SECURITY

As a practice, we feel it important that patients are aware of what happens to personal information stored on the computer system.

Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential.

All staff employed by this practice abide by our Code of Confidentiality, and we operate a Practice Policy on Information Security.

When you register, you will be asked for information about yourself so that you receive the appropriate care and treatment.

This information is kept with details of your health and treatment provided, so that the practice can ensure that the care you receive is appropriate and consistent with your medical history.

The practice may pass information to other organisations and strict conditions must be complied with before information is released. Occasions when information is released are:

• Statutory requirement, e.g. notification of birth or death.
• The NHS Central Register for England and Wales contains basic personal details of all patients registered with a General Practitioner. The register does not contain clinical information.
• The practice takes part in Drug Trial research approved by the Local Research Ethics Committee. If the research involves you personally, you will be contacted for your permission before information is divulged. Patients will not be identified in any published results without their prior permission.
• At times it may be necessary to refer to patient records when dealing with complaints or legal claims. Information will not be divulged without patients' prior permission.
• We may use some information for preparing statistics to continue improving quality of care and to ensure that our services meet patient needs. At all times steps will be taken to ensure you cannot be identified.

You may be receiving care from other organisations within the NHS. To ensure you receive a consistent programme of care we may need to share some information about your medical history. We only ever do this if it is in your interest.

The Law strictly controls the sharing of some types of very sensitive information. Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.