The NHS wants to give people better ways to see their personal health information online.

We know that people want to be able to access their health records. It can help you see test results faster. It also lets you read and review notes from your appointments in your own time.

We’re now letting you see all the information within your health record automatically. If you are over 16 and have an online account, such as through the NHS App, NHS website, or another online primary care service, you will now be able to see all future notes and health records from your doctor (GP). Some people can already access this feature, this won’t change for you.

This means that you will be able to see notes from your appointments, as well as test results and any letters that are saved on your records. This only applies to records from your doctor (GP), not from hospitals or other specialists. You will only be able to see information from 1st November 2022. For most people, access will be automatic, and you won’t need to do anything.

Your doctor (GP) may talk to you to discuss test results before you are able to see some of your information on the app. Your doctor (GP) may also talk to you before your full records access is given to make sure that having access is of benefit to you. There might be some sensitive information on your record, so you should talk to your doctor if you have any concerns.

These changes only apply to people with online accounts. If you do not want an online account, you can still access your health records by requesting this information through reception. The changes also only apply to personal information about you. If you are a carer and would like to see information about someone you care for, speak to reception staff.

The NHS App, website and other online services are all very secure, so no one is able to access your information except you. You’ll need to make sure you protect your login details. Don’t share your password with anyone as they will then have access to your personal information.

If you do not want to see your health record, or if you would like more information about these changes, please speak to your GP or reception staff.

Patient Privacy Notice

National Data opt-out

If you don’t want your data to be shared for purposes except for your own care, you can opt-out by registering a Type 1 Opt-out or a National Data Opt-out, or both. These opt-outs are different and they are explained further here https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/general-practice-data-for-planning-and-research/transparency-notice.

Your individual care will not be affected if you opt-out using either option.

For more information please visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters.

As data controllers, GPs have fair processing responsibilities under the Data Protection Act and GDPR law 2018. This means ensuring that your personal confidential data (PCD) is handled in ways that are safe, transparent and what you would reasonably expect.

The duty of confidentiality owed to a person under 16 is as great as the duty owed to any other person.
All patients can expect that their personal information will not be disclosed without their permission except in the most exceptional of circumstances, when somebody is at grave risk of serious harm.

Responsibilities of practice staff
All health professionals must follow their professional codes of practice and the law. This means that they must make every effort to protect confidentiality. It also means that no identifiable information about a patient is passed to anyone or any agency without the express permission of that patient, except when this is essential for providing care or necessary to protect somebody’s health, safety or well being.
All health professionals are individually accountable for their own actions. They should also work together as a team to ensure that standards of confidentiality are upheld and that improper disclosures are avoided.

Additionally, the GP as employer:

• is responsible for ensuring that everybody employed by the practice understands the need for. and maintains, confidentiality;
• has overall responsibility for ensuring that systems and mechanisms to protect confidentiality.are in place;
• has vicarious liability for the actions of those working in the practice -including the health professionals and non-clinical staff.

Standards of confidentiality apply to all health professionals, administrative and ancillary staff – including receptionists, secretaries, practice managers, cleaners and maintenance staff who are bound by contracts of employment to maintain confidentiality -and also to students or others observing practice. They must not reveal to anybody outside the practice, personal information they learn in the course of their work, or due to their presence in the surgery, without the patient’s consent. Nor will they discuss with colleagues any aspect of a patient’s attendance at the surgery in a way that might allow identification of the patient, unless to do so is necessary for that patient’s care.

If disclosure is necessary
If a patient or another person is at grave risk of serious harm which disclosure to an appropriate person would prevent, the relevant health professional will counsel the patient about the benefits of disclosure. If the patient refuses to allow disclosure, the health professional can take advice from colleagues within the practice, or from a professional, regulatory or defence body, in order to decide whether a disclosure without consent is justified to protect the patient or another person. If a decision is taken to disclose, the patient should always be informed before the disclosure is made, unless to do so could be dangerous. If at all possible, any such decisions should be shared with another member of the practice team.
Any decision to disclose information to protect health, safety or well being will be based on the degree of current or potential harm, not on the age of the patient.
All staff have to sign a document which legally binds them to abide by the above agreement.

HOW WE USE YOUR HEALTH RECORDS

This leaflet explains some of the processes in place at Whinfield Medical Practice, including:

• Why we collect information about you
• How your records are used
• How we keep your records confidential
• Your rights
• Who we may share information with

Why we collect information about you

We aim to provide you with the highest quality of healthcare. To do this we must keep records about you, your health and the care we have provided or plan to provide to you.

These records may include

• Basic details about you such as address, date of birth, next of kin
• Contact we have had with you such as appointments and home visits
• Notes and reports about your health
• Details and records about your treatment and care
• Results of x-rays, laboratory tests etc.

How your records are used

We use your records to:

• Provide a good basis for any treatment or advisory services we provide to you
• Allow you to work with us when we provide treatment or advice
• Make sure your treatment is safe and effective, and the advice we provide is appropriate and relevant to you
• Work effectively with others providing you with treatment or advice

We follow NHS good practice and will:

• Discuss and agree with you what we are going to record about you 
• Show you what we have recorded if you ask 

How we keep your records confidential

We have a duty to:

• Maintain full and accurate records of the care we provide to you
• Keep records about you confidential, safe, secure, accurate and up to date

We will not share information that identifies you for any other reason, unless:

• You ask us to do so
• We ask and you give us specific permission
• We have to do this by law
• We have special permission because we believe that the reasons for sharing are so important that they override our obligation of confidentiality (e.g. to prevent someone from being seriously harmed)

Our guiding principle is that we are holding your records in strictconfidence.

Your Rights

• You have the right to confidentiality under the GDPR, Data Protection Act 1998, the Human Rights Act 1998, the common law duty of confidence and the Equality Act 2010.
• You have the right to know what information we hold about you, what we use it for and; if the information is to be shared, who it will be shared with.
• You have the right to apply for access to the information we hold about you. Please refer to the practice’s Patient Subject Data Request Policy.

Who we may share information with

We may share information about you with other providers involved in your care such as a hospital.

We nay also share information with your consent and, subject to strict sharing protocols about how it will be used with:

• Social Services
• Education Services
• Local Authorities
• Voluntary Sector Providers
• Private Sector Providers
• Ambulance Trust
• Clinical Commissioning Group
• Fire and Rescue Services
• Police

Some information we have to share is used for statistical purposes, and in these instances we take strict measures to ensure that service users can not be identified.

Anyone who receives information from us also has a legal duty to keep it confidential.

If you do not wish personal data that we hold to be used or shared in the way that is described in the leaflet, please discuss this matter with us. You have the right to ask us to stop using or sharing data but this may affect our ability to provide you with safe care or advice.

If you require this leaflet in a different format or you need further assistance please contact our Data Controller using the details below.

Whinfield Medical Practice

Tel: 01325 481321

Email: whinfieldreception@nhs.net

For more detailed information please read our Privacy Notice available here.

NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is publicised, and the required disclosure is shown below for 2020/21. However it should be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earnings is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much time doctors spend working in the practice, and should not be used to form any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparison with any other practice.

All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.

The average pay for GPs working in this practice in the last full financial year was £75,508 before Tax and National insurance. This is for four full time GPs, zero part time GPs, four salaried GPs and zero locum GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.

Every patient is now allocated a named GP. This may be different from the GP you usually see. This does not change the way you book appointments. It means that one GP will have overall responsibility for your care at the surgery.

For continuity of care we encourage patients to try and book appointments with their usual GP. On some occasions this may not be possible so please be assured that all the other doctors that are available on that day will be able to help you with your problem.

If you feel that you have not been allocated the appropriate named GP, please speak to the Reception Team.

PRACTICE COMPLAINTS

If you have a complaint or concern about the service or staff within this Practice, please let us know.  We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints.  Our complaints system meets national criteria.

HOW TO COMPLAIN

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned.  If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible – ideally within a matter of a few days or at most a few weeks – because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily.  If it is not possible to do that, please let us have the details of your complaint:

• Within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem, or
• Within 12 months of discovering you have a problem

Complaints should be addressed to:  Mrs Jane Lincoln, Practice Manager, Whinfield Medical Practice , Whinbush Way Darlington, DL1 3RT.  Alternatively, you could telephone and ask for an appointment to be made with  Mrs Lincoln to discuss your concerns, or request to  speak to her  at the time of the incident.

WHAT WE WILL DO

Upon receiving your complaint, either verbally or in writing, we will acknowledge receipt of the complaint.  This will be within three working days.  We aim to have a full reply to you with any findings and explanation as soon as is possible.  When looking into complaints we will aim to:

• Find out what happened and what went wrong
• Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this
• Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate
• Identify what we can do to ensure the problem does not happen again

COMPLAINING ON BEHALF OF SOMEONE ELSE

Please note that due to strict medical confidentiality we are unable to make any comments regarding any events that happen to anyone other than yourself.  Should you need to make a complaint on behalf of a friend or relative, we will require their written permission before any investigation. You may wish to contact Darlington Healthwatch to discuss any issues. This is a free and confidential service which aims to advice and support families and provide information on NHS services. They can also listen to any conerns patients may have and can sort our problems on behalf of patients they can be contacted on:01325 380145 

OTHER CONTACTS

We hope that if you have a problem you will use our practice complaints procedure.  We believe this will give us the chance of correcting whatever has gone wrong.  However, if you are not happy with the response you have had or feel you cannot use our procedure; you may contact NHS County Durham:

PO Box 16738

Redditch

Worcestershire

B97  9PT

Tel:0300 3112233

Or if following a response to your complaint, you do not feel the issue(s) have been resolved satisfactorily; you may contact the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP.  Tel: 0345 015 4033

Email: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk

Website: www.ombudsman.org.uk

Click here to download our Practice Complaints Leaflet.

Click here to download “How do I give feedback or make a complaint about an NHS service

PLEASE HELP US TO HELP YOU