Confidentiality
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 planservices 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
The ICO has published a new Model Publication Scheme that all public authorities are required to adopt by 1st January 2009.
Model Publication Scheme - further information
Suggestions & Complaints
Though we strive to avoid complaints by being self-critical, we accept that from time to time complaints will arise. Please be assured that all your comments will be dealt with in a confidential manner and fully investigated by the Practice Manager and, if necessary, brought to the attention of the Practice partners and staff.
We follow the N.H.S. code of conduct and deal with the complaints according to this code in the following manner:-
- Complaints are acknowledged within 3 working days which will include an offer to discuss the matter with an appropriate person in the Practice.
- A complaint will have to be made within 12 months of the incident occurring or within 12 months of the date on which the matter came to the notice of the complainant.
- Any complaints that remain unresolved after 6 months will be reviewed to ensure that everything is being done to attempt to resolve the case.
- If you do not wish to complain directly to the Practice you may complain to NHS England and request that they investigate your complaint.
If complaints remain unresolved then the complaint may be taken to the Health Service Ombudsman.
Consultation Ethics
During consultations we aim to ensure the following; that
Your privacy, dignity and confidentiality are respected at all times.
You can discuss health related matters with a professional of the same sex wherever possible.
You are offered a chaperone if undergoing an intimate examination.
You will be offered an explanation of your problem, and treatment planning will be discussed with you.
We will take appropriate action to organise a second opinion if your symptoms warrant a specialist referral.
Equal Opportunities/Anti-Discrimination
The Practice:
- Will ensure that all visitors are treated with dignity and respect
- Will promote equality of opportunity between men and women
- Will not tolerate any discrimination against, or harassment of, any visitor for reason of age, sex, marital status, pregnancy, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief
- Will provide the same treatment and services to any visitor irrespective of age, sex, marital status, pregnancy, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief Applicability
This Policy applies to the general public, including all patients and their families, visitors and contractors.
Procedure
- Discrimination by the Practice against you.
If you feel discriminated against:
- You should bring the matter to the attention of the practice manager
- The practice manager will investigate the matter thoroughly and confidentially within 3 working days
The practice manager will establish the facts and decide whether discrimination has taken place and advise you of the outcome of the investigation within 10 working days. If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you should raise a formal complaint through the Practice’s Complaints Procedure
- Discrimination against the Practice’s staff
The Practice will not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment of our staff by any visitor. Any visitor who expresses any form of discrimination against, or harassment of, any member of our staff, will be required to leave the Practice’s premises forthwith. If the visitor is a patient, he/she may be removed from the Practice’s list if any such behaviour occurs on more than one occasion.
Access to Health Records
The Data Protection Act 1998, gives a patient, or their representative, with client consent, the right to apply for access to his or her health records. Any request for access to health records must be made in writing to your GP. Information and application forms are available in the reception area or, ask a member of staff.
Under the Data Protection Act 1998 (Fees and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2001, you may be charged to view your health records or to be provided with a copy of them. The fees are the same whether it is an individual applying for access or a representative i.e. solicitor applying on their behalf.
To provide copies of patient health records the costs are:-
- Health records held totally on computer: up to a maximum £10 charge.
- Health records held in part on computer and in part manually: up to a maximum £50 charge
- Health records held totally manually: up to a maximum £50 charge
All these maximum charges include postage and packaging costs.
To allow patients to view their health records (where no copy is required) the costs are:-
- Health records held totally on computer: up to a maximum £10 charge unless the records have been added to in the last 40 days.
- Health records held manually: up to a maximum £10 charge unless the records have been added to in the last 40 days.
- Health records held in part on computer and in part manually: a maximum of £10 unless the records have been added to in the last 40 days.
Violence Statement
Regrettably there are instances of violence and abuse by a small minority of patients. Violence includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse. The Practice has ZERO TOLERANCE to incidences of such nature.
The Practice will remove your name from the Practice list with immediate effect. NHS South East Essex will be notified of our action and Police action may be started with a view to prosecution.
Safeguarding children and young people statement
Practice Safeguarding Children and Young People Statement
Dr Ghauri and Partners has a statutory duty of care towards children (Section 11 Children Act 2004) and young people at risk. Dr Ghauri and Partners is committed to a best practice which safeguards children and young people irrespective of their background, and which recognises that a child may be abused regardless of their age, gender, religious beliefs, racial origin or ethnic identity, culture class, disability of sexual orientation.
Having safeguards in place within any organisation not only protects and promotes the welfare of children and young people at risk, but also enhances the confidence of staff, volunteers, parents/carers and the general public. Protecting children and young people from abuse and neglect, and exploitation, preventing impairment of health and development, and ensuring children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care enables them to have optimum life chances and enter adulthood successfully.
Dr Ghauri and Partners are committed to safeguarding children, young people at risk and have a responsibility to ensure that their practice staff know what to do if they encounter child or adult abuse or have concerns that they may be at risk of harm.
The practice is committed to working within agreed policies and procedures and in partnership with other agencies to ensure that the risk of harm to a child or young person are minimised. This work may include direct and indirect contact with children, (access to patient’s details, communication via email, text message/phone).
We aim to ensure that Dr Ghauri and Partners is a child-safe practice
GP Connect
GP Connect allows authorised clinical staff to share and view GP practice clinical information and data between IT systems, quickly and efficiently.
It makes patient information available to all appropriate clinicians when and where they need it, leading to improvements in both care and outcomes. GP Connect can only be used to share patient information for direct care purposes, not for any other reasons such as planning or research.
From a privacy, confidentiality, and data protection perspective, GP Connect provides a method of secure information transfer and reduces the need to use less secure or less efficient methods of transferring information, such as email or telephone.
Examples of organisations that may wish to use GP connect to view GP patient records include:
· GP surgeries that patients are not registered at - for example, if they need to see a doctor when they are away from home.
· secondary care (hospitals) if they need to attend A&E or are having an operation.
· GP hubs/primary care networks (PCNs)/integrated care systems (ICSs), partnerships between healthcare providers and local authorities.
· local 'shared care' record systems.
· ambulance trusts, so paramedics can view GP patient records in an emergency.
· healthcare professionals such as community services.
· acute and emergency care service providers.
· NHS 111.
· Pharmacies.
· Optometrists.
· Dentistry.
· Mental health trusts.
· Hospices.
· Social care.
· Care and nursing homes.
All access to your GP patient record is stored within an audit trail at your GP practice and within the organisation that information has been shared with. If patients wish for more information about how their data has been shared using GP Connect, they may need to contact both organisations.
Further information on GP Connect can be found on the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/services/gp-connect
Type of Information Used
Different types of commissioning data are legally allowed to be used by different organisations within, or contracted to, the NHS. Information used by the ICS Partners include:
- Patient details
- Summary
- Notes
- Allergies & adverse reactions; Clinical terms; Encounters; Immunisations; Medication; Observations; Problems; Referrals
- Access Record: provides access to 'sections' of a patient record in a structured format.
Legal basis
The legal basis for sharing personal data is the delivery of direct care, supported by:
Article 6 (1) (e) – processing is necessary for the performance of a task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller
and Article 9 (2) (h) – processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine, for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems
Confidentiality
Confidentiality and trust are essential to the relationship between GPs and their patients.
The information a patient provides to their GP is confidential, and they can expect that any information that is shared for their direct care will remain confidential.
GP Connect relies on 'implied consent'.
Explicit consent is not required when information is shared for a direct care purpose. If a patient does not want their information to be shared using GP Connect, they can opt out.
The NDSA and its terms and conditions stipulate that any information received or accessed about a patient for direct care purposes must remain confidential.
In addition to the NDSA, health and social care professionals are also subject to their own professional codes of confidentiality and are aware that any information received via GP Connect is provided in confidence, which must be respected.
Organisations using GP Connect are notified of their duty as 'controllers' to be fair and transparent about their processing of their patients’ information and to ensure that their transparency notices are fully updated with how they may be using GP Connect functionality.
Opting out of GP Connect
If patients do not wish their information to be shared using GP Connect, they can opt out by contacting their GP practice.
National Data Opt-out
The National Data Opt-out is a service that allows patients to opt out of their confidential patient information being used for research and planning.
The National Data Opt-out only applies to any disclosure of data for purposes beyond direct care, so having National Data Opt-out will not prevent your GP patient record being shared via GP Connect.