Privacy Policy

How we use your personal information 

This Fair Processing Notice explains in general why College Surgery Partnership collects information about you and how that information may be used. Separate detailed Privacy Notices are available for specific tasks and you can access these by clicking on the links below this overarching message.

The health care professionals who provide you with care maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously (e.g. Out-of-hours, GP Surgery, Walk-in clinic, Hospital etc.). These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare. 

NHS health 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 which College Surgery Partnership holds about you may include the following information;

  • Details about you, such as your address, carer, legal representative, emergency contact details
  • Any contact the surgery has had with you e.g. appointments, clinic visits, home visits, 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

Your records are used to ensure you receive the best possible care. 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 

Risk Stratification 

Risk stratification data tools are increasingly being used in the NHS to help determine a person’s risk of suffering a particular condition, preventing an unplanned or (re)admission and identifying a need for preventive intervention. Information about you is collected from a number of sources including NHS Trusts (Hospitals) and from this GP Practice. A risk score is then arrived at through an analysis of your de-identified information using software managed by NHS Digital, and is only provided back to your GP as data controller in an identifiable form. Risk stratification enables your GP to focus on preventing ill health and not just the treatment of sickness. If necessary your GP may be able to offer you additional services. Please note that you have the right to opt out of your data being used in this way. 

Medicines Management 

The Practice may conduct Medicines Management Reviews of medications prescribed to its patients. This service performs a review of prescribed medications to ensure patients receive the most appropriate, up to date and cost effective treatments. This service is provided to practices within Devon by our local Clinical Commissioning Groups. 

How do we maintain the confidentiality of your records? 

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

  • The General Data Protection Regulation
  • 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

Every member of staff who works for an NHS organisation has a legal obligation to keep information about you confidential and we will only ever use or pass on information about you if others involved in your care have a genuine need for it. 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 information sharing principle following Dame Fiona Caldicott’s 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. 

Who are our partner organisations?

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

  • NHS Trusts
  • Specialist Trusts
  • NHS England
  • Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
  • Private Sector Providers
  • Voluntary Sector Providers
  • Ambulance Trusts
  • Integrated Care Board
  • Social Care Services
  • Local Authorities
  • Education Services
  • Fire and Rescue Services
  • Police

Please note that this list is not exhaustive and we may also use external companies to process personal information, such as for archiving purposes. These companies are bound by contractual agreements to ensure information is kept confidential and secure.

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

Access to personal information

You have a right under the General Data Protection Regulation 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 Practice Manager
  • There will be no charge to have a printed copy of the information held about you
  • 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) and provide 2 forms of identification so that your identity can be verified and your records located

Cookies

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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. 

Notification

The General Data Protection Regulation requires organisations 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) as a data controller under the Data Protection Act 1998. The registration number is Z5763405 and can be viewed online in the public register at www.ico.gov.uk 

Who is the Data Controller? 

The Data Controller is College Surgery Partnership who is responsible for keeping your information secure and confidential.

Who is the Data Protection Officer?

The Data Protection Officer (DPO) is Bex Lovewell 

Complaints 

Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed by the Practice please contact the Practice Manager by emailing kyladawe@nhs.net or in writing to Ms Kyla Dawe, College Surgery Partnership, Culm Valley Integrated Centre for Health, Willand Road, Cullompton. EX15 1FE

If you are still unhappy following a review by the Practice you can then complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) via their website www.ico.org.uk 

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.

Additional Privacy Notices: