How we use your personal information

This Privacy Notice explains why the Hatzola North West collects information about you and how that information may be used. Health care professionals who provide you with care maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously (e.g. NHS Trust, GP Surgery, Walk-in clinic, etc.). These records are used to help to provide you with the best possible healthcare.

Health care 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 Hatzola North West hold about you may include the following information;

• Details about you, such as your name, address, carers, legal representatives and emergency contact details
• Any contact Hatzola North West has had with you, such as telephone calls, emergency call outs, hospital transfers, follow-up calls, etc.
• Notes and reports about your health and medical history
• Details about your treatment and care
• Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care for you

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 Hatzola North West. Information may be used within Hatzola North West for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service provided, as well as anonymized data for comparison nationally.

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.Sometimes your information may be requested to be used for research purposes – the organisation will always gain your consent before releasing the information for this purpose.

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 1998 and General Data Protection Regulation 2016
• Human Rights Act 1998
• Common Law Duty of Confidentiality
• Health and Social Care Act 2012
• NHS Codes of Confidentiality, Information Security and Records Management
• Information: To Share or Not to Share Review

Every member of staff who works for an 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 and / or in accordance with the new information sharing principle following Dame Fiona Caldicott’s information sharing review (Information to share or not to share) where “The duty to share information can be as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality.” This means that health and social care professionals should have the confidence to share information in the best interests of their patients within the framework set out by the Caldicott principles. They should be supported by the policies of their employers, regulators and professional bodies.

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;

• NHS Trusts / Foundation Trusts
• GP’s
• NHS Commissioning Support Units
• Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
• Private Sector Providers
• Voluntary Sector Providers
• Ambulance Trusts
• Clinical Commissioning Groups
• Social Care Services
• Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
• Local Authorities
• Education Services
• Fire and Rescue Services
• Police and Judicial Services
• Voluntary Sector Providers
• Private Sector Providers
• 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 happen 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 1998 to request access to view or to obtain copies of what information the surgery 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 Hatzola North West – for information from a hospital you should write direct to them
• There will be no charge for this service
• 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, and details of your request) so that your identity can be verified and your records located. This must be done in writing via email or post.

Objections / Complaints

Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed, please contact the Hatzola General Manager. If you are still unhappy following a review by Hatzola North West, you can then complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) via their website (www.ico.gov.uk). If you are happy for your data to be extracted and used for the purposes described in this privacy notice then you do not need to do anything. If you have any concerns about how your data is shared then please contact Hatzola North West.

Notification

The Data Protection Act 1998 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 www.ico.org.uk The practice is registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).

Who is the Data Controller?

The Data Controller, responsible for keeping your information secure and confidential is:

Hatzola North West Trust

Complaints

Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed by the Hatzola North West please contact the General Manager at the following address:

General Manager Hatzola North West Trust Freepost Hatzola

Or [email protected] marking your email for the attention of the General Manager.

If you are still unhappy following a review by the Practice you can then complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). www.ico.org.uk, [email protected], telephone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745