A Caldicott Guardian is a senior person responsible for protecting the confidentiality of people’s health and care information, and making sure it is used properly.

All NHS organisations and local authorities which provide social services must have a Caldicott Guardian.

The Caldicott Guardian for this surgery is Dr. Benita Dhanasekaran.

When making decisions or giving guidance, the Caldicott Guardian refers to the Caldicott Principles, which are outlined below;

1. Justify the purpose.
   Every proposed use or transfer of personal confidential data within or from an organisation should be clearly defined, scrutinised and documented, with continuing uses regularly reviewed, by an appropriate guardian.
2. Don’t use personal confidential data unless it is absolutely necessary.
   Personal confidential data items should not be included unless it is essential for the specified purpose of that flow. The need for patients to be identified should be considered at each stage of satisfying the
   purpose.
3. Use the minimum necessary personal confidential data.
   Where the use of personal confidential data is considered to be essential, the inclusion of each individual item of data should be considered and justified so that the minimum amount of personal confidential is transferred or accessible as is necessary for a given function to be carried out.
4. Access to personal confidential data should be on a strict need-to-know basis.
   Only those individuals who need access to personal confidential data should have access to it, and they
   should only have access to the data items they need to see. This may mean introducing access controls or splitting data flows where one data flow is used for several purposes.
5. Everyone with access to personal confidential data should be aware of their responsibilities.
   Action should be taken to ensure that all staff-clinical and non clinical–are made fully aware of their responsibilities and obligations to respect patient confidentiality.
6. Comply with the law.
   Every use of personal confidential data must be lawful
7. The duty to share information can be as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality.
   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 these principles. They should be supported by the policies of their employers, regulators and professional bodies.
8. Inform patients and services users about how their confidential information is used and what choice they have.

Click here to read the Red House Surgery Privacy Notice

It is the policy of the surgery to record all telephone calls coming into and going out of the practice. It is important to record calls so we can monitor and improve the service we provide, and investigate complaints and incidents with accurate information. This contributes to the safety of the care you receive and the accountability of individuals within the practice.

Recordings are stored securely by our telephone provider ‘Daisy Communications’ and only accessed and listened to by authorised personnel within the surgery when necessary.

Members

Objectives

Aims – What does the PPG hope to do

• The PPG acts as a bridge between the Surgery and patients.
• The group meets on a regular basis to discuss how services can be improved.
• Surveys may be carried out to capture views and patient feedback.
• Communicating with patients via newsletters and on the website to help keep patients informed.
• Inviting guest speakers to present on health and social care issues to help raise awareness.
• Promoting the work of the PPG via campaigns and events.
• Fundraising activities can also be discussed and organised.

What the group does not do

Membership of the group

Thank you for considering joining our group @ The Red House Surgery

YOUR DATA MATTERS TO THE NHS

How the NHS and care services use your information

Your health records contain a type of data called confidential patient information; this information identifies you and says something about your health, care or treatment. This data can be used for your individual care and to help with research and planning.

Your individual care

Health and care staff may use your confidential patient information to help with your treatment and care. For example, when you visit your GP they may look at your records for important information about your health.

Research and planning

Confidential patient information might also be used by the NHS, local authorities, university and hospital researchers, medical colleges and pharmaceutical companies researching new treatments to:

• plan and improve health and care services
• research and develop cures for serious illnesses

Information about your health and care helps the NHS to improve your individual care, speed up diagnosis, plan your local services and research new treatments.

In May 2018, the strict rules about how this data can and cannot be used were strengthened. The NHS is committed to keeping patient information safe and always being clear about how it is used.

To find out more visit: www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters

You can also find out more about how patient information is used at:

https://www.hra.nhs.uk/information-about-patients/

and https://understandingpatientdata.org.uk/what-you-need-know

If you are happy with your confidential patient information being used for research and planning you do not need to do anything.

If you do not want your confidential patient information to be used for research and planning you can choose to opt out securely online at:

www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters  or by calling 0300 3035678.

Choosing to opt out will not affect your care or treatment.

You can change your choice at any time.

The Red House Surgery does not share your data with other people or organisations, nor is it used for marketing purposes, unless you have given your specific agreement.

NHS Digital

NHS Digital collects, analyses, publishes and shares health and care data to improve health, care and services through planning and research. This includes:

• informing and developing health and social care policy
• planning and commissioning health and care services
• taking steps to protect public health (including managing and monitoring the coronavirus pandemic)
• in exceptional circumstances, providing you with individual care
• enabling healthcare and scientific research

Any data that NHS Digital collects will only be used for health and care purposes. It is never shared with marketing or insurance companies.

NHS Digital does not collect your name or address. Any other data is de-personalised which means that any information which could identify you, e.g. date of birth or NHS number is replaced with a unique code.

From 1^st September 2021 NHS Digital can share this de-personalised information with other organisations – see below

• Data which is shared by NHS Digital is subject to robust rules relating to privacy, security and confidentiality. Organisations using this data must have a clear legal basis to do so for health and care purposes and only the minimum amount of data needed to meet the specific purpose will be made available.
• More information about how and why NHS Digital will share data from GP practices is available in our General Practice Data for Planning and Research Transparency Notice. NHS Digital also publish information about the data that they share in their data release register.

Summary Care Records (SCR) are an electronic record of important patient information, created from GP medical records. They can be seen and used by authorised staff in other areas of the health and care system involved in the patient’s direct care.

If you wish to view your Summary Care Record, or have a copy of all, or part of your medical record, you will be asked to complete an application form (Subject Access Request) explaining exactly what information you require and in what format.

Requests for access can be made verbally but a form will need to be completed, and a receptionist will have to check photographic ID. There is no charge for copying records, or issuing online access, but the practice may charge a reasonable fee for requests for further copies of the same information.

The Red House Surgery handles medical records in line with laws on data protection and confidentiality.

• We share medical records with those who are involved in providing you with care and treatment.
• In some circumstances we may also share medical records for medical research, for example, to find out more about why people get ill.
• We share information when the law requires us to do so, for example, to prevent infectious diseases from spreading, or to check the care being provided to you is safe.
• You have the right to request a copy of your medical record.
• You have the right to object to your identifiable information being used for medical research and to plan health services.
• You have the right to request that any mistakes in your medical record are corrected.

If you wish to view our practice Privacy Notice, please click on the link below. The notice includes information on how to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office to seek advice or make a complaint if you need to do so.

Information held about you by the practice

In order to manage and plan within the NHS and to provide the best possible standards of health care, it is necessary for us to store information about patients of both an administrative and clinical nature.

We send some basic non-personal information to the Health Authority and other Trusts responsible for patient care.

The data protection act 1998 safeguards the information held about you such that complete confidentiality is preserved in using it to help care for your health.

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

Written complaints should be addressed to:

Practice Manager

The Red House Surgery, 96 Chesterton Road, Cambridge CB4 1ER

You may submit an online form here

Complaint Leaflet

We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meets the national criteria as laid down by the NHS.

Last Update November 2023