GDPR

We are making it easier for you to find out how we handle your information

When you see or speak to a member of staff or a clinician at the Practice, your medical record will be updated. We manage your information as required by the Data Protection law and we use it to:

• Ensure that your medical record is kept relevant and up to date.
• Assess, advise and agree treatment plans with you.
• Issue any new or repeat prescription items as required.
• Refer you, with consent, to other services e.g. hospital outpatients, district nurses etc for further investigations/treatment.

To ensure that you receive the correct care and to ensure patient safety, we may share information with the following agencies.

• Your nominated Pharmacy and NHSBSA Prescriptions Authority.
• Any hospital that you have agreed to be referred to.
• Any services that may also be involved in your care e.g. district nurses, consultants, hospices, community treatment teams.
• NHS Primary Care Support England

We will only share information that can identify you with those that are directly involved in your NHS care, those who we are legally obligated to share information with and those who you have given us explicit consent to share it with.

We may from time to time need to contact you directly; this may be to invite you for routine appointments or potentially something urgent. For this we may use the following methods:

• Letters sent to your registered address
• By telephone
• By text message
• By email

To enable us to continue contact with you, please complete our communication consent form online or get a physical copy from reception. We will update your records with your preferred contact method.

We also share information with Public Health England and NHS England. This is to help them protect and improve the health of the population of England.  You can only be identified from this information where Public Health England and NHS England have the legal power to do so.

Additionally, we may share anonymised and statistical data with the local CCG, NHS approved research bodies and the local authority. This is to ensure that the Practice is meeting quality markers set and you cannot be identified from this data.

New Contractual Requirements for IT/Electronic Patient Records

It is a requirement of General Medical Services 2014/2015 that all GP practices inform their patients of their current status in relation to a number of electronic services:

Electronic Transfer of Patient Record

The system (GP2GP) that electronically transfers patient medical records from one practice to another is already activated at Haydock Medical Centre. Please note that currently, some patients have medical records that are larger than the current GP2GP transfer file size. These records will be manually forwarded and received.

Electronic Appointment Booking

This service is available via our patient access tab and is hosted by our clinical system provider. Electronic appointment booking will provide a convenient service to arrange appointments directly for patients who may have difficulties contacting the surgery during opening hours.

Electronic Booking of Repeat Prescriptions

This is a useful service for both patients and the Practice as requests can be made directly via the online access system.

Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions (ETPS)

This service enables the GP to forward prescriptions electronically to a patient’s nominated pharmacy. This is a secure and almost instant transfer from when the GP processes the request. It also prevents the need for prescriptions to be collected by patients from the practice as they only need to collect their medications from the pharmacy.

Patients Access to their GP Record

Patients have been able to view their medical record on line from March 2015. Patients can access their medical records relating to medications, allergies, summary of conditions and adverse reactions.

Summary Care Record

The “summary care record” is an electronic summary of a patient’s key clinical information The practice has already activated a summary care record for all patients other than those who have expressed a wish to opt out of this service.

This record can only be viewed in emergency or urgent care settings with the consent of the patient unless the patient is unable to give consent (for example if they are unconscious).