one you MUST sign an opt out form which can be obtained from reception. The opt out form must be completed and returned to the Practice.

More information about Summary Care Records is available at www.nhscarerecords.nhs.uk

If you wish to opt out of the summary care record, please download a form by clicking on the link below and hand it in to the surgery.