Practice Policies

Compliments and Comments

At Chastleton Medical Group, we believe in the power of positive feedback. We warmly welcome your compliments and comments as they not only brighten our day but also provide valuable insights into what we’re doing right. Your kind words help motivate our dedicated team and reinforce our commitment to delivering exceptional healthcare services.

Whether it’s a small note of appreciation for a caring nurse, a friendly receptionist, or a positive experience during your visit, we encourage you to share your thoughts. Your compliments are like a beacon of encouragement, guiding us towards continually improving our care and services.

So, don’t hesitate to let us know when you’ve had a positive experience at our practice. Your feedback is not only appreciated but cherished, and it fuels our passion for providing the best possible care to our patients.

Complaints Procedure

It is our aim to provide the best possible service, but we understand that there may be times when you feel we have fallen short. If you have a complaint that cannot be resolved immediately, please don’t hesitate to discuss the matter with a member of the practice management team. They will willingly engage with you to investigate and address your concerns.

It is the policy of Chastleton Medical Group to provide an effective and prompt response to complaints. Under normal circumstances, we will ensure that you receive a full written response within 28 days. We are committed to addressing your concerns, providing a full explanation, and taking necessary actions to resolve the issue thoroughly. We hope that you will be satisfied with our handling of the matter. A patient leaflet detailing our in-house complaint procedure is available upon request.

If you remain unsatisfied with the in-house procedure, you have the right to escalate your complaint to the North East & North Cumbria Integrated Care Board and the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman (please see below).

NHS Complaints Guidance

Your information, what you need to know

This privacy notice explains why we collect information about you, how that information may be used, how we keep it safe and confidential and what your rights are in relation to this.

Why we collect information about you

Health care professionals who provide you with care are required by law to maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received within any NHS organisation. These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare and help us to protect your safety.

We collect and hold data for the purpose of providing healthcare services to our patients and running our organisation which includes monitoring the quality of care that we provide. In carrying out this role we may collect information about you which helps us respond to your queries or secure specialist services. We may keep your information in written form and/or in digital form. The records may include basic details about you, such as your name and address. They may also contain more sensitive information about your health and also information such as outcomes of needs assessments.

The NHS Care Record Guarantee for England https://digital.nhs.uk/binaries/content/assets/legacy/pdf/1/8/care_record_guarantee.pdf sets out the rules that govern how patient information is used in the NHS and what control patients can have over this.

The NHS Constitution establishes the principles and values of the NHS in England. It sets out rights to which patients, public and staff are entitled, and pledges which the NHS is committed to achieve, together with responsibilities, which the public, patients and staff owe to one another to ensure that the NHS operates fairly and effectively.

NHS Digital

NHS Digital collects health information from the records health and social care providers keep about the care and treatment they give, to promote health or support improvements in the delivery of care services in England https://digital.nhs.uk/

We keep a Register of all our information processing activities, including those involving the use of personal information. This records lots of metadata including where we get the information from, with whom we share it, the legal basis allowing us to process personal data and the security arrangements in place.

Details we collect about you

The health care professionals who provide you with care maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously (e.g. from Hospitals, GP Surgeries, A&E, etc.). These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare. Records which this GP Practice may hold about you may include the following:

• Details about you, such as your address and next of kin
• 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

How we keep your information confidential and safe

Everyone working for our organisation is subject to the Common Law Duty of Confidence. Information provided in confidence will only be used for specific purposes in accordance with the law. The NHS Digital Code of Practice on Confidential Information https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/looking-after-information/data-security-and-information-governance/codes-of-practice-for-handling-information-in-health-and-care/code-of-practice-on-confidential-information  applies to all NHS staff and they are required to protect your information, inform you of how your information will be used, and allow you to decide if and how your information can be shared. All our staff are expected to make sure information is kept confidential and receive regular training on how to do this.

The health records we use 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. Your records are backed up securely in line with NHS standard procedures. We ensure that the information we hold is kept in secure locations, is protected by appropriate security and access is restricted to authorised personnel. We also make sure external data processors that support us are legally and contractually bound to operate and prove security arrangements are in place where data that could or does identify a person are processed. We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with:

• Data Protection Act 2018 (UK GDPR)
• Human Rights Act
• Common Law Duty of Confidentiality
• NHS Codes of Confidentiality and Information Security
• Health and Social Care Act 2015
• And all applicable legislation

We have a senior person responsible for protecting the confidentiality of patient information and enabling appropriate information sharing. This person is called the Caldicott Guardian. The Caldicott Guardian for the practice is Dr David Clifford, who can be contacted using the contact details at the top of this document. We also have a Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO) who is responsible for owning the practice’s information risk. The SIRO is Dr David Clifford.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a data controller which describes the purposes for which we process personal data. A copy of the registration is available from the ICO’s web site by searching on our name.

We maintain our duty of confidentiality to you at all times. We will only ever use or pass on information about you if we reasonably believe that 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 (such as a risk of serious harm to yourself or others) or where the law requires information to be passed on.

How we use your information

Improvements in information technology are also making it possible for us to share data with other healthcare organisations for the purpose of providing you, your family and your community with better care. For example it is possible for healthcare professionals in other services to access your record with your permission when the practice is closed. This is explained further in the Local Information Sharing section below.

Under the powers of the Health and Social Care Act 2015, NHS Digital can request personal confidential data from GP Practices without seeking patient consent for a number of specific purposes, which are set out in law. These purposes are explained below. You may choose to withdraw your consent to personal data being shared for these purposes.

You can object to your personal information being shared with other healthcare providers but should be aware that this may, in some instances, affect your care as important information about your health might not be available to healthcare staff in other organisations. If this limits the treatment that you can receive then the practice staff will explain this to you at the time you object.

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.

Child Health Information

We wish to make sure that your child has the opportunity to have immunisations and health checks when they are due. We share information about childhood immunisations, the 6-8 week new baby check and breast-feeding status with NHS Harrogate & District Foundation Trust health visitors and school nurses.

Clinical audit

Information may be used by the Integrated Care Board (ICB) for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service provided to patients with long terms conditions. Some of this information may be held centrally and used for statistical purposes (e.g. the National Diabetes Audit). When this happens, strict measures are taken to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified from the data.

Clinical Research

Sometimes your information may be requested to be used for research purposes – we will always ask your permission before releasing your information for this purpose.

Improving Diabetes Care

Information that does not identify individual patients is used to enable focussed discussions to take place at practice-led local diabetes review meetings between health care professionals. This enables the professionals to improve the management and support of these patients.

Individual Funding Request

An ‘Individual Funding Request’ is a request made on your behalf, with your consent, by a doctor, for funding of specialised healthcare which falls outside the range of services and treatments that the ICB has agreed to commission for the local population. An Individual Funding Request is taken under consideration when a case can be set out by a patient’s doctor that there are exceptional clinical circumstances which make the patient’s case different from other patients with the same condition who are at the same stage of their disease, or when the request is for a treatment that is regarded as new or experimental and where there are no other similar patients who would benefit from this treatment. A detailed response, including the criteria considered in arriving at the decision, will be provided to your GP.

Invoice Validation

Invoice validation is an important process. It involves using your NHS number to check which ICB is responsible for paying for your treatment. Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 provides a statutory legal basis to process data for invoice validation purposes. We can also use your NHS number to check whether your care has been funded through specialist commissioning, which NHS England will pay for. The process makes sure that the organisations providing your care are paid correctly.

Local Information Sharing

Your GP electronic patient record is held securely and confidentially on an electronic system managed by your registered GP practice. If you require attention from a local health or care professional outside of your usual practice services, such as a GP Federation Service, Emergency Department, Minor Injury Unit or Out Of Hours service, the professionals treating you are better able to give you safe and effective care if some of the information from your GP record is available to them.

Where available, this information can be shared electronically with other local healthcare providers via a secure system designed for this purpose. Depending on the service you are using and your health needs, this may involve the healthcare professional accessing a secure system that enables them to view parts of your GP electronic patient record (e.g. Great North Care Record Care Summary or your Summary Care Record) or a secure system that enables them to view your full GP electronic patient record (e.g. Systm1 remote consulting system).

In all cases, your information is only accessed and used by authorised staff who are involved in providing or supporting your direct care. Your permission will be asked before the information is accessed, other than in exceptional circumstances (e.g. emergencies) if the healthcare professional is unable to ask you and this is deemed to be in your best interests (which will then be logged).

When analysing current health services and proposals for developing future services it is sometimes necessary to link separate individual datasets to be able to produce a comprehensive evaluation.  This may involve linking primary care GP data with other data such as secondary uses service (SUS) data (inpatient, outpatient and A&E).  In some cases there may also be a need to link local datasets which could include a range of acute-based services such as radiology, physiotherapy, audiology etc, as well as mental health and community-based services such as Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT), district nursing, podiatry etc.  When carrying out this analysis, the linkage of these datasets is always done using a unique identifier that does not reveal a person’s identity. We may also contract with other organisations to process data. These organisations are known as Data Processors. We ensure external data processors that support us are legally and contractually bound to operate and prove security arrangements are in place where data that could or does identify a person are processed.

Currently, the external data processors we work with include NHS North of England Commissioning Support Unit, which is based at John Snow House, Durham, DH1 3YG and which has been granted a legal basis for processing data for us and which operates under strict controls to ensure your information is handled lawfully.

We record any instances where we transfer personal information to a third country or international organisation. This is very limited and we check and record the safeguards in place to protect the information to be transferred.

GP Connect  

We use a facility called GP Connect to support your direct care.  GP Connect makes patient information available to all appropriate clinicians when and where they need it, to support direct patients care, leading to improvement in both care and outcomes.  GP Connect is not used for any purpose other than direct care.

Authorised clinicians such as GPs, NHS 111 Clinicians, Care Home Nurses, Secondary Care trusts, Social Care Clinicians are able to access the GP records of patients they are treating via a secure NHS Digital service called GP Connect.

The NHS 111 service (and other services determined locally e.g. other GP practices in a Primary Care Network (PCN) will be able to book appointments for patients at GP Practices and other local services.

GP Connect Legal basis for sharing this data – In order for your Personal Data to be shared or processed, an appropriate ‘legal basis’ needs to be in place and recorded.  The legal bases for direct care via GP Connect is the same as the legal bases for the care you would receive from your own GP, or another healthcare provider:

• For the processing of personal data: Article 6.1 (e) of the UK GDPR: ‘processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller’.
• For the process of ‘Special category Data’ (which includes your medical information): Article 9.2 (h) of the UK GDPR: ‘processing is necessary for the purposes of preventative or occupational medicine, for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health and social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services’.

GP Connect Your rights

Because the legal bases used for your care using GP Connect are the same as used in other direct care situations the legal rights you have over this data under UK GDPR will also be the same – these are listed elsewhere in our privacy policy.

AccuRx (batch messaging service)

We use the NHS Account Messaging Service provided by NHS England to send you messages relating to your health and care. You need to be an NHS App user to receive these messages. Further information about the service can be found at the privacy notice for the NHS App managed by NHS England.

National Fraud Initiative – Cabinet Office

The use of data by the Cabinet Office for data matching is carried out with statutory authority under Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act 2018. Data matching by the Cabinet Office is subject to a Code of Practice. For further information see:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-data-matching-practice-for-national-fraud-initiative

National Registries

National Registries (such as the Learning Disabilities Register) have statutory permission under Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006, to collect and hold service user identifiable information without the need to seek informed consent from each individual service user.

NHS England OpenSAFELY Service

NHS England has been directed by the Government to establish and operate the OpenSAFELY service.  This service provides a Trusted Research Environment that support COVID19 research and analysis.

Each GP Practice remains the controller of its own patient date but is required to let researchers run queries on pseudonymised patient data.  This means identifiers are removed and replaced with a pseudonym, through OpenSAFELY.

Only researchers approved by NHS England are allowed to run these queries and they will not be able to access information that directly or indirectly identifies individual’s.

Risk Stratification

‘Risk stratification for case finding’ is a process for identifying and managing patients who have or may be at-risk of health conditions (such as diabetes) or who are most likely to need healthcare services (such as people with frailty). Risk stratification tools used in the NHS help determine a person’s risk of suffering a particular condition and enable us to focus on preventing ill health before it develops. Information about you is collected from a number of sources including NHS Trusts, GP Federations and your GP Practice. A risk score is then arrived at through an analysis of your de-identified information. This can help us identify and offer you additional services to improve your health.

Risk-stratification data may also be used to improve local services and commission new services, where there is an identified need. In this area, risk stratification may be commissioned by the County Durham Clinical Commissioning Group. Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 provides a statutory legal basis to process data for risk stratification purposes. Further information about risk stratification is available from: https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/tsd/ig/risk-stratification /

If you do not wish information about you to be included in any risk stratification programmes, please let us know. Please be aware that this may limit the ability of healthcare professionals to identify if you have or are at risk of developing certain serious health conditions.

Safeguarding

To ensure that adult and children’s safeguarding matters are managed appropriately, access to identifiable information will be shared in some limited circumstances where it’s legally required for the safety of the individuals concerned.

Summary Care Record (SCR)

The NHS in England uses a national electronic record called the Summary Care Record (SCR) to support patient care. It contains key information from your GP record. Your SCR provides authorised healthcare staff with faster, secure access to essential information about you in an emergency or when you need unplanned care, where such information would otherwise be unavailable.

Summary Care Records are there to improve the safety and quality of your care. SCR core information comprises your allergies, adverse reactions and medications. An SCR with additional information can also include reason for medication, vaccinations, significant diagnoses / problems, significant procedures, anticipatory care information and end of life care information. Additional information can only be added to your SCR with your agreement.

Please be aware that if you choose to opt-out of SCR, NHS healthcare staff caring for you outside of this surgery may not be aware of your current medications, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines you have had, in order to treat you safely in an emergency. Your records will stay as they are now with information being shared by letter, email, fax or phone. If you wish to opt-out of having an SCR please return a completed opt-out form to the practice.

Supporting Medicines Management

Some North East ICBs operate pharmacist prescribing advice services to support local GP practices with prescribing queries, which may require identifiable information to be shared. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians work with your usual GP to provide advice on medicines, prescription ordering processes, prescribing queries, and review prescribing of medicines to ensure that it is appropriate for your individual needs, safe and cost-effective. Where specialist prescribing support is required, the ICB medicines management team may discuss product choice with your GP and your nominated community pharmacist to ensure evidence based cost effective choices are made to support your care.

Supporting Locally Commissioned Services

ICBs support GP practices by auditing anonymised data to monitor locally commissioned services, measure prevalence and support data quality. The data does not include identifiable information and is used to support patient care and ensure providers are correctly paid for the services they provide.

Data Retention

We manage patient records in line with the Records Management NHS Code of Practice 2021 https://www.nhsx.nhs.uk/information-governance/guidance/records-management-code/ which sets the required standards of practice in the management of records for those who work within or under contract to NHS organisations in England, based on current legal requirements and professional best practice.

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
• Specialist Trusts
• GP Federations
• Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
• Private Sector Providers
• Voluntary Sector Providers
• Ambulance Trusts
• Clinical Commissioning Groups
• Social Care Services
• Local Authorities
• Education Services
• Fire and Rescue Services
• Police
• Other ‘data processors’

We will never share your information outside of health partner organisations without your explicit consent unless there are exceptional circumstances such as when the health or safety of others is at risk, where the law requires it or to carry out a statutory function.

Within the health partner organisations and in relation to the above-mentioned themes we will assume you are happy to for your information to be shared unless you choose to opt-out (see below). This means you will need to express an explicit wish to not have your information shared with the other organisations; otherwise it will be automatically shared. We are required by law to report certain information to the appropriate authorities. This is only provided after formal permission has been given by a qualified health professional. There are occasions when we must pass on information, such as notification of new births, where we encounter infectious diseases which may endanger the safety of others, such as meningitis or measles (but not HIV/AIDS), and where a formal court order has been issued. Our guiding principle is that we are holding your records in strictest confidence.

GP Federation

We are members of the Central Durham GP Providers Ltd Federation and have had a working relationship for a number of years and as outlined above they are one of our partner organisations. In order to facilitate the delivery of contracted services; including but not limited to Enhanced Access Appointments, our clinical system and patient data is shared with the Federation. The Federation will only retrieve patient records if you have an interaction with them such as an appointment. This sharing operates under implied consent however you may choose to opt out as per below.

Your Rights

Your right to withdraw consent for us to share your personal information

The national data opt-out allows people to opt out of their confidential patient information being used for research and planning. It was introduced on 25 May 2018, providing a facility for individuals to opt-out from the use of their data for research or planning purposes. The national data opt-out replaces the previous ‘type 2’ opt-out, which required NHS Digital not to share a patient’s confidential patient information for purposes beyond their individual care. Any patient that had a type 2 opt-out has had it automatically converted to a national data opt-out from 25 May 2018 and has received a letter giving them more information and a leaflet explaining the new national data opt-out. If a patient wants to change their choice, they can use the new service to do this.  You can find out more from the practice or by clicking here https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/

Your right to opt out

The national data opt-out allows people to opt out of their confidential patient information being used for research and planning. It was introduced on 25 May 2018, providing a facility for individuals to opt-out from the use of their data for research or planning purposes. The national data opt-out replaces the previous ‘type 2’ opt-out, which required NHS Digital not to share a patient’s confidential patient information for purposes beyond their individual care. Any patient that had a type 2 opt-out has had it automatically converted to a national data opt-out from 25 May 2018 and has received a letter giving them more information and a leaflet explaining the new national data opt-out. If a patient wants to change their choice, they can use the new service to do this.  You can find out more from by clicking here https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/

Patients who have a type 1 opt-out

Some patients will have a type 1 opt-out registered with the practice, You can tell the practice if you do not want your confidential patient information held in your GP medical record to be used for purposes other than your individual care. This is commonly called a type 1 opt-out. This opt-out request can only be recorded by your GP practice.

If your wishes cannot be followed, you will be told the reasons (including the legal basis) for that decision. There are certain circumstances where a person is unable to opt out but these are only where the law permits this such as in adult or children’s safeguarding situations.

You have a right in law to refuse or withdraw previously granted consent to the use of your personal information. There are possible consequences of not sharing such as the effect this may have on your care and treatment but these will be explained to you to help with making your decision.

If you wish to exercise your right to opt-out, or to speak to somebody to understand what impact this may have, if any, please contact us using the usual practice contact details.

You can find out more by clicking here https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-the-nhs/opt-out-of-sharing-your-health-records/

Right of Access to Your Personal Information

We will tell you if we use your personal information, what that information is and why we use it. We will also tell you where we obtained the information from and with whom we share your information. Under this right we have to tell you how long we intend to keep your information for.

You are entitled to obtain a copy of the personal information held about you by the practice. You can view this or request copies of the records by making a subject access request. Any request to access or obtain a copy of this information will be considered in line with the data protection legislation. This is generally free of charge unless your request is very complicated and/or unreasonably excessive; if you require further copies of information already provided to you we may charge a reasonable administrative fee. If you want to access your data you can contact us using the contact details at the top of this notice. Under special circumstances, some information may be withheld.

Right to Rectification

This right allows you to ask for any information you believe to be inaccurate or incomplete to be corrected and completed. We are allowed one month from the date of your request in which to perform any such corrections or add supplementary statements. We will communicate any rectification of information to anyone to whom it has been disclosed unless this is not possible or involves disproportionate effort. We will tell you who those recipients are if you ask us.

Right to Erasure

This right is also commonly referred to as the ‘right to be forgotten’. You can request that your information be erased, subject to certain exemptions, if it is no longer needed by us for the original purpose we said we would use it for or if you decide to withdraw your consent or if you object to the use of your information. If it transpires that the information was unlawfully used or is found to infringe the law you can ask for it to be erased. We will erase your information if we have a legal obligation to do so. We will communicate any erasure of information to anyone to whom it has been disclosed unless this is not possible or involves disproportionate effort. We will tell you who those recipients are if you ask us.

Right to Restriction of Processing

Restriction means marking information with the aim of limiting its processing in the future. Under this right you can request we restrict information processing for a period of time if you think the information is inaccurate, while we check its accuracy. If the information is found to have been used unlawfully you can ask for it to be restricted instead of being erased. If we no longer need to keep the information but you need us to keep it in connection with a legal claim you are involved with you can ask us to restrict it. You can also ask us to restrict processing if you have previously objected to us processing it whilst we check whether our legitimate reasons for processing it outweigh your right. Once processing has been restricted we can start to use the information again only if you have consented to this or where it is in connection with a legal claim or if it is to protect the rights of another person or there is a strong public interest. We will tell you before any restriction we have put in place is lifted. We will communicate any restriction of processing to anyone to whom it has been disclosed unless this is not possible or involves disproportionate effort. We will tell you who those recipients are if you ask us.

Right to Data Portability

The purpose of this right is to give a person more control over their personal information. Data Portability means you have the right to receive a copy of personal information which you have given us in a structured, commonly-used, machine-readable format and to have it transferred directly to another ‘controller’ where technically possible. This right only applies to information which is processed by automated means and where you have given consent to the processing or where processing is necessary for the performance of a contract.  It does not apply if the processing is needed to comply with a legal obligation, our official duties or is for a task carried out in the public interest. It is therefore unlikely to apply to any of the processing carried out by the practice.

Right to Object

You can object to the processing of your personal information if the processing activity is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in connection with our lawful, official duties or those of a third party, or a task carried out in the public interest. We could refuse to comply with a request only where we could show that there was an overriding legal reason or if we need to process the information in relation to a legal claim.

You also have a separate right to object to processing if it is for direct marketing purposes. We do not use your information in this way but if we did we would tell you about it. This right also includes a specific right to object to research uses except where this is done in the public interest.

Automated Decision-Making, Including Profiling

Profiling means any form of automated processing (i.e. processed by a computer and not a human being) of personal information used to analyse, evaluate or predict things about someone; this can include things like someone’s health, personal preferences, interests, economic situation, reliability, performance at work behaviour, location or movements.

Under this right you can ask not to be subject to a decision made solely by automated means, including any profiling, which affects you in a legal way or has a similar significant effect. Automated decision-making and profiling is not allowed if it involves certain types of information; these ‘special categories’ of information are deemed to carry more sensitivity therefore we cannot use your health information for automated decision-making or profiling unless we have your explicit consent or there is substantial public interest allowing us to do so. We currently do not carry out any automated decision-making, including profiling.

Consent

Where processing is based on consent you have the right to withdraw consent to process your personal data.

Patient Online Access

If you’re a patient at our practice you can now use the NHS App, a simple and secure way to book appointments, order repeat prescriptions, view your GP health record, update your contact details and more. The NHS App gives you more control over your health and care and enables you to access your GP medical record securely. This means you can see it when speaking to a health and care professional, for example. Owned and run by the NHS the app is designed and operated by the NHS in England to give you access to a range of services. We will carefully check your identity when you register for the app, which is secure and easy to use. The NHS App will not replace existing services. You can still contact the GP surgery in the usual ways if you prefer.

Right to Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)

If you have concerns or are unhappy about any of our services, please contact the Practice Manager. For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data-sharing issues, or to complain to the ICO if you think any processing of your personal data infringes data protection legislation you can contact:

The Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Phone: 0303 123 1113 Website: www.ico.gov.uk

Data Protection Officer (DPO)

As a public authority the practice must appoint a DPO. The DPO is an essential role in facilitating ‘accountability’ and the organisation’s ability to demonstrate compliance with the data protection legislation. The DPO is Andrew Dowson, who can be contacted via email: dpo@ddhf.co.uk

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 are incorrect in order for this to be amended. Please inform us of any changes so our records for you are accurate and up to date.

Mobile telephone number

If you provide us with your mobile phone number we may use this to send you reminders about your appointments or other health screening information. Please let us know if you do not wish to receive reminders on your mobile.

Reviews of and Changes to our Privacy Notice

We will keep our Privacy Notice under regular review. This notice was last reviewed in September 2023.

Chastleton Medical Group Transparency Statement

How the NHS and care services use your information
Chastleton Medical Group is one of many organisations working in the health and care system to improve care for patients and the public.

Whenever you use a health or care service, such as attending Accident & Emergency or using Community Care services, important information about you is collected in a patient record for that service. Collecting this information helps to ensure you get the best possible care and treatment.

The information collected about you when you use these services can also be used and provided to other organisations for purposes beyond your individual care, for instance to help with:

• improving the quality and standards of care provided
• research into the development of new treatments
• preventing illness and diseases
• monitoring safety
• planning services

This may only take place when there is a clear legal basis to use this information. All these uses help to provide better health and care for you, your family and future generations. Confidential patient information about your health and care is only used like this where allowed by law.

Most of the time, anonymised data is used for research and planning so that you cannot be identified in which case your confidential patient information isn’t needed.

You have a choice about whether you want your confidential patient information to be used in this way. If you are happy with this use of information you do not need to do anything. If you do choose to opt out your confidential patient information will still be used to support your individual care.

To find out more or to register your choice to opt out, please visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters.  On this web page you will:

> See what is meant by confidential patient information

> Find examples of when confidential patient information is used for individual care and examples of when it is used for purposes beyond individual care

> Find out more about the benefits of sharing data

> Understand more about who uses the data

> Find out how your data is protected

> Be able to access the system to view, set or change your opt-out setting

> Find the contact telephone number if you want to know any more or to set/change your opt-out by phone

> See the situations where the opt-out will not apply

You can also find out more about how patient information is used at: https://www.hra.nhs.uk/information-about-patients/ (which covers health and care research); and https://understandingpatientdata.org.uk/what-you-need-know (which covers how and why patient information is used, the safeguards and how decisions are made)

You can change your mind about your choice at any time.

Data being used or shared for purposes beyond individual care does not include your data being shared with insurance companies or used for marketing purposes and data would only be used in this way with your specific agreement.

Important Links

Chastleton GDPR Information Leaflet v4

Chastleton Privacy Notice GP Children v5

Chastleton Privacy Notice for Direct Care v5 (Routine & Referrals)

Chastleton Privacy Notice Emergencies v5

Chastleton Privacy Notice for Summary Care Record (SCR) v5

Chastleton Privacy Notice for National screening programs v5

Chastleton Privacy Notice Public Health v5

Chastleton Privacy Notice NHS Digital v5

Chastleton Privacy Notice Safeguarding v5

Chastleton Privacy Notice Risk Stratification v5

Chastleton Privacy Notice for Payments v5

Chastleton Privacy Notice for Other Third Parties v5

Chastleton Privacy Notice Telephone Calls v5

12^th July 2023

Purpose 

This annual statement will be generated each year in July in accordance with the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance. The report will be published on the practice website and will include the following summary:

• Any infection transmission incidents and any action taken (these will have been reported in accordance with our significant event procedure)
• Details of any infection control audits undertaken, and actions undertaken
• Details of any risk assessments undertaken for the prevention and control of infection
• Details of staff training
• Any review and update of policies, procedures, and guidelines

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) lead

The lead for infection prevention and control at Chastleton Medical Group is Vikki Reed Practice Manager.

The IPC lead is supported by Sheila Thexton, Practice Nurse.

• Infection transmission incidents (significant events)

Significant events involve examples of good practice as well as challenging events.

Positive events are discussed at meetings to allow all staff to be appraised of areas of best practice.

Negative events are managed by the staff member who either identified or was advised of any potential shortcoming. This person will complete a Significant Event Analysis (SEA) form that commences an investigation process to establish what can be learnt and to indicate changes that might lead to future improvements.

All significant events are reviewed and discussed at monthly meetings. Any learning points are cascaded to all relevant staff where an action plan, including audits or policy review, may follow.

In the past year there have been 0 significant events raised that related to infection control. There have also been 0 complaints made regarding cleanliness or infection control.

• Infection prevention audit and actions

The practice was audited by the Infection Prevention Control Team in August 2022.  This will be repeated in August 2023.

Staff complete annual Infection Prevention Control Training.

A handwashing audit took place in April 2023.

• Risk assessments

Risk assessments are carried out so that any risk is minimised to be as low as reasonably practicable. Additionally, a risk assessment that can identify best practice can be established and then followed.

In the last year, the following risk assessments were carried out/reviewed:

• COSHH
• Cleaning standards
• Privacy curtain cleaning or changes
• Water safety
• Training

In addition to staff being involved in risk assessments and significant events, at Chastleton Medical Group all staff and contractors receive IPC induction training on commencing their post. Thereafter, all staff receive refresher training annually.

• Policies and procedures

The infection prevention and control related policies and procedures that have been written, updated, or reviewed in the last year include, but are not limited, to:

Infection Control Policy

Policies relating to infection prevention and control are available to all staff and are reviewed and updated annually. Additionally, all policies are amended on an ongoing basis as per current advice, guidance, and legislation changes.

• Responsibility

It is the responsibility of all staff members at Chastleton Medical Group to be familiar with this statement and their roles and responsibilities under it.

• Review

The IPC lead and Dr David Clifford, Senior Partner are responsible for reviewing and producing the annual statement.

This annual statement will be updated on or before 12^th July 2024.

Signed by

Dr David Clifford

And

Vikki Reed

For and on behalf of Chastleton Medical Group

Patient Rights and Responsibility

The practice tries to ensure all patients receive prompt and effective care. The practice team takes the subject of patient confidentiality very seriously.  Young people (over 16 years of age) should telephone for test results themselves, as they will not be given to parents.  Patients are expected to show courtesy to all staff and to cancel appointments they no longer require.  All patients are entitled to have a chaperone present for any consultation, examination or procedure where they consider one is required.  The chaperone may be a family member or friend, but on occasions a formal chaperone may be preferred.  The Healthcare Professional may also require a chaperone to be present for certain consultations, normally this is those that require an intimate examination.

Information available from Chastleton Medical Group providing medical services under contract to the NHS under the Freedom of Information Act Publication Scheme.  Information covered by this scheme is only about the primary, general or personal medical services we provided under contract to the National Health Service.

Violent & Aggressive Patients

The practice has a policy of zero tolerance.  Such patients will be automatically removed from the practice list.

Your Records

We increasingly find that the best way to keep your records up to date and immediately accessible to the healthcare professionals at the practice is to keeps these on our own secure medical computer system called SystmOne.

Under the provision made by the Data Protection Act, you are perfectly entitled to ask us for access to your computerised and paper medical record.

Summary Care Record

The Summary Care Record is an electronic record which will give healthcare staff, faster, easier access to essential information about you, to help provide you with safe treatment when you need care in an emergency or when your GP practice is closed.

It is intended that Summary Care Records will improve the safety and quality of patient care.

Healthcare staff will ask your permission every time they need to look at your Summary Care Record.  If they cannot ask you, for example if you are unconscious, they may look at your record without asking you.  If they have to do this, they will make a note on your record.

About your Summary Care Record
If you decide to have a Summary Care Record it will contain important information about any medicines that you are taking, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines that you have had.  Giving healthcare staff access to this information can prevent mistakes being made when caring for you in an emergency or when your GP practice is closed.

Children and the Summary Care Record
Children will automatically have a Summary care Record made for them.

If you do not want your child to have a Summary Care Record you will need to fill in an opt-out form on behalf of your child and return it to your child’s GP practice.

In some circumstances your GP may feel it is your child’s best interests to have a Summary Care Record.  For example if your child has a serious allergy that healthcare staff treating your child should know about.

 Your Summary Care Record Options
You can choose to have a Summary Care Record:  You do not need to do anything.  This will happen automatically.

You can choose not to have a Summary Care Record:  You will need to let the Practice know by filling in and returning an opt-out form.

You can change your mind at any time
If you choose not to have a Summary Care Record but then change your mind later a SCR can be made for you.  You will need to let the Practice know.

If you choose not to have your Summary Care Record after it has been set up, you need to complete and provide the Practice with an opt-out form.