Practice Privacy Notice

This explains why information is collected about you and the ways in which this information may be used.

As your registered GP practice, we are the data controller for any personal data that we hold about you.

All personal data must be processed fairly and lawfully, whether it is received directly from you or from a third party in relation to the your care.

We will collect the following types of information from you or about you from a third party (provider organisation) engaged in the delivery of your care:

The information can include:

• ‘Personal data’ meaning any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified from the data. This includes, but is not limited to name, date of birth, full postcode, address, next of kin and NHS number
• And

• ‘Special category / sensitive data’ such as medical history including details of appointments and contact with you, medication, emergency appointments and admissions, clinical notes, treatments, results of investigations, supportive care arrangements, social care status, race, ethnic origin, genetics and sexual orientation.
• Your healthcare records contain information about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously (e.g. from an acute hospital, GP surgery, community care provider, mental health care provider, walk-in centre, social services). These records may be electronic, a paper record or a mixture of both. We use a combination of technologies and working practices to ensure that we keep your information secure and confidential.   

  How your records are used to help you

    
  

Your records are used to guide and administer the care you receive. They ensure that:

• the professionals involved have accurate and up-to-date information on your needs and future care requirements
• relevant information is available, should you need to see another professional, or be referred to specialist NHS services
• there is a good basis for assessing the quality of the care your receive
• your concerns can be properly investigated, should you need to complain

  How your records are used to help the NHS

   
  

Your information may also be used to help us:

• make sure that our services can meet everyone’s needs in the future
• prevent fraud
• review and monitor the overall quality of care we provide, to make sure it is of the highest standard
• train and educate our staff.
• In order to comply with its legal obligations this practice may send data to NHS Digital when directed by the Secretary of State for Health under the Health and Social Act 2012. This practice contributes to national clinical audits and will send the data which are required by NHS Digital when the law allows. This may include demographic data, such as date of birth, and information about your health which is recorded in coded form, for example, the clinical code for diabetes or high blood pressure.
• This practice contributes to medical research and may send relevant information to medical research databases such as the Clinical Practice Research Datalink and QResearch or others when the law allows.       

  How we keep your records confidential

     
  

This practice is committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information that has been collected lawfully. Every member of staff who works for an NHS organisation has a legal obligation to keep information about you confidential. We maintain our duty of confidentiality by conducting annual training and awareness, ensuring access to personal data is limited to the appropriate staff and information is only shared with organisations and individuals that have a legitimate and legal basis for access.

Information is not held for longer than is necessary.   This practice will hold your information in accordance with the Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care 2016.

Your information may also, subject to strict agreements describing how it will be used, be shared with:

• other NHS organisations eg: hospitals, GPs etc
• 111 and Out of Hours Service
• Local Authority Departments, including Social Services and Education
• voluntary and other private sector care providers

Whilst this practice might share your information with the above organisations, we may also receive information from them to ensure that your medical records are kept up to date and so that your GP can provide the appropriate care.

The Data Protection Act and General Data Protection Regulations allow you to find out what information is held about you including information held within your medical records. This is known as the “right of subject access”. If you would like to have access to all or part of your records, you can make a request in writing to the organisation that you believe holds your information. This can be your GP, or a provider that is or has delivered your treatment and care. You should however be aware that some details within your health records may be exempt from disclosure, however this will in the interests of your wellbeing or to protect the identity of a third party.

This practice may not need to seek your explicit consent for every instance of processing and sharing your information, on the condition that the processing is carried out in accordance with this notice. We will contact you if we are required to share your information for any other purpose which is not mentioned within this notice

You have the right to write to withdraw your consent at any time for any particular instance of processing, provided consent is the legal basis for the processing.

In the event that you feel this practice has not complied with the current data protection legislation, the Data Protection Officer for this practice is:

Liane Cotterill

Senior Governance Manager & Data Protection Officer

North of England Commissioning Support

Teesdale House

Westpoint Road

Thornaby

Stockton-on-Tees

TS17 6BL

Alternatively, you can use the following email: NECSU.IG@nhs.net

If you remain dissatisfied with the response you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wimslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF – Enquiry Line: 01625 545700 or online at www.ico.gov.uk

Complaints

Denton Park Medical Group endeavours to provide high quality primary health care to its patients but if you do have any complaint or concern about the service that you have received from the doctors or staff working in this practice you are entitled to ask for an explanation.

We operate in informal in-house complaints procedure to deal with most types of possible complaint. This procedure does not deal with matters of legal liability or compensation.

Should you wish to raise any matters of  this nature please contact the Practice Manager Diane Wallace on 0191 2295800. Diane will explain the complaints procedure to you and will make sure that your concerns are dealt with confidentially, promptly and thouroughly.

 Complaints -  Information for patients .pdf

Violence Policy The NHS operate a zero tolerance policy with regard to violence and abuse and the practice has the right to remove violent patients from the list with immediate effect in order to safeguard practice staff, patients and other persons.

Violence in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety. In this situation we will notify the patient in writing of their removal from the list and record in the patient’s medical records the fact of the removal and the circumstances leading to it.

Our Commitment To You

• You will be treated as a partner in the care you receive.
• You will be treated as an individual and will be given courtesy and respect at all times. You have the right to be treated confidentially.
• You will be able to see a doctor of your choice, where possible within three working days.
• We will try to see you within 30 minutes of your appointment time. If we cannot do this you will be offered an explanation.
• We will explain the likely effects of any drugs and review your long term medical needs at agreed times.
• If we believe that you need a second opinion, we will try to help you get one.
• We will visit you at home if you are too ill or infirm to be brought to the surgery.
• Out of surgery hours, we or one of our deputy doctors will give appropriate advice. This will be by telephone or at a treatment centre or by means of a home visit, at the discretion of the doctor.
• We will inform you about how you can make suggestions and complaints about the service we offer.
• We have the right to remove patients from our list if they repeatedly and persistently ignore their responsibilities to us and other patients.

Your Responsibilities To Us

• Help us to help you. Being a partner means that we have responsibilities to each other.
• We ask that you treat the doctors and all practice staff with the same courtesy and respect.
• Please remember that the doctor may not always be available due to other commitments.
• Please do everything you can to keep appointments. Tell us as soon as possible if you cannot.
• You should not expect to be given a prescription every time you visit the doctor. Please remember to check your cupboards before ordering repeat prescriptions.
• You have the right to ask for a second opinion.
• The less time a doctor spends travelling, the more time is available for patients.
• Please do not call out of hours except in real emergencies. When ever possible it is best to wait for the next surgery.
• If you are seriously unhappy with us or the services we provide, you have the right to leave the list and register with another practice

Disabled Access

A Strategic Approach towards meeting obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, part III, provision of goods, facilities and services.

Background

Part III of the DDA outlines the duties imposed upon those providing goods facilities and services (“service providers”) not to discriminate against disabled people. Ultimately Denton Park Medical Group is a service provider, whether its services are given free of charge or not. In every case where Denton Park Medical Group acts as a service provider, the building which it uses will have to conform to the requirements of the legislation. The legislation, introduced in 1995, came into force on October1st 2004. The DDA applies to the whole of the UK, including (with modification) Northern Ireland.

Ongoing commitment to improving access

Denton Park Medical Group recognises that many of its users, staff and other visitors, whether disabled or otherwise, have individual needs when making use of its services. However Denton Park Medical Group also recognises that some people may experience specific difficulties related to access to practice services.

As part of on going commitment to equal opportunities Denton Park Medical Group will endeavour to ensure that disabled users and visitors receive the same standards of service as everybody else.

Plan of Action

• Communicate to all staff this policy
• Provide appropriate disability awareness training for staff who have contact with the public
• Address acts of disability discrimination as appropriate
• Encourage consultants, contractors, suppliers, to adopt similar policies towards disabled people
• Consult with disabled customers, staff, and local disability organisations.
• Make reasonable adjustments to enable disabled people to access all Denton Park Medical Group services
• Effectively communicate improving accessibility to customers and staff
• Regularly review and monitor to ensure that Denton Park Medical Group services are accessible and take appropriate action
• Regularly monitor the implementation and the effectiveness of this policy on a regular basis
• Operate an accessible customer complaints procedure whereby disabled people can make improvement suggestions and request assistance

Notes

Denton Park Medical Group adopts a strategic planned approach which follows a process defining the type of services being provided to members of the public. This identifies what has been done so far and what needs to be done in the future to maintain improve access.

Each aspect of Denton Park Medical Group services is being audited to identify existing and potential barriers and these may include the following key areas:

• Information barriers (adoption of good print guidelines, accessible web sites, alternative formats.Etc)
• Attitudinal barriers (ensuring everyone understands their obligations under DDA)
• Communication barriers (includes induction loops for the hearing aid users, or how we communicate with, for example, hearing impaired customers and profoundly deaf people)
• Physical access barriers (these are ongoing improvements, arising out of access audits)
• Institutional barriers (reviewing of policies, practices and procedures to ensure any identified barriers are removed)

In the first instance, we inform all staff that the provision of all activities ensures the inclusion of disabled people. Such communications will address our legal obligations in this respect. Also, appropriate disability awareness training for staff has been carried out and this will be ongoing. Part of this explains Denton Park Medical Group policy towards disabled people.

Consultation with disabled people (staff and public) will be a key part of the responsibilities. Evidence of consultation meets the requirements of the Code of Practice for Part III of the DDA. It also identifies the needs of disabled people and its Best Practice. Discussions with disabled people will assist in maintaining an accessible organisation and this should help in monitoring and evaluating the continuing success of an access strategy.

It is Denton Park Medical Group’s intention to make access improvements within existing programmes of maintenance and refurbishment improvements.

These planned improvements should be effectively communicated to both customers and staff.