General Practice Transparency Notice for GPES Data for Pandemic Planning and Research (COVID-19)
This practice is supporting vital coronavirus (COVID-19) planning and research by sharing your data with NHS Digital.
The health and social care system is facing significant pressures due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Health and care information is essential to deliver care to individuals, to support health, social care and other public services and to protect public health. Information will also be vital in researching, monitoring, tracking and managing the coronavirus outbreak. In the current emergency it has become even more important to share health and care information across relevant organisations. This practice is supporting vital coronavirus planning and research by sharing your data with NHS Digital, the national safe haven for health and social care data in England.
Our legal basis for sharing data with NHS Digital
NHS Digital has been legally directed to collect and analyse patient data from all GP practices in England to support the coronavirus response for the duration of the outbreak. NHS Digital will become the controller under the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR) of the personal data collected and analysed jointly with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who has directed NHS Digital to collect and analyse this data under the COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020(COVID-19 Direction).
All GP practices in England are legally required to share data with NHS Digital for this purpose under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (2012 Act). More information about this requirement is contained in the data provision notice issued by NHS Digital to GP practices.
Under GDPR our legal basis for sharing this personal data with NHS Digital is Article 6(1)(c) - legal obligation. Our legal basis for sharing personal data relating to health, is Article 9(2)(g) – substantial public interest, for the purposes of NHS Digital exercising its statutory functions under the COVID-19 Direction.
The type of personal data we are sharing with NHS Digital
The data being shared with NHS Digital will include information about patients who are currently registered with a GP practice or who have a date of death on or after 1 November 2019 whose record contains coded information relevant to coronavirus planning and research. The data contains NHS Number, postcode, address, surname, forename, sex, ethnicity, date of birth and date of death for those patients. It will also include coded health data which is held in your GP record such as details of:
- medications and other prescribed items
- investigations, tests and results
- vaccinations and immunisations
How NHS Digital will use and share your data
NHS Digital will analyse the data they collect and securely and lawfully share data with other appropriate organisations, including health and care organisations, bodies engaged in disease surveillance and research organisations for coronavirus response purposes only. These purposes include protecting public health, planning and providing health, social care and public services, identifying coronavirus trends and risks to public health, monitoring and managing the outbreak and carrying out of vital coronavirus research and clinical trials. The British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the National Data Guardian are all supportive of this initiative.
NHS Digital has various legal powers to share data for purposes relating to the coronavirus response. It is also required to share data in certain circumstances set out in the COVID-19 Direction and to share
confidential patient information to support the response under a legal notice issued to it by the Secretary of State under the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (COPI Regulations).
Legal notices under the COPI Regulations have also been issued to other health and social care organisations requiring those organisations to process and share confidential patient information to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. Any information used or shared during the outbreak under these legal notices or the COPI Regulations will be limited to the period of the outbreak unless there is another legal basis for organisations to continue to use the information.
Data which is shared by NHS Digital will be subject to robust rules relating to privacy, security and confidentiality and only the minimum amount of data necessary to achieve the coronavirus purpose will be shared. Organisations using your data will also need to have a clear legal basis to do so and will enter into a data sharing agreement with NHS Digital. Information about the data that NHS Digital shares, including who with and for what purpose will be published in the NHS Digital
data release register.National Data Opt-Out
The application of the
National Data Opt-Out to information shared by NHS Digital will be considered on a case by case basis and may or may not apply depending on the specific purposes for which the data is to be used. This is because during this period of emergency, the National Data Opt-Out will not generally apply where data is used to support the coronavirus outbreak, due to the public interest and legal requirements to share information.
Your rights over your personal data
To read more about the health and care information NHS Digital collects, its legal basis for collecting this information and what choices and rights you have in relation to the processing by NHS Digital of your personal data, see:
This is a copy of our full data privacy notice. Data Privacy Notice
Confidentiality & Medical Records
The practice complies with data protection and access to medical records legislation. Identifiable information about you will be shared with others in the following circumstances:
- To provide further medical treatment for you e.g. from district nurses and hospital services.
- To help you get other services e.g. from the social work department. This requires your consent.
- When we have a duty to others e.g. in child protection cases anonymised patient information will also be used at local and national level to help the Health Board and Government plan services e.g. for diabetic care.
If you do not wish anonymous information about you to be used in such a way, please let us know.
Reception and administration staff require access to your medical records in order to do their jobs. These members of staff are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as the medical staff.
Freedom of Information
Information about the General Practioners and the practice required for disclosure under this act can be made available to the public. All requests for such information should be made to the practice manager.
Access to Records
In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and Access to Health Records Act, patients may request to see their medical records. Such requests should be made through the practice manager and may be subject to an administration charge. No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.
GDPR and How General Practices in Leeds use and share information about you
This Practice handles medical records in-line with laws on data protection and confidentiality. Below are some leaflets and a link to a Youtube video explaining this in more detail
How we use your data
GDPR and my patient record
https://youtu.be/I4U6yNDLPWg
Electronic Records
Electronic records are kept in all the places where you receive healthcare. Often, NHS care services can usually only share information from those records by letter email, fax or phone. At times, this can slow down your treatment and mean information is hard to access.
This service uses a secure computer system that allows the sharing of full electronic records across different NHS care services. This form is not about your Summary Care Record (SCR), it is asking your sharing preferences regarding your full detailed electronic record.
We are telling you about this, as you have a choice to make. You can choose to share or not to share your full electronic record with other NHS care services where you are treated and whether we can view records held by those other services.
If you choose to make your record shareable, your clinical details will only viewable by clinical teams who are treating you. Each clinical team which cares for you now or in the future will ask your permission to view your shared record. You can also ask for part of your record to be made private – not shareable. All record accesses are recorded and auditable.
If you choose not to make your records shareable, we will respect your wishes and will do our best to make your care safe and efficient. However, denying the clinical teams caring for you the ability to access important clinical details could compromise your care.
If you require further information please ask at reception. You can also visit the NHS Care records website at http://www.nhscarerecords.nhs.uk/carerecords or download the NHS Care Record Guarantee from http://www.nigb.nhs.uk/pubs/nhscrg.pdf.
How information about you helps the NHS to provide better care
A modern information system has been developed, which will make increased use of information from medical records with the intention of improving health services.
Your date of birth, full postcode, NHS Number and gender rather than your name will be used to link your records in a secure system, managed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre. Once this information has been linked a new record will be created. This new record will not contain information that identifies you. The type of information shared, and how it is shared, is controlled by law and strict confidentiality rules.
The new system will also provide information that will enable the public to hold the NHS to account and ensure that any unacceptable standards of care are identified as quickly as possible.
Click on the link below to download a patient leaflet which will give you more detail. If you do not want information that identifies you from being shared outside your GP practice, please ask to speak to the Practice Manager and they will make a note of this in your medical record.
The practice adheres to a nationally recognised, locally based Personal Medical Service contracts held with NHS Leeds as well as being the preferred provider for a number of Enhanced Service contracts, namely Extended Hours, Minor Surgery, Childhood Immunisations and vaccinations as well as Flu vaccinations.