How we use, share and protect your personal information.
Introduction
A privacy notice tells people how organisations use information that they hold about them. You will find below, details of the information we keep, what you can do about this and who to contact if you need any further help.
At Peartree Group Practice, we are responsible for collecting, storing and handling your information when you register with us as a patient. In doing this, the law says we are Data Controllers. There may be occasions when we need to use your information for a particular purpose, and when we do that, the law says we are Data Processors.
What is personal information?
Personal information is anything which identifies you as a person. Some examples of personal information are:
- Your name
- Your address
- Your date of birth
- Pictures of you
- Your e-mail address
- Your doctors/hospital records etc
Sometimes, people you don’t know can use your personal information to trick you or put you in uncomfortable situations. That’s why it is very important to never give out your personal information to anyone you don’t know! You should only give this information to people you trust, like your parents, teachers or doctors. Just remember, your personal information is private property!
Why do we keep information about you?
The law gives us permission to use your information in situations where we need it to take care of you. It is very strict about how we use it because information about your health is very personal and private to you. Please remember that you have the right to access personal information that we hold about you to view in person or we can provide you with a copy.
What information do we hold about you?
Here are some examples of the information that we might hold about you:
- Identity details – name, date of birth, NHS number
- Contact details – address, telephone/mobile number & e-mail address
- Information about your parent(s) or adult with parental responsibility
- All of your health records
- Appointment records
- Visits to see your GP
- Treatments you’ve had
- Medicines prescribed for you and any other information to help us look after you.
How do we keep your information safe, secure and confidential?
All members of staff working in the NHS and other healthcare organisations have a legal duty of confidentiality to keep your information strictly confidential (unless in extreme circumstances where your safety or that of others is compromised).
Information provided in confidence will only be used for the purposes agreed with you, except in circumstances where the law requires or allows us to do otherwise.
We use secure computer systems and take great care with passwords we use which we change on a regular basis.
make sure that any written information held about you is under lock and key and kept in a safe and secure place. We also train our staff to respect your privacy and deal with your information in a manner that makes sure it is always kept and dealt with in a safe way.
What do you do with my information?
Generally, we will only use your information to help us care for you. That means we might need to share it with other people who are concerned and involved with looking after your health.
In some situations, we may also need to share your information with the Police, Courts, Social Services, Solicitors and/or other people who have a right to your information. But rest assured, we will always make sure they have a legal right to see it (or have a copy of it) before we will provide it to them.
Who else will see my information?
Generally, the only people that will see your information will be the doctors, nurses and other people who work with us here at the Surgery.
Sometimes, if you need to go to hospital or need to be seen by a special doctor, we will share your information with them, but this is only so we can take care of you.
There might be occasions where we are asked to take part in medical research that might help you in the future. If this happens, we will always ask you or your parent(s) or adult with parental responsibility if we can share your information.
Examples of the only other organisations that may have a legal right to see your personal information are the Police, Social Services, Solicitors and the Courts.
What are my rights?
You have a right to see what information we hold about you and you can at anytime request to see it. This request will need to be put in writing and you will just need to let us know what information you would like. If you need any help with this, your parent(s) or adult with parental responsibility can help you.
We generally respond within 28 days (1 month) and it is free of charge.
If you think there might be some errors in the information we hold about you, then you can ask us to correct them. However, the law says that we can’t remove any of the information we hold about you even if you ask us to. This is because we need all of this information to be able to take care of you.
Remember, you have a right to ask us not to share your information.
If you would like to talk to us about not sharing your information, even if it means you don’t want us to share your information with your parent(s) or adult with parental responsibility, please just let us know as we will be happy to help.
Can I access my information online
You may be able to access your information online, however in order to do so, you will need to speak to one of our receptionists who will let you know how to do this.
If I have any questions, who should I ask?
If you have any questions, any member of our Reception team will be happy to help and will do their best to answer any questions you may have. If they are unable to answer your question, they will put you in touch with the Data Protection Officer (DPO) as they deal with all questions about patient information. So if that’s the case, our DPO will listen to your question(s) and give you the answers/advice that you need.
Our DPO is provided by HBL ICT Services, so if you have any questions that you feel we can’t answer, you can e-mail them at the following address: hweicbenh.dpo-gp.hblict@nhs.net.
If you are unable to email them yourself and/or would prefer us to send them an e-mail on your behalf, please let a member of our reception team know and they will be happy to do this for you.
What do I do if I have a serious complaint about how you look after my information?
We will always do our very best to look after your personal information and answer any questions you have. But if you are not happy with something we have done with your information, you can speak to our DPO as mentioned above. If you then speak to the DPO and you are still not happy then you can pass your complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) who will look into what has gone wrong and provide you with the help that you need. You can find more information on their website www.ico.org.uk.
Updates to this privacy notice
The law says that we must keep all information that we provide in this privacy notice up to date, so we review it regularly.
This privacy notice was last updated on 30 January 2023 and will be reviewed again in February 2024.
