There is a new law being introduced from May 2018 which determines how your personal data is processed, kept safe and the legal rights that you have in relation to your own data.
The GDPR is similar to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998 (which the practice already complies with), but strengthens many of the DPA’s principles. The main changes are:
Practices must comply with subject access requests
Where we needs your consent to process data, this consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous
There are new, special protections for patient data
The Information Commissioner’s Office must be notified within 72 hours of a data breach
Higher fines for data breaches – up to 20 million euros
Please read our Fair Processing Notice and Subject Access Request Policy which explains how you can access your medical records.
you can also read our Patient Information for Young People
What is ‘patient data’?
Patient data is information that relates to a single person, such as his/her diagnosis, name, age, earlier medical history etc.
What is consent?
Consent is permission from a patient – an individual’s consent is defined as “any freely given specific and informed indication of his wishes by which the data subject signifies his agreement to personal data relating to him being processed.”
The changes in GDPR mean that we must get explicit permission from patients when using their data. This is to protect your right to privacy, and we may ask you to provide consent to do certain things, like contact you or record certain information about you for your clinical records.
Individuals also have the right to withdraw their consent at any time.
You can find out more information about this new regulation by visiting the Information Commissioners Office website.
How do I opt out of my health records being shared for research and planning?
If you would like to choose whether your confidential patient information is used for research or planning your can do this online here
Alternatively you can contact 0300 303 5678
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Under the data protection law we must tell you about how we use your personal information. Our main GP practice privacy notice is on our website. This additional privacy notice provides details about the personal information that we are sharing with NHS Digital for its General Practice Data for Planning and Research data collection Practice Privacy Notice - GPDPR. Please visit our section General Practice Data for Planning and Research data collection