Consent for Online Access to Medical Records

You can now view your GP medical record online to look at test results, details of consultations and your medical history, including current and past medication.

If you would like to have secure online access to your records, we need to make sure that you understand what this involves and that you are happy for us to use the information about you (provided on the form below) to set up and operate the service.

The form, which is available from reception, will take you through the things you need to think about. By signing the form, you will be giving us permission to go ahead with setting up the service for you. If you decide not to join, or wish to withdraw, it will not affect your treatment in any way.

To find out why your data matters, visit: https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/

How we use your personal information

This Privacy Notice explains why the GP practice 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. NHS 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 this GP Practice 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 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

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.

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 surgery will always gain your consent before releasing the information for this purpose.

Risk Stratification

Risk stratification data tools are increasingly being used in the NHS to help determine a person’s risk of suffering a particular condition, preventing an unplanned or (re)admission and identifying a need for preventive intervention. Information about you is collected from a number of sources including NHS Trusts and from this GP Practice. A risk score is then arrived at through an analysis of your de-identified information using software and is only provided back to your GP as data controller in an identifiable form.

Risk stratification enables your GP to focus on preventing ill health and not just the treatment of sickness. If necessary your GP may be able to offer you additional services.

Please note that you have the right to opt out of your data being used in this way.

Medicines Management

The Practice may conduct Medicines Management Reviews of medications prescribed to its patients. This service performs a review of prescribed medications to ensure patients receive the most appropriate, up to date and cost effective treatments. This service is provided to practices within East Lancashire through the East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group.

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 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 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 & 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 the GP – for information from the hospital you should write direct to them
• There may be a charge to have a printed copy of the information held about you
• We are required to respond to you within 40 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 / Complaints

Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed at the GP, please contact the GP Practice Manager. If you are still unhappy following a review by the GP practice, 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 the practice.

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 are accurate and up to date for you.

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: Barnoldswick Medical Centre.

Complaints

Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed by the Practice please contact the Practice Manager at the following address:
Barnoldswick Medical Centre,
Park Road,
Barnoldswick,
Lancs,
BB18 5BG

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, casework@ico.org.uk, telephone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745.

All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.

The average pay for GPs working in Barnoldswick Medical Centre in the last financial year was £72,572 before Tax and National Insurance.

This is for 2 full time GPs and 5 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.

Complaints Procedure

Every patient has the right to make a complaint about the treatment or care they have received at Barnoldswick Medical Centre.

If you have a complaint or concern about the service that you have received from the practice or any of the staff working here, please let us know.

We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of an NHS system for dealing with complaints.

How to complain

If you have a complaint or concern about the service that you have received from the practice or any of the staff working here, please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of a NHS system for dealing with complaints.

Most complaints can be resolved at a local level often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible – ideally, within a matter of days or at most a few weeks – because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily. Complaints should be made;

• Within 12 months of the matter which caused the problem; or
• Within 12 months of becoming aware you have something to complain about.

You should contact or write to Mrs L Jackson, Patient Services Manager if you wish to raise a concern or make a formal complaint. She will explain the complaints procedure to you and will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. It would be helpful if you can give us specific details of what you feel went wrong and what outcome you would like.

What we shall do

We shall acknowledge your complaint within five working days, we will investigate your complaint and aim to provide you with our findings within a time frame agreed with you.

When we investigate your complaint, we shall aim to:

• Find out what happened and what went wrong.
• Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would find this helpful.
• Make sure you receive an appropriate apology.
• Identify what we can learn from your complaint and what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t happen again in order to improve our services.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have his or her permission to do so. A third-party complaint form is available from reception.

Final Response

We will issue a final response to all complainants which will provide full details and the outcome of the complaint.

Complaining to The Integrated Care Board

We would encourage patients to speak with the Patient Services Manager in the first instance to give the Practice the opportunity to try and sort any problems or complaints for you.

If you do not feel able to raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint you can contact Lancashire and Cumbria Integrated Care Team.

Telephone: 0800 032 2424
Email: mlcsu.lscpatientexperience@nhs.net
Write to: Level 3, Christ Church Precinct, County Hall, Fishergate Hill, Preston PR1 8XB

Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO)

If you do remain dissatisfied, you can approach the PHSO with your complaint. This should be done within 12 months of the final outcome of the practice complaints procedure. You can contact the PHSO, Milbank Tower, Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP or telephone 0345 015 4033.

Independent help and support

You may also like to contact:

• Your local HealthWatch can help find independent NHS complaints advocacy services.
• Advocacy People gives advocacy support on 030 440 9000
• POhWER support centre can be contacted on 0300 456 2370 for advocacy support
• AgeUK on 0800 055 6112
• VoiceAbility 01223 555800

Proxy Access is when someone is given access to another person’s medical record.

This allows the user to view full medical records using their online patient access account.

You can request proxy access if you are caring for an adult or child.

The application form must be completed and signed by the adult. For adults lacking capacity we will accept the application unsigned.

For children over 11 years old they must also sign, unless lacking in capacity.

The practice may refuse or withdraw proxy access; if they judge that it is in the patient’s best interest.

The proxy user does not have to be registered at this practice but must be registered for online services.

If you would like more information on Proxy Access, please contact our Patient Services Team on 01282 811911.

If you would like to apply for Proxy Access, please download the form and return this to the surgery.

AGGRESSION AND ABUSE

We recognise that it can be very frustrating getting through to us at the moment.

Sadly, there is a small but significant minority of our patients who are being aggressive and abusive to our staff.
There seems to be a belief that shouting the loudest and refusing to take no for an answer will produce their desired
results. Our staff work hard and do their best. They do not deserve abuse or aggression from any of our patients and
we have a zero-tolerance policy against this. We will continue to act against patients who continue to behave in this
way. Again, time spent comforting tearful staff, listening to phone calls and composing letters to abusive patients is
time that could be better spent looking after you.

Urgency must always be determined on a clinical (medical) basis, and not determined based on convenience, prior
engagements, eagerness or any other reason.

If you push in, it means you have pushed someone else out, someone who could be quite vulnerable and in need,
and the next time this happens, that person might be you. This is a safety issue that has an impact upon anybody
who truly needs to be assessed quickly by a GP.