Privacy Statement
Cae Court Clinic aims to ensure the highest standard of medical care for our patients. To do this we keep records about you, your health and the care we have provided or plan to provide to you.
Why issue a privacy notice?
Cae Court Clinic recognises the importance of protecting personal and confidential information in all that we do and takes care to meet its legal and regulatory duties. This notice is one of the ways in which we can demonstrate our commitment to our values and being transparent and open.
This notice also explains what rights you have to control how we use your information.
What are we governed by?
The key pieces of legislation/guidance are:
- – General Data Protection Regulations
- – Human Rights Act 1998 (Article 8)
- – Freedom of Information Act 2000
- – Public Records Act 1958
- – Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988
- – The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015
- – The Environmental Information Regulations 2004
- – Computer Misuse Act 1990
- – The Common Law Duty of Confidentiality
Why and how we collect information
Information which can be accessed, where there is a need, includes:
- – personal information, such as name, date of birth, gender;
- – treatment and procedures.
How we use information
- – To help inform decisions that we make about your treatment
- – To ensure your treatment is safe and effective
- – To ensure our services can meet future needs
- – To review treatment provided to ensure it is of the highest standard possible
- – To train healthcare professionals
- – To prepare statistics on performance
The information can be used to help:
- – Improve individual care
- – Develop new services
- – Improve patient safety
- – Evaluation of policy/procedures/pathways
It helps because:
- – Accurate and up to date information assists us in providing you with the best possible advice and treatment
- – If you see more than one healthcare professional in the clinic, they can all readily access the information they need to provide you with the best advice and treatment possible.
- – Where possible, when using information to inform future services and provision, non-identifiable information will be used.
Disclosure of Information to Other Health and Social Professionals
We may also share your information with your consent, and subject to strict sharing protocols, about how it will be used, with other Health and Social Care departments and the Police and Fire Services.
Text messages to Patients
If we have your current mobile telephone number, we may send you text notifications about appointments, information about treatments, cancellation of clinics and changes in service provision. Please ensure that we have your most up to date mobile telephone number for this to continue. (You can opt out of the text notification service at any time by contacting the practice).
Computer System
This clinic operates a software system on which clinic staff record information securely. This information can then be shared with other team members in the clinic so that everyone providing a service for you is fully informed about your relevant history.
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 of Confidentiality and The General Data Protection Regulation. Everyone working in the clinic must use personal information in a secure and confidential way.
Please be aware that your information will be accessed by non-clinical staff in the clinic, in order to perform tasks enabling the functioning of the clinic
To protect your confidentiality, we will not normally disclose any treatment information about you over the telephone unless we are sure that we are talking to you.
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.
All persons in the clinic sign a confidentiality agreement that explicitly makes clear, their duties in relation to personal information and the consequences of breaching that duty.
Right of Access to Your Information
The General Data Protection Regulation 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 or receive information that the clinic holds about you:
- – You will need to make a request to the practice manager.
- – We may ask you to complete a request form to establish exactly what parts of your record you need.
- – You will need to give us adequate information for us to be sure that your request is legitimate (date of birth, address etc.) plus two forms of identification to enable us to confirm your identity
- – There may be a charge for excessive requests for information held about you
- – We are required to respond to you within one mont
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:
- – Where there is a serious risk of harm or abuse to you or other people
- – Where a serious crime, such as assault, is being investigated or where it could be prevented
- – Where we encounter infectious diseases that may endanger the safety of others, such as
- – meningitis or measles (but not sensitive information such as HIV/AIDS)
- – Where a formal Court Order has been issued
- – Where there is a legal requirement, e.g. if you had committed a Road Traffic Offence
The clinic is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected
Change of Details
It is important that you tell us if any of your details such as your name, address, home telephone number or mobile telephone number has 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 kept accurate and up to date at all times.
This Privacy Notice does not provide exhaustive details of all aspect of the collection and use of data, however, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. If you wish to request further information please contact:
Practice Manager: Mrs Liz Keefe, Cae Court Clinic, Riversdale House, Merthyr Mawr Road, Bridgend CF31 3NL Telephone: 01656 766766
Complaints
Should you have a complaint about how your information is managed at the practice, please contact the Practice Manager. If you remain unhappy with the Practice’s response, you can complain to the Information Commissioner Office www.ico.gov.uk