Privacy

Privacy notice

Looking for information on how to protect your information online?

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre provides advice on how to stay secure online.

How we use your personal information

This fair processing notice explains why the Practice collects information about you and how that information may be used.

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. Hospital, GP Surgery, Walk-in clinic, 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 this GP Practice hold about you may include the following information:

• Details about you, such as your address, legal representative, emergency contact details.
• Any contact the surgery has had with you, such as appointments, clinic visits, emergency appointments, 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 will be retained in accordance with the NHS Code of Practice for Records Management.

To ensure you receive the best possible care, your records are used to facilitate the care you receive. 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.

This Practice also contributes to medical research and may send relevant information to medical research databases such as the Clinical Practice Research Datalink or others – when the law allows.

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.

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:

• Data Protection Act 2018.
• Human Rights Act 1998.
• Common Law Duty of Confidentiality.
• Health and Social Care Act 2012.
• NHS Codes of Confidentiality and Information Security.
• Information: To Share or Not to Share Review (read further information about this).
• Find out how to opt out of sharing your health records.

Every member of staff who works for the Practice or another NHS organisation has a legal obligation to keep information about you confidential.

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 for example child or adult protection and serious criminal activity.

Extended Access Hubs

When you are offered an appointment at one of the Bury GP Federation Extended Access Hubs outside of the Practice’s normal opening hours, you will be asked for your consent to share your medical records with the healthcare staff working in the service.

Without this consent, you will not be able to be seen at one of the GP Hubs as the healthcare staff would not have access to your medical records.  You will then need to wait for the next available appointment at your registered Practice.

Full details of how and when your records will be shared are available on the Bury GP Federation website.

iGPR Technologies Limited

We use a processor, iGPR Technologies Limited (“iGPR”), to assist us with responding to report requests relating to patient data, such as subject access requests that we receive (or that someone acting on behalf of a patient submits to us), and report requests that insurers submit to us under the Access to Medical Records Act 1988 in relation to a life insurance policy that a patient holds or is applying for.

iGPR manages the reporting process for us by reviewing and responding to requests in accordance with our instructions and all applicable laws, including UK data protection laws.  The instructions we issue to iGPR include general instructions on responding to requests and specific instructions on issues that will require further consultation with the GP responsible for a patient’s care.

askmyGP online service – information sharing protocol

Access the information sharing protocol relating to the askmyGP online service.

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, or receive information from the following organisations:

• NHS Trusts / Foundation Trusts.
• Ambulance Trusts.
• GPs.
• NHS Commissioning organisations i.e. Integrated Care Partnerships.
• Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians and pharmacists.
• Private Sector providers.
• Voluntary Sector providers.
• Social Care services.
• NHS Digital.
• Local Authorities.
• Education services.
• Fire and Rescue services.
• Police & Judicial services.
• Other ‘data processors’ which you will be informed of.

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

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.

Access to personal information

You have a right under the Data Protection Act to request access to view or to obtain copies of what information the Practice 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 GP – for information from the hospital you should write directly to them.
• There may be a charge to have a copy of the information held about you if you make more than two requests within a six month period.
• 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) so that your identity can be verified and your records located.

Objections or complaints

Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed at Tower Family Healthcare, please refer to our complaints procedure which you can find on this website  If you are unhappy following the response from us, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) via their website.

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 for you are accurate and up to date.

Notification

The Data Protection Act 2018 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.

The Practice is registered with the Information Commissioners Office.

Who is the Data Controller?

The data controller is Tower Family Healthcare

Our Senior Information Risk Owner, responsible for keeping your information secure and confidential is:

Paul Massey
Executive Partner of Tower Family Healthcare

This website uses cookies

A cookie is a small file, typically of letters and numbers, downloaded on to a device (like your computer or smart phone) when you access certain websites.

Cookies allow a website to recognise a user’s device.

Some cookies help websites to remember choices you make (e.g. which language you prefer if you use the Google Translate feature).  Analytical cookies are to help us measure the number of visitors to a website. The two types we use are ‘Session’ and ‘Persistent’ cookies. Some cookies are temporary and disappear when you close your web browser, others may remain on your computer/device for a set period of time.

We do not knowingly collect or intend to collect any personal information about you using cookies. We do not share your personal information with anyone.

What can I do to manage cookies on my devices?

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit the All About Cookies website.

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites there is a Google Analytics Opt-out Add-on.

If you are concerned about cookies and would like to ask further questions, please do not hesitate to contact our website developers by email.