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. Please find documents and links below.

At The Grove Road Surgery, we send you texts and emails to remind you of your appointments, tell you about your normal test results, and invite you to participation groups or self-care initiatives. We feel this is important and part of our job looking after your health, and we take our obligation to manage your information very seriously. We do not and never will share or use your contact details for marketing or commercial purposes. Ever. But if you still feel uncomfortable allowing us to contact you for health purposes, please let our admin staff or your GP know, and we will make sure we respect your wishes.

Please click here for further information on Your Rights in relation to your data

The Grove Road Surgery is part of Tower Hamlets CCG who are responsible for planning, designing, buying and paying for certain NHS services. These services include planned and emergency hospital care, mental health, rehabilitation, and community services.

Patients have the right to have information about them processed fairly and lawfully, and to access any personal information held by the NHS. Patients also have the right to privacy, and expect the NHS to keep information confidential and secure. Patients have the right to request that their confidential information is not used for purposes other than their own care and treatment, and to have their objections considered. These rights are set out in the NHS Constitution.

To find out more about how data is used across East London, please see the NHS Data Sharing In East London page by clicking here.

Why do we collect information about you and how we use this?

Health care professionals, who provide your 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 are used to help to provide you with the best possible healthcare.

What information do we hold and how is this stored?

NHS health care records may be electronic, on paper or a mixture of both, and we use a combination of working practices and technology to ensure that your information is kept confidential and secure. Records this GP Practice hold about you may include the following information:

  • Details about you, such as your name, address, carer’s, legal representatives and emergency contact details
  • 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

When is my information shared and how do we maintain the confidentiality of your data?

Every member of staff who works for an NHS organisation has a legal obligation to keep information about you confidential. 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 within the GP practice for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service provided.

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 gain your consent before releasing the information for this purpose.

We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with:

  • Data Protection Act 1998 and General Data Protection Regulation 2016
  • Human Rights Act 1998 • Common Law Duty of Confidentiality
  • Health and Social Care Act 2012
  • NHS Codes of Confidentiality, Information Security and Records Management
  • Information: To Share or Not to Share Review

We will only use or pass on information about you to other health professionals if they have a genuine need for it to support your care. We will not disclose your information to any third party without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances (i.e. life or death situations), where the law requires information to be passed on and / or in accordance with the new information sharing principle following Dame Fiona Caldicotts' information sharing review (Information to share or not to share) where “The duty to share information can be as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality.” This means that health and social care professionals should have the confidence to share information in the best interests of their patients within the framework set out by the Caldicott principles. They should be supported by the policies of their employers, regulators and professional bodies.

For example, your information may be shared in the following circumstances:

  • To provide further medical treatment for you e.g. from district nurses and hospital services
  • To help you get support from other services e.g. from social care or voluntary organisations.
  • When we have a duty to others e.g. in child protection cases
  • Where we are required by law to share certain information such as the birth of a new baby, infectious diseases that may put you or others at risk or where a Court has decided we must.

This is detailed further in the NHS Data Sharing In East London page

Which other organisation’s may see my information?

We may also have to share your information, subject to strict agreements on how it will be used, with the following organisations;

  • NHS Trusts / Foundation Trusts
  • GP’s
  • NHS Commissioning Support Units
  • Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
  • Private Sector Providers
  • Voluntary Sector Providers
  • Ambulance Trusts
  • Clinical Commissioning Groups
  • Social Care Services
  • Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
  • Local Authorities
  • Education Services
  • Fire and Rescue Services
  • Police & Judicial Services
  • Voluntary Sector Providers
  • Private Sector Providers

You will be informed who your data will be shared with and in some cases asked for explicit consent for this happen when this is required.

This is detailed further in the NHS Data Sharing In East London page

Access to personal information

You have a right under the Data Protection Act 1998 and General Data Protection Regulation 2016 to request access to view or to obtain copies of what information the surgery holds about you and to have it amended should it be inaccurate. In order to request this, you need to do the following:

  • Your request must be made in writing to the GP – for information from the hospital you should write direct to them
  • We are required to respond to you within 30 days
  • You will need to give adequate information (for example full name, address, date of birth, NHS number and details of your request) so that your identity can be verified and your records located

Change of Details

It is important that you tell the person treating you if any of your details such as your name or address have changed or if any of your details such as date of birth is incorrect in order for this to be amended. You have a responsibility to inform us of any changes so our records are accurate and up to date for you.

Notification

The Data Protection Act 1998 requires organisation’s to register a notification with the Information Commissioner to describe the purposes for which they process personal and sensitive information.

This information is publicly available on the Information Commissioners Office website www.ico.org.uk

The practice is registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).

Who is the Data Protection Officer?

The Data Protection Officer is XXX

Who is the Data Controller?

The Data Controller, responsible for keeping your information secure and confidential is:

The Grove Road Surgery
3 Ivanhoe House
130 Grove Road
London
E3 5TW

Objections / Complaints

Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed at the GP, please contact the practice in writing. If you are still unhappy following a review by the GP practice, you can then complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) via their website www.ico.gov.uk, casework@ico.org.uk , telephone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745.

If you are happy for your data to be extracted and used for the purposes described in this privacy notice then you do not need to do anything. If you have any concerns about how your data is shared then please contact the practice.