Information About You

The practice is fully computerised and abides by the terms of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Your medical records, both computerised and written, are held within the terms of the Act.

Members of the primary health care team at the surgery will have access to your health records in order to maintain them and manage your health care. The hospitals, Primary Care Trusts and Primary Care Contractor Services (formerly Leicestershire Health) will be allowed access to your records for specific requests only.

Sometimes the law requires us to pass on information, for example, sudden death. We only ever pass on information about you if people have a genuine need for it and it is in your best interest that information is disclosed. Most data we disclose is anonymised i.e. your personal details are not disclosed.

Periodically, for Audit purposes, PCT staff or outside agencies such as specialist nurses in chronic disease management may need to have access to your medical records if they are supporting us with projects/clinics. All of these persons will act within the terms of the Act.

Anonymised patients' data may be used for research that is in the best interest of patients and the NHS as a whole.

To maintain our computerised medical records it may also be necessary to allow our computer software supplier and support team to have access to the system. Again all of these persons will act within the terms of the Act.

If you do have any comments or objections regarding the above, please let reception know.

Download an information leaflet on your Electronic Patient Record and The Sharing of Information (PDF, 311KB).

Download an information leaflet on how we use your health records (PDF, 139KB).

Download the information leaflet 'Your Data Matters to the NHS' (PDF, 91KB). This contains information about your health and care helps us to improve your individual care, speed up diagnosis, plan your local services and research new treatments.

Summary Care Record (SCR)

A Summary Care Record is an electronic record that’s stored at a central location. As the name suggests, the record will not contain detailed information about your medical history, but will only contain important health information, such as:

whether you’re taking any prescription medication
whether you have any allergies
whether you’ve previously had a bad reaction to any medication

Access to your Summary Care Record will be strictly controlled. The only people who can see the information will be healthcare staff directly involved in your care who have a special smartcard and access number (like a chip-and-pin credit card).

Healthcare staff will ask your permission every time they need to look at your Summary Care Record. If they cannot ask you, e.g. because you’re unconscious, healthcare staff may look at your record without asking you. If they have to do this, they will make a note on your record.

You have a choice. If you are happy for your information to be uploaded then you do not have to do anything. If you have any concerns or wish to prevent this from happening, please speak to practice staff at reception who will provide you with an opt out form.

Please be aware that if you chose to opt out of SCR, this does not opt you out of the Enhanced Data Sharing Model (eDSM), you must request that separately.

Enhanced Data Sharing Model (eDSM) Patient Information

If you are a registered patient you will have an electronic medical record held on our secure clinical system, which is called SystmOne. A facility is now available whereby your record can be shared between clinicians and others, in different care settings, who are involved with your care. There are strict rules about sharing and you will be asked by each provider of care to consent to “sharing in” and “sharing out”. If you consent your care record held by your GP practice or medical service will be shared with other medical services involved in your care such as district nursing, health visiting, physiotherapy, podiatry, Out of Hours (OOH) providers in our area, and Manor Park Medical Practices. You will get asked about “sharing in” and “sharing out” just once per provider. You have a choice to say yes or no and can change your mind at a later day too.

Please be aware that if you chose to opt out of eDSM, this does not opt you out of the Summary Care Record (SCR), you must request that separately.

To opt out of any of the above schemes - please speak to practice staff at reception who will provide you with an opt out form.

Medical Interoperability Gateway (MIG)

Whilst the ‘Summary Care Record’ (SCR) system makes a very small portion of your medical record available across the whole NHS (and can be viewed by a range of staff in an emergency), the MIG shares a much fuller view of your records but only with local NHS providers – and only when you give explicit consent to a doctor or nurse at the point of care. This local scheme is administered by our local I.T. Service Commissioners who have produced a poster (PDF, 34KB) and factsheet (PDF, 208KB) to inform you of these processes. If you should like to opt-out of the MIG entirely please let us know and we will add a code to your notes that will prevent any data uploads.

Information Sharing Agreement

Please see the full Information Sharing Agreement (ISA) (PDF, 786KB) for the Medical Interoperability Gateway (MIG).

How we use your health records

Risk Stratification
What is risk stratification?

There are two kinds of risk stratification:

1. The first kind is a process for identifying some patients within a Practice who might benefit from extra assessment or support with self-care because of the nature of their health problems. The process is a mixture of analysis of information by computer followed by review of the results by a clinical team at the Practice.

The analysis can, for example, help predict the risk of an unplanned hospital Admission so that preventative measures can be taken as early as possible to try and avoid it. In the end, it is the clinical team of the GP Practice that will decide how your care is best managed.

2. The second kind is a process for identifying patterns of ill health and needs across our local population. This will be done by pulling together all the information in an anonymised file (where your identity has been removed) to look at patterns and trends of illness across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland as a whole. This will help our Public Health Department and those in the NHS who are responsible for planning and arranging health services across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (known as commissioners) better understand the current and possible future health needs of the local population. This will help them make provision for the most appropriate health services for the people of this area. This group of staff will not be able to identify you as an individual under any circumstances.

In both cases secure NHS systems and processes will protect your health information and patient confidentiality at all times.

What information about me will be analysed?

The minimum amount of information about you will be used. The information included is:

Age
Gender
GP Practice and Hospital attendances and admissions
Medications prescribed
Medical conditions (in code form) and other things that may affect your health such as height, weight for example.

How will my information be kept secure and confidential?

Information from your GP record will be sent via a secure computer connection to a special location called a ‘safe haven’ at NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (NHS Arden & GEM CSU) in Leicester This safe haven carries special accreditation from the NHS. It is designed to protect the confidentiality of your information. There are strict controls in place. It enables information to be used in a way that does not identify you. The GP Practice remains in control your information at all times.

Before any analysis starts, any information that could identify you will be removed and replaced by a number. The analysis is done by computer. The results are returned to the GP Practice. Only your GP Practice can see the results in a way that identifies you.

What will my GP Practice do with the analysis?

The results can help the clinical team decide on some aspects of your future care. For example, if the clinical team at the Practice think that you might benefit from a review of your care, they can arrange this. You may then be invited in for an appointment to discuss your health and treatment. If the Practice thinks you might benefit from referral to a new service, this will be discussed with you firstly.

What should I do if I have further questions about risk stratification?

Please ask the Practice staff if you can speak to someone in more detail.

What if I want to opt out?

If you feel satisfied that you understand what risk stratification is but you do not wish to be included, you can choose to opt-out. In this case, please inform the Receptionist who can ensure that your information is not included.

Download an information leaflet making you aware of how your information is used (DOCX, 363KB). This leaflet is intended to supplement the more general leaflet “How we use your medical records” (also available on our website or from Reception). It explains how you can access your own health records, how you can get further information and what to do if you any concerns about your information.