Privacy Notice

Dr Andrews practice aims to ensure the highest standard of medical care for his patients. To do this we keep records about you, your health and the care that has been provided or plan to provide to you.


This privacy notice does not provide exhaustive details of all aspects of the collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. If you wish to request further information please contact Julie Cook, PA on 01276 857090.

What data do we have?

So that we can provide a safe and professional service, we need to keep certain records about you. We may record the following types of data about you:

We also record the following data which is classified as “special category”:

How We Use Your Information

In order to provide for your care, we need to collect and keep information about you and your health on our records. Your records are used to:

We also may use, or share, your information for the following purposes:

Disclosure of Information to Other Health and Social Professionals

We work with a number of other NHS and partner agencies to provide healthcare services to you. Below is a list of organisations that we may share your information with:

Our Partner organisations

We may also share your information, with your consent, and subject to strict sharing protocols, about how it will be used, with:


Computer System

This practice now operates a secure email system, Egress on which my PA can send personal and sensitive information securely.  This information can then be shared with other clinicians so that everyone caring for you is fully informed about your medical history, including allergies and medication.

Shared Care Records

To support your care, and improve the sharing of relevant information to our partner organisations when they are involved in looking after you, we will share information to other systems.  The general principle is that information is passed to these systems unless you request this does not happen, but that system users should ask for your consent before viewing your record.  

How we keep your information confidential and secure

We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, Article 8 of the Human Rights Act, the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality, and the NHS Codes of Confidentiality and Security. Everyone working in, or for, the NHS must use personal information in a secure and confidential way.

We will only ever use or pass on your information if there is a genuine need to do so.  We will not disclose information about you to third parties without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as when the law requires.

To protect your confidentiality, we will not normally disclose any medical information about you over the telephone, or by fax, unless we are sure that we are talking to you.  This means that we will not disclose information to your family, friends, and colleagues about any medical matters at all, unless we know that we have your consent to do so.  Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential and secure.

Please be aware that your information will be accessed by my PA Julie Cook in order to perform tasks enabling the functioning of the practice.  These are, but not limited to:

Right of Access to your Health Information 

The Data Protection Act 1998 allows you to find out what information about you is held on computer and in manual records.  This is known as “right of subject access” and applies to personal information held about you.  If you want to see the information about you that the practice holds:

Your legal rights:

You have a right to:

Who else may ask to access your information

The law courts can insist that we disclose medical records to them;

Solicitors often ask for medical reports. These will always be accompanied by your signed consent for us to disclose information.  We will not normally release details about other people that are contained in your records (eg wife, children, parents etc) unless we also have their consent;

Limited information is shared with Public Health England to help them organise national programmes for Public Health such as childhood immunisations; 

Social Services. The Benefits Agency and others may require medical reports on you from time to time. These will often be accompanied by your signed consent to disclose information. Failure to co-operate with these agencies can lead to loss of benefit or other support.  However, if we have not received your signed consent we will not normally disclose information about you;

Life assurance companies can ask for medical reports on prospective clients.  These are always accompanied by your signed consent form.  We must disclose all relevant medical conditions unless you ask us not to do so. In that case, we would have to inform the insurance company that you have instructed us not to make a full disclosure to them.   You have the right, should you request it, to see reports to insurance companies or employers before they are sent.

Sharing your information without consent

We will normally ask you for your consent, but there are times when we may be required by law to share your information without your consent, for example:

Changes to this privacy notice

We keep our privacy notice under regular review. 

Concerns

If you have any concerns about how we use or share your information, or you do not wish us to share your information, then please contact my PA Julie Cook who will be able to assist you at info@drandrewsoffice.co.uk.